An examination of the material on which our studies of the artistic
value of objects of primitive manufacture are founded shows that in
most cases we are dealing with products of an industry in which a
high degree of mechanical skill has been attained. Ivory carvings
of the Eskimo; fur clothing of the Chukchee; wood carving of the
northwest coast of America, of New Zealand, the Marquesas, or central
Africa; metal work of Africa; appliqué work and embroidery of the Amur
River; pottery of the North American Pueblos; bronze work of ancient
Scandinavia are examples of this kind.
The close relation between technical virtuosity and the fullness of
artistic development may easily be demonstrated by an examination of
the art of tribes with one-sided industries. While people like the
African negroes or the Malay are in possession of many industries, such
as basketry, carving, weaving, metal work and pottery, we find others
among whom the range of industrial activities is so narrow that almost
all the utensils for their manifold needs are made by the same process.
The Californian Indians present an excellent example of this kind.
Their chief industry is basketry. Almost all their household goods,
receptacles for storage, cooking vessels, mortars for preparing
food, children’s cradles, receptacles for carrying loads, are made
of basketry. As compared to this industry others employed for the
manufacture of weapons and tools are insignificant. The building
of houses, of canoes, woodcarving, and painting are only slightly
developed. The only other occupation in which an unusual degree of
skill has been attained is featherwork. A great deal of time is
therefore given to the manufacture of baskets and an unusual degree
of virtuosity is found among the basketmakers. The beauty of form,
the evenness of texture of the Californian baskets are well known
and highly prized by collectors. At the same time the baskets are
elaborately decorated with a variety of geometrical designs or by
the addition of shells and feathers. (Plate I.) Basketmaking is an
occupation of women and thus it happens that among the Californian
Indians only women are creative artists. They are virtuosos in their
technique and on account of their virtuosity productive. The works of
art made by the men are, as compared to theirs, insignificant.
[Illustration: Fig. 1. Front of painted box, Tlingit, Alaska.]
It so happens that conditions among the northern neighbors of the
Californians are reversed. From Puget Sound northward the household
goods and implements of the Indians are made of wood, and much of the
time of the men is spent in woodworking. They are skilled joiners
and carvers who through constant practice have acquired virtuosity
in the handling of wood. The exactness of their work rivals that of
our very best craftsmen. Their boxes, buckets, kettles, cradles, and
dishes are all made of wood, as those of the Californians are made of
basketry. In their lives basketry plays a relatively unimportant part.
The industry in which they have attained greatest proficiency, is, at
the same time, the one in which their decorative art is most fully
developed. It finds expression, not only in the beauty of form of the
woodwork, but also in elaborate decoration. Among these people all
other aspects of decorative art are weak as compared to their artistic
expression in woodwork or in art forms derived from woodwork (fig. 1).
All this work is done by men and hence it follows that the men are the
creative artists while the women seem to be lacking in inventiveness
and artistic sense. Here also virtuosity in technique and artistic
productivity go hand in hand.
[Illustration: PLATE I.
Maidu Baskets. 1-2. Butterfly design. 3. Raccoon design. 4. Rim:
mountains; body: flying geese. 5. Moth-miller.]
As a third example we might mention the Pueblo Indians of the Southern
United States. In many villages of this region pottery is the dominant
industry and in pottery is found the highest expression of art. The
form of the clay vessel is characterized by great regularity and it
becomes the substratum for decoration. Since pottery is a woman’s
art, women are the most productive artists among the Pueblos (fig.
2). However, the industrial activities of the Pueblos are not quite
so one-sided as those of California and British Columbia. Therefore
the men who are experienced in industrial work devoted to ceremonial
purposes are not lacking in the ability of artistic expression.
[Illustration: Fig. 2. Jar from Zuni.]
I believe these examples demonstrate that there is a close connection
between the development of skill in an industry and artistic activity.
Ornamental art has developed in those industries in which the greatest
skill is attained. Artistic productivity and skill are closely
correlated. Productive artists are found among those who have mastered
a technique, among men when the industries are in their hands, among
women when they are devoted to industrial activities.
It will be admitted that aside from all adventitious form elements,
the product of an experienced worker in any handicraft has an artistic
value. A child learning to make a basket or a pot cannot attain the
regularity of outline that is achieved by the master.
