ART AND INFORMATION
It is well known that, in the earlier classical times, philosophy,
history, and science were inseparably connected with poetry. And it
is as familiar a truth that pictographs and ideograms were used for
writing before phonetic signs had been invented. But it is not enough
to recall that poetry and the arts of design have in this way been
serving the requirements of intellectual information; it can also be
shown that among primitive tribes every one of the lower art-forms—the
dance, the pantomime, and even the ornament—has been of great
importance as a means of interchanging thoughts.
When attempting in this chapter to take a cursory survey of the
various art-forms as used for purely intellectual purposes, we find
it most advantageous to start with the dramatic examples. It is true
that the art of the theatre, in the modern sense of the word, must
be considered as a late, perhaps even as the very latest, result of
artistic evolution. A literary drama, which fulfils all the claims of
a work of art, is possible only on a highly advanced level of culture,
and it has consequently by most authors on æsthetic been considered
as the latest of all art-forms.[175] When dealing, however, with the
productions of primitive tribes, we have to adopt a lower æsthetic
standard. Although we do not meet with any tragedies, nor even with
any real comedies, at this stage of evolution, we can at least point
to the fact that simple farces, pantomimes, and pantomimic dances
are to be found among tribes which have so far been unable to create
any kind of epics, and whose lyrical poetry is restricted to a few
rhythmical phrases with no intrinsic meaning. And if we use the word
in its widest sense, so as to include every representation by action,
drama can be spoken of as the very earliest of all the imitative arts.
It was certainly in use long before the invention of writing, either
by pictures or letters; perhaps it is even older than language itself.
As an outward sign of thought, action is more immediate than words.
Dramatic communication does not even presuppose any conscious intention
nor any common consent. It may appear on the side of the “speaker” as
the unchecked result of the “Einhaltsstreben,” the universal impulse to
put into gesture any idea of action which is distinctly conceived—for
instance to clench the fist at the thought of striking—and it may be
comprehended without any effort by the audience, which by unconscious
imitation partakes of the communicated thoughts.[176] Such pantomimic
forms of intellectual exchange seldom indeed occur in civilised life.
The “Einhaltsstreben” in a civilised man is generally lost during the
transfer from thought to word. Pantomimic display, which involves
an unnecessary waste of force and time, was doomed to disappearance
with the growing development of conventional language. Moreover, the
rules of propriety tend to confine, at least in educated society, the
language of the body within as narrow limits as possible. But as soon
as, by pathological influences, these conditions are annulled, even
civilised man necessarily falls back upon pantomimic language. In the
extreme forms of aphasia we may thus observe how strong the mimetic
impulse is when unchecked. There is the more reason to consider these
pathological instances as in some degree typical of the primeval
methods of communication, as it is only by assuming an earlier
system of impulsive, self-interpreting signs that we can explain the
subsequent development of conventional word or gesture-language.[177]
We cannot, however, argue from cases of mental disturbance as to the
original language of primitive man. For example, even if aphasia could
be considered as a case of atavism,[178] we could scarcely compare the
mimic capabilities of modern man with those of the unknown, wordless
being whose system of expressive signs, although he were compelled to
rely exclusively upon it, cannot possibly have been brought to any
great degree of perfection. Illustrations from deaf-mutes and from the
isolated specimens of “homo sapiens ferus”—Mr. Kipling’s Mowgli—are for
the same reason inadequate.[179] As long as ethnology is ignorant of
any wordless tribes, our notions as to the assumed dramatic language
rest entirely upon psychological deductions.[180] But the probability
of these deductions is, more or less, supported by what we know about
the lowest tribes now existing. It is true that the information on
this point is even more inconsistent than is usual in ethnological
evidence. But although due allowance must be made for the errors into
which a deficient knowledge of the primitive custom and languages has
led the various authors, there will nevertheless remain a sufficient
body of facts proving the important part which pantomimic communication
plays in the lower stages of mental evolution. Bushmen, Australians,
and Eskimos show us a highly developed dramatic language.[181] In some
parts of Australia it has been noticed that the store of gestures
is richest among tribes which have enjoyed the least contact with
Europeans.[182] And a further ground for considering this mode of
thought-conveyance as old and primitive is afforded by the fact that,
according to Mr. W. E. Roth, its “use is strictly enforced on certain
special occasions, such as some of the initiation ceremonies.”[183]
Mr. Fraser also believes that gesture-language is taught at the Bora
ceremonies.[184]
It would, however, be presumption to see in every instance of dramatic
thought-communication a rudiment of an old and primitive language.
