In doing this, the Cubists invariably subjected primitive art forms to a variety of new meanings. Therefore, despite the obvious parallels, the Cubists' relationship to primitive art is more complex than the direct borrowing of formal devices that some critics have observed.
Goldwater observes that Picasso's work most closely resembles the sculpture of the Cameroon grasslands, but it is doubtful that he ever encountered such art. Similarly, a correspondence between the seated demoiselle and Pende Mbuya (sickness) masks must be coincidental, since these were not accessible to Parisians until 1917. Instead of direct influence, then, Goldwater attributed any formal resemblance to the fact that African sculptors were interpreting and exaggerating the salient features of African physiognomy. In his view, Picasso also started from this principle, and was thus working parallel with his African forebears. In the case of Mbuya masks, both these and the seated demoiselle can be read as exaggerating the mental and physical effects of illness). If this is so then it is not unnatural that a degree of resemblance should be apparent.
John Golding has written: "Although Cubist painting was from time to time to reflect the influence of certain stylistic African conventions, it was the principles underlying this so-called "primitive' art that were to condition the aesthetics [of Cubism].' Having established that the Cubist's relation to primitive art had a deeper basis than simple formal resemblance, it is necessary to examine which principles were used by Cubist artists and how they affected the practice of Cubism. Implicit in Goldwater's remarks about the interpretation of physiognomy is a belief that the Cubists share with African artists a conceptual approach to depiction. This results in representations that are anti-naturalistic, but which are not divorced from nature. The conceptual apprehension of the object is of central importance, and occurs in most exemplary Cubist works.