The appreciation of the esthetic value of technical perfection is
not confined to civilized man. It is manifested in the forms of
manufactured objects of all primitive people that are not contaminated
by the pernicious effects of our civilization and its machine-made
wares. In the household of the natives we do not find slovenly work,
except when a rapid makeshift has to be made. Patience and careful
execution characterize most of their products. Direct questioning
of natives and their criticism of their own work shows also their
appreciation of technical perfection. Virtuosity, complete control
of technical processes, however, means an automatic regularity of
movement. The basketmaker who manufactures a coiled basket, handles the
fibres composing the coil in such a way that the greatest evenness of
coil diameter results (fig. 3). In making her stitches the automatic
control of the left hand that lays down the coil, and of the right
that pulls the binding stitches over the coil brings it about that
the distances between the stitches and the strength of the pull are
absolutely even so that the surface will be smooth and evenly rounded
and that the stitches show a perfectly regular pattern,—in the same
way as an experienced seamstress will make her stitches at regular
intervals and with even pull, so that they lie like beads on a string.
The same observation may be made in twined basketry (fig. 4). In the
handiwork of an expert the pull of the woof string will be so even that
there is no distortion of the warp strings and the twisted woof will
lie in regularly arranged loops. Any lack of automatic control will
bring about irregularities of surface pattern.
[Illustration: Fig. 3. Coiled basketry.]
[Illustration: Fig. 4. Twined basketry.]
A pot of well-rounded form results also from complete control of a
technique. Primitive tribes make their pottery without the aid of the
potter’s wheel, and in most cases the potter builds up his vessel by
the process of coiling, analogous to the coiling of a basket. Long
round strips of clay are laid down spirally beginning at the bottom. By
continued turning and gradual laying on of more and more strips in a
continued spiral the pot is built up. Complete control of the technique
will result in a perfectly round cross section and in smooth curvatures
of the sides. Lack of skill will bring about lack of symmetry and of
smoothness of curvature. Virtuosity and regularity of surface and form
are here also intimately related.
[Illustration: Fig. 5. Chipped flint implements: _a_ North America; _b_
Egypt.]
A similar correlation is found in the manufacture of chipped stone
implements. After the brittle stone has been roughly shaped it is given
its final form either by pressure with an implement that squeezes off
long, thin flakes or by indirect chipping. In the former case the
flaking implement is held in the right hand and by sudden pressure with
the point of the flaker long flakes or small bits are removed from
the surface. When the worker has attained complete control of this
technique his pressure will be even and executed with equal rapidity;
the distances between the points of attack will be the same and he will
move his flaker in regular lines. The result is a chipped implement
of regular form and surface pattern in which the long, conchoidal
depressions caused by the flaking off of thin chips are of equal size
and regularly arranged (fig. 5).
When indirect chipping is applied the thin part of the object which is
to be worked is placed on a hard, sharp edge and by a smart blow on
the body of the flint a strong vibration is produced which results in
a break just over the sharp edge. In this way, place and size of the
flake are perfectly controlled by the expert craftsman.
Quite similar are the conditions in woodwork. The smoothing of large
surfaces is generally done with the adze. A skilled worker handles his
adze automatically. The strength of the stroke and the depth to which
it enters the surface of the wood are always the same and the chips
removed have always the same size and form. The workman will also
move the adze in even lines and strike the surface at even distances.
The result of automatic action is here, also, evenness of surface and
regularity of surface pattern (fig. 6).
These conditions are well-described by Sophus Müller, who says,[19]
“A great part of the work on flint must be designated as luxury, and
was done with the sole intent of producing a masterpiece of handiwork.
When making an adze blade all that is needed for practical purposes
is a good cutting edge. Smoothness of face, back and sides is not
necessary, particularly since a large portion of these were covered
by the attachment to the handle. With coarse and conchoidal chipping
the blade would be equally serviceable. However, the maker wanted to
produce excellent stone work, to the making of which he devoted all
the care, taste and skill at his command and by this the manufactured
objects undoubtedly increased in value. These objects might be called
therefore, in the strict sense of the term, works of artistic industry.”
[19] Sophus Müller, Nordische Altertumskunde, Strassburg 1897, Vol. I,
p. 190.
All these examples show that complete automatic control of a technique,
and regularity of form and surface pattern are intimately correlated.