There are many causes which favour the adaptation and elaboration
of mimic language even after a system of phonetic signs has been
established. In a passage which has already been quoted Mr. Roth
observes that pantomimic ideograms must be very advantageous “on the
war-path or the chase, where silence is so essential an adjunct to
success.”[185] Another reason still more important is the fact that
pantomimic action can be understood by people who speak different
languages. Among civilised nations we may find many instances of
the high state of development which gesture-language has attained
in border countries where different peoples must necessarily often
meet.[186] And it is significant that among primitive tribes gestures
and motions are nowhere so full of significance and intellectual
expressiveness as on the plains of Australia,[187] among the savages
in the interior parts of Brazil,[188] and on the great prairies of
North America,[189]—in a word, in countries where the breaking up of
a nation into small vagrant tribes has been the cause of an extreme
dialectical disseverance. Under these conditions, however, the
impulsive, self-interpreting pantomime is apt to develop gradually
into an elaborate system of conventional signs. The gesture-language
of the North American Indians, for example, which consists almost
entirely of abbreviated “moves” of indication and delineation, is
no doubt eminently adapted to fulfil the practical requirements of
comprehensibility and explicitness. But it has not much to do with
dramatic art in any sense of the word.
Of a more immediate importance for art-history are the pantomimics
which accompany public speaking. In a state of society where every
member is entitled to take part in the common deliberations, oral
language will often prove an inadequate vehicle of thought. Only
through displaying his speech in action is the chief or the priest
capable of making its purport comprehensible to the large audiences at
a popular meeting. Rhetoric, therefore, is still among many primitive
tribes what it used to be in classical antiquity—a dramatic as well as
a literary art.[190]
A pantomime will, of course, by virtue of its greater vividness, convey
its content of thoughts and feelings with a far greater efficiency than
a merely spoken oration. It may, when especially infectious, induce
the audience to join in it as a dramatic chorus. And even when the
imitation which it calls forth remains purely internal, this imitation,
nevertheless, enables the spectators to appropriate the text of the
acted oration in a way which is deeper and far more complete than
could ever be possible with regard to an oral speech. As a natural
sign of emotion pantomimic language opens, as Home would say in his
quaint way, “a direct avenue to our heart.”[191] It is no wonder,
therefore, that dramatic performances on all but the highest stages of
culture have been used for political agitation as well as for religious
edification.[192]
We shall in the following pages, when treating of the religious and
political aspects of art, obtain a fitting opportunity of examining
these forms of drama. In the present connection we need only refer
to them as means of further emphasising the utilitarian aspect of
mimic representation in the intercourse between savages. After having
realised how on the lower stages of culture practical advantages as
well as social and religious considerations concur in favouring the
development of this early language, we may understand the surprisingly
high dramatic ability of primitive peoples. But while psychological as
well as sociological reasons thus confirm us in considering dramatic
action as the earliest means of conveying intellectual information,
we are nevertheless compelled to admit that even in primitive stages
the other art-forms also may have served this purpose. In reality
it is impossible to draw any sharp distinction between dumb-drama
and primitive poetry. The pantomimic performance will in most cases
spontaneously supplement itself with a recital, spoken or sung. In the
simple representations therefore of real occurrences which characterise
the lowest forms of narrative art these two means of intellectual
expression generally appear together.
