Primitivism itself is a belief of running aspects of life counter to development, favouring less developed or basic methods for achieving a goal. When considering Primitivism in an artistic context, we see artwork that can look childlike or very simple. This can be manifested by such things as a flattening of the viewing plane, a lack of colour variation, oddly shaped figures and an overall lack of detail.
In the days pre-ultra sensitive political correctness, the term "primitive" was used to describe a non-Western developed person, often an indigenous tribal person, who lacked the technological advancement and education of Western culture. Primitivism is the term coined to describe, in an art context, of attempting to mimic these "primitive" peoples style of artwork, which is why Primitivist art is often described as appearing childlike. The Primitivist belief held that this was closer to being a much rawer, more connected to our origins style of art that exuded more emotion than the rigid formalised art prevalent at the time of the rise of Primitivism.
Contemparary Primitivism can manifest itself in many ways. Perhaps one of the best examples of contemporary Primitivism is displayed in the Amish culture, who shun technological development and live in small self-sustaining communities.
At the NGA, I found a rather interesting example of artwork that i believed had very strong Primitivist elements. The piece is Rupert Bunny's "Prophetic Nymphs". Unfortunately the piece is not available for viewing on the NGA's website and i can't find a copy elsewhere on the Internet. The piece featured several partially clothed female figures with flat features and were mostly painted with single colours. The viewing plane is very flat and the proportions of the figures are quite unrealistic.
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