[Illustration: Fig. 6. Part of surface of wooden sail, Vancouver
Island.]
[Illustration: Fig. 7. Painted board, Tierra del Fuego.]
[Illustration: Fig. 8. Bushman designs from ostrich eggs and from horn
bracelet.]
[Illustration: Fig. 9. Kaffer headrests.]
However, besides these, attempts at decoration occur in which a mastery
of technique has not been attained. Among a few tribes almost all
artistic work is of this character. Among the inhabitants of Tierra
del Fuego are found only meagre examples of painting, lacking in skill
(fig. 7). The patterns are simply dots and coarse lines in which
the arrangement is the essential artistic element. It is intelligible
that a feeling for symmetry may exist without the ability of perfect
execution. The modern Bushmen scratch patterns on ostrich eggs which
serve as receptacles for water (fig. 8). Here we find the intent to
give expression to form but with inadequate means. It is important to
note that the same motive, two circles connected by a narrow band,
occurs several times in these etchings. The circle might be suggested
to the workman by the perforation of the shell of the ostrich egg
through which the water is poured out, but the combination can hardly
be derived on the basis of Bushman industries. Shall we consider the
pattern as the result of the play of their imagination or as an attempt
at representation? It seems to me important to note that the neighbors
of the Bushmen, the negroes of the Zambezi, use the same pattern and
that rows of triangles and diamonds, such as are used by the Bushmen,
are found on their implements also (fig. 9). The pattern may therefore
have come from an outside source.[20] Perhaps the decoration on ostrich
eggs is poor only on account of the difficulties of handling the
material. At least the zig-zag patterns (fig. 8), found on a bracelet,
show a much greater technical perfection than those found on the
ostrich eggs.
[20] F. von Luschan, Buschmann-Einritzungen auf Strausseneiern,
Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, Vol. 55 (1923), pp. 31 et seq.—Hendrik
P. M. Muller et John F. Snelleman, L’Industrie des Caffres dans le
sud-est de l’Afrique. (Pl. XIV, Figs. 2-5). See also P. C. Lepage, La
décoration primitive; Afrique, Paris, Librairie des arts décoratifs,
Plate 5, where similar designs are shown on pottery vessels.
Here may also be mentioned the painting and carving of the Melanesians.
We see among them a wealth of forms in carvings of excellent technique.
In some specimens, particularly from western New Guinea, we find
complete mastery of the art. In the majority of cases, however, there
is an imperfect control of technique, while there is an astounding
multiplicity of forms. The lines generally lack regularity and evenness
(fig. 10 _a_, _b_). There is no clear proof of a general degeneration
of the art and we may perhaps assume that in this case the development
of a keen sense for form among all the carvers and painters of
the tribe did not go hand in hand with a corresponding mastery of
technique. It is not unlikely that foreign influence has led here to an
exuberant form perception.
Setting aside any esthetic consideration, we recognize that in cases
in which a perfect technique has developed, the consciousness of the
artist of having mastered great difficulties, in other words the
satisfaction of the virtuoso is a source of genuine pleasure.
[Illustration: Fig. 10. Paddle and shield, New Ireland.]
I do not propose to enter into a discussion of the ultimate sources
of all esthetic judgments. It is sufficient for an inductive study of
the forms of primitive art to recognize that regularity of form and
evenness of surface are essential elements of decorative effect, and
that these are intimately associated with the feeling of mastery over
difficulties; with the pleasure felt by the virtuoso on account of his
own powers.
I can give at least a few examples which illustrate that the artist has
not in mind the visual effect of his work, but that he is stimulated by
the pleasure of making a complex form.
[Illustration: Fig. 11. Plan of rawhide box, Sauk and Fox Indians.]
[Illustration: Fig. 12. Rawhide box, Sauk and Fox Indians.]
The raw hide boxes of the Sauk and Fox Indians are made of a large
piece of hide which is carefully ornamented according to a definite
plan (fig. 11). The boxes are made by folding the hide. There are five
sides of approximately equal width (1-5). These are the four sides
of the box: front (5), bottom (4), back (3), top (2), and a flap (1)
covering the front. A strip on each side (_a_-_e_) is folded over and
the marginal piece (_d_) belonging to the bottom segment is folded
in along diagonal lines as we fold in the ends of a paper wrapper,
so that the marginal strips, _e_ and _c_, form the sides of the box.