And in this connection one will also meet with an early manifestation
of pictorial art in the form of an extempore design, which serves
to bring out more fully and clearly the content of the recital. The
transition from a delineative gesture to a contour-design is indeed
so direct and easy that it must have taken place even among tribes on
a very low plane of culture. In some instances we can distinctly see
how the one art grows out of the other. Mr. Mallery has described a
dialogue between some Alaskan Indians, in which the left hand is used
as an imaginary drawing board upon which lines are drawn with the index
finger of the right hand.[193] Herr von Steinen has observed that the
natives in Central Brazil, as soon as the gestures prove insufficient
for conveying an idea, fashion an explanatory design in the sand.[194]
These designs are only a projection on a different surface of the
hand-movements with which in their pantomimic language they describe
the outlines of the objects in the air. One is tempted, therefore,
to find in these transferred gestures the origin of pictorial
art. And such an hypothesis seems the more probable as in some
tribes—particularly among the North American Indians—the picture-signs
for denoting things and phenomena have evidently been derived from
the corresponding gesture-signs.[195] But it is, as Professor Groos
cautiously remarks, difficult to know whether any primitive man could
ever have thought of delineating the contours of an object had he not
beforehand possessed some idea of drawing.[196] Without endeavouring
to solve this question of origins, it is sufficient for our purpose
to state that a kind of extempore design, almost as spontaneous and
fugitive as the dramatic art, appears together with the mimic and
poetic representations. And we have now only to devote our attention to
these various means of information in so far as they may give rise to a
manifestation of art, while serving the purely intellectual purpose of
conveying or elucidating a thought-content.
It is only natural that the requirements of practical life should
call into existence various kinds of mimic, pictorial, or literary
information which have little whatever to do with art, even if this
notion is conceived in its widest sense. There is no reason for us to
delay our argument by enumerating pantomimics, gestures, or paintings
which aim at communicating notices of trivial importance, such as
directions about the way to be taken by travellers, warnings with
regard to dangerous passages, etc.[197] Even as a purely technical
product a work is of little interest as long as its subject is so poor
and insignificant. We feel justified, therefore, in restricting our
attention to such manifestations as present in their contents some
degree of coherence and continuity.
The simplest examples of purely narrative art which fulfil the
technical claims of a complete work will of course appear when the
text of the narration consists of some real occurrence which is
represented with all its episodes and incidents. Primitive life
affords many inducements to such relation. The men who have returned
from war, or from a hunting or a fishing expedition, will thus often
repeat their experiences in a dramatic dance performed before the
women and children at home. Although in many cases there is reason
to suppose that even these performances may be executed to satisfy
some superstitious or religious motive, they have undoubtedly, to a
certain extent, been prompted by the desire to revive and communicate
the memories of eventful days. Other incidents that have made a strong
impression upon the minds of the people are in the same way displayed
in pantomimic action. It is sufficient here to refer to the elaborate
dramas “Coming from Town” performed by Macusi children, in which all
the episodes of a journey are reproduced with the utmost possible
exactness,[198] to the Corrobberrees in Queensland, in which incidents
of individual or tribal interests, such as hunting or war adventures,
but only those of recent occurrence, are enacted,[199] and to the
performance in a Wanyoro village, where M. de Bellefond’s behaviour
during a recent battle was closely imitated.[200] At the dramatic
entertainment held before some members of Captain Cook’s expedition an
elopement scene which had in reality taken place some time previously
was performed in the presence of the runaway girl herself. The play
is said to have made a very strong impression upon the poor girl, who
could hardly refrain from tears when she saw her own escapade thus
reproduced.[201] The imitation of the real action was in this case
evidently designed as punishment for the guilty spectator; and as
the piece concluded with a scene representing the girl’s return to
her friends and the unfavourable reception she met with from them, it
tended no doubt to exercise a salutary influence.
This naïve little interlude, with its satirical and moralising vein,
naturally reminds us of those old farces which candidly defined
themselves as adaptations of some “scandale du quartier.”
Là elle fut exécutée
Icy vous est representée.[202]
The wordless pantomimes and dramatic dances of the modern savages give
us no information of this kind. But there is no doubt that a closer
investigation would reveal that a great number of the comical and
heroical episodes which, are described in ethnological literature have
had their prototypes in some incidents of recent occurrence.