Another similar fold is made in _b_ when the top is folded over the top
opening of the box. The folds at the bottom are sewed in firmly, while
the fold on top remains open. The resulting form is shown in fig. 12.
Those parts of the surface that are entirely invisible are indicated by
horizontal shading (fig. 11). These are folded in and sewed in on the
inside of the box. Those parts that may be seen when the box is opened
are indicated by diagonal shading; while the white area is that part of
the surface that is visible when the box is closed and tied up. It will
be noticed that the fields _c_ and _e_ overlap on the short sides of
the finished box.
[Illustration: Fig. 13. Design on rawhide for a box, Sauk and Fox
Indians.]
[Illustration: Fig. 14. Design on rawhide for a box, Sauk and Fox
Indians.]
The decoration of these boxes is carefully laid out on a flat piece of
rawhide. Corresponding to the five faces of the box most of the designs
are divided into five equal fields and corresponding to the folded
margins two marginal fields are set off from the central field. This,
however, is so narrow that in folding part of the lateral design is
turned over so that it becomes invisible. When the boxes are folded the
cohesion of the pattern is completely lost. Not only do the folds fail
to agree with the divisions, but owing to the method of folding and
the complete covering of the field _d_ and of part of _e_, the whole
pattern is broken up and on the short sides we find only fragments
adjoining in the most irregular way (fig. 12). When the box is closed
field _e_ adjoins field 1, and the overlapping section _c_ adjoins it
in the middle of the narrow side. On top it adjoins field 2 and at the
bottom field 4. The whole formal idea of the carefully planned pattern
is lost in the completed box. We find even patterns laid out in four
strips instead of five, so that the fundamental pattern and the sides
do not coincide (fig. 14). It will be seen, therefore, that the artist
spends his ingenuity in decorating the rawhide but that in the box the
fundamental ideas of his carefully planned decoration are lost.
[Illustration: Fig. 15. Designs on rawhide boxes, Sauk and Fox Indians.]
The disregard of the original pattern is such that in some specimens
(fig. 15) part of the design has been cut off in order to make the
sides fit together. In our illustration the parts cut off,—the right
upper corners,—have been reconstructed.
It might be said that similar conditions prevail in modern, patterned
fabrics that are made into garments. In this case the manufacturer
tries to attain a pleasing effect for the fabric as a whole. If economy
of material did not interfere, the tailor would fit the pattern
together, but we always feel the conflict between the pattern and the
requirements of the finished garment.
[Illustration: Fig. 16. Fringe from legging, Thompson Indians.]
As another example I mention a legging made by an Indian woman from
the interior of British Columbia. It bears the usual decoration,—a
long fringe along the outer seam. The fringe consists of a long piece
of curried skin cut in narrow strips. These strips are decorated in
rhythmic order (fig. 16), a string decorated by one glass bead and two
bone beads in alternating order is followed by a plain string, next
by one decorated with single alternating glass and bone beads, then a
plain one and finally one like the first. When we indicate the plain
and decorated strips by letters, we find the arrangement
. . . | A B C B A | A B C B A | . . .
repeated over and over again.[21] The important point to be noted is,
that when in use, the fringe hangs down without order along the outer
side of the leg so that the elaborate rhythmic pattern cannot be seen.
The only way in which the maker can get any satisfaction from her work
is while making it or when exhibiting it to her friends. When it is in
use there is no esthetic effect.
[21] James Teit, The Thompson Indians of British Columbia, Publications
of the Jesup North Pacific Expedition, New York 1900, Vol. I, p. 382;
see also Gladys A. Reichard, The Complexity of Rhythm in Decorative
Art, American Anthropologist N. S., Vol. 24 (1922), p. 198.
Other cases occur in which motives are applied that are practically
invisible. Thus in mattings from Vancouver Island, the weaver will
alternate the direction of the strands in squares without any attempt
to set off the surface in colors (fig. 17). When the matting is new
these patterns may be seen in reflected light, but after a very short
time they disappear almost completely.
[Illustration: Fig. 17. Twilled weaving showing alternation of
patterns.]