This opinion can only be corroborated by extending our investigation
to the other departments of narrative art. Whatever other merits one
might discover in primitive poetry, its strength does certainly not lie
in invention. When the songs contain any narrative element at all, it
refers to some simple experience of the day. Travel, hunting, and war
afford the themes for the simplest epical poems as well as for the most
primitive dramatic recitals.[203] And any event of unusual occurrence
will of course be made use of by the poets. Travellers who have learned
to understand the languages of the natives they sojourn with have
often observed that their own persons have been described in impromptu
songs.[204] Sometimes these songs have a satirical tendency;[205]
sometimes they are composed as glorifications of the white man.[206]
But there is no need to assume either of these tendencies in every
case. The mere fact of his being a strange and new thing qualifies
the European as a fitting subject for the primitive drama and poetry.
And on the same grounds all the marvels of civilisation—the rifles,
steamers and so on—will often be described in poetry.[207] In the
savage mind these unknown facts will easily give rise to the most
marvellous interpretations. For an instance of such apparently
fantastic products of poetic imagination, which in reality have their
origin in an unavoidable misconstruction of an unknown reality, we
need only refer to the description of Captain Cook’s ships in the
Hawaii song, which has been taken down by M. de Varigny. The ships
themselves are spoken of as great islands, their masts are trees, the
sailors are gods, who drink blood (_i.e._ claret), and eat fire and
smoke through long tubes (_i.e._ pipes), and carry about things which
they keep in holes in their flanks.[208] It is but natural to assume
that—if researches on the origins of the subjects were possible—the
seeming richness of invention in many similar poems could be accounted
for by the deficient observation and the faults of memory in uneducated
man. And by such researches the importance of actual experience would
be substantiated even with regard to the art of barbaric nations. As
to the songs of the lower savages, to which we have to restrict our
attention at present, it is, as shown by the above adduced examples,
unnecessary to appeal to this explanation.
Not less ephemeral than the literary subjects are the motives of
primitive pictorial art. In Herr von den Steinen’s account of the Xingu
tribes we can find some most typical examples of such explanatory
designs by which the poetic and dramatic recitals of battles, travels,
etc., are supplemented.[209] Owing to their fugitive character these
simple manifestations can never be reduced to a scientific account. But
there is reason to believe that in all parts of the world pictures have
been drawn in the air or in the sand, of which there remain no more
trace than of the gesture that is over or of the unwritten poem that is
forgotten.
It is evident, however, that in some instances at least there have
remained traces of these ephemeral narrations. The picture might have
been drawn on some piece of bark or cloth instead of on the sand,
the pantomime might have been repeated even after its subject had
lost its actuality, or the text remembered after it had served its
immediate purpose in the narration. The fugitive recital, whether
pictorial, mimic, or oral, which lives only for the moment might in
this way have become a permanent work, conveying the contents of the
narrative to future times. One would think that as soon as such a
means of preserving a record of past events had been, intentionally
or accidentally, discovered, it would have immediately been turned to
account. There is, after all, but one step between the impromptu dance
or poem, which tells of a recent occurrence, and the work of art, which
forwards the memory of the same occurrence to consecutive generations.
Ethnological science shows, however, that this distinction is by no
means a theoretical one only. There are tribes amongst the lower
savages in which the pantomimes and dances refer only to the most
recent events. And if amongst these tribes some pictures or some dances
have been preserved from older times, they appear to be quite isolated
exceptions, the presence of which one is tempted to attribute to
accident rather than design. It is only when we look to a higher degree
of culture that we find a commemorative art, in the true sense of the
word, appearing.
From the point of view of comparative psychology this fact is easily
explained. The distance between an impromptu recital of a recent
occurrence and historical art and literature, as we understand them
to-day, however short it may appear, covers perhaps the most momentous
progress that man has made in his advancement towards culture. Whether
commemorative art is to be considered as retrospective with regard to
something that is past, the memory of which it endeavours to revive,
or as directed towards future generations whom the artist would wish to
make participators of the present, it presupposes a power of conferring
attention upon matters the interest in which is not confined to the
immediate present. No psychologist would include this faculty among
the attributes of those in the lowest stage of mental development.
Ethnological science, on the other hand, shows that it is as yet
lacking in some of the existing tribes of the lower savages. In an
æsthetic research it is of the highest importance to know exactly when
and where this attribute appears. In the general history of art no date
can be more significant than that which marks the commencement of a
larger conception in the mind of the artist of the public for whom he
works, bringing in its train, as it does, wider aims concerning his
work.