Similarly the woven patterns on arm rings from the Ucayali are
practically invisible.[22]
[22] Max Schmidt, Besondere Geflechtsart der Indianer im
Ucayaligebiete, Archiv für Anthropologie, N. S., Vol. VI (1907), p. 270.
To sum up: Objectively the excellence of workmanship results in
regularity of form and evenness of surface which are characteristic
of most uncontaminated primitive manufactures, so much so that most
objects of every day use must be considered as works of art. The
handles of implements, stone blades, receptacles, clothing, permanent
houses, canoes are finished off in such a way that their forms have
artistic value.
[Illustration: Fig. 18. Carving on bow of Bella Bella canoe, British
Columbia.]
[Illustration: Fig. 19. Rattle, Kwakiutl Indians, British Columbia.]
Expert workmanship in the treatment of the surface may lead not only
to evenness but also to the development of patterns. In adzing the
form of the object to be smoothed will determine the most advantageous
direction of the lines in which the adze has to be carried. In a large
Bella Bella canoe, the body of the canoe is adzed in horizontal lines,
while prow and stern show vertical lines. The wolf carved on the bow of
the same canoe shows surface patterns on its body and limbs (fig. 18).
Decorative use of adzed lines, is also found on a rattle (fig. 19).
In this specimen there is no technical need for the alternation in the
direction of the groves, and the fields on the top of the rattle can
the explained only as determined by the pleasure felt by the variation
of the simple activity in novel and more complicated ways.[23]
[23] See also page 41.
In chipping of flint zig-zag lines are produced by the meeting of two
lines on a ridge (fig. 20).
[Illustration: Fig. 20. Base of flint knife, Scandinavia.]
Technical experience and the acquisition of virtuosity have probably
led to the general prevalence of the plane, the straight line and
regular curves such as the circle and the spiral, for all of these are
of rare occurrence in nature, so rare indeed, that they had hardly ever
a chance to impress themselves upon the mind.
Plain surfaces are represented by crystals, by the cleavage of some
kinds of rock, or by the surface of water during a calm. Straight lines
by the shoots and stems of plants or by the sharp edges of crystals;
regular curved lines by the shells of snails, by vines, bubbles on
water or by smooth pebbles, but there is no obvious motive that would
induce man to imitate these particular abstract forms, except perhaps
in those cases in which regularly curved shells are worn as ornaments
or employed as utensils.
On the other hand, the straight line develops constantly in technical
work. It is a characteristic form of the stretched thong or cord and
its importance cannot be ignored by the hunter who hurls a lance or
flies an arrow. The technical use of the straight shoot may well have
been important in its derivation. Plants like the bamboo or the reed
may thus have helped man to discover the value of the straight line.
More essential than this seems to be the possession of a perfect
technique, which involves great accuracy and steadiness of movement.
These in themselves must lead necessarily to regular lines. When
the uncertain wobbling of the cutting tool is eliminated, smooth
curves will result. When the potter turns the pot he is making and
his movements are quite regular the pot will be circular. Perfectly
controlled coiling of basketry or of wire will lead to the formation of
equidistant spirals.
[Illustration: Fig. 21. Face painting, Tierra del Fuego.]
A number of other characteristic features may be observed in the art of
all times and all peoples. One of these is symmetry. Symmetrical forms
are found even in the simplest forms of decorative art. The tribes of
Tierra del Fuego[24] decorate their faces and bodies with designs, many
of which are symmetrical. Vertical lines on both sides of the body
or a series of symmetrically arranged dots running from ear to ear
across the nose are of this kind (fig. 21). They also use symmetrically
decorated boards with which they adorn their huts (see fig. 7,
page 23). The Andaman Islanders like to decorate their bodies with
symmetrical patterns (Plate II). Many of the designs of the Australians
are symmetrical (fig. 22) and in paleolithic painting geometrical forms
occur that exhibit bilateral symmetry (fig. 23). In a few cases the
elements arranged symmetrically are so complex that the symmetry can
have been attained only by careful planning. Examples of this kind are
necklaces of Indians in British Columbia in which we find as many as
eighteen beads of different colors irregularly arranged, but repeated
in equal order right and left.[25]
[24] W. Koppers, Unter Feuerland-Indianern, p. 48, Pl. 7.
[25] See Gladys A. Reichard, American Anthropologist, N. S., Vol. 24
(1922) p. 191.
[Illustration: PLATE II.