At a very early stage of culture most peoples manifest decided
artistic tendencies, which are revealed in attempts to depict various
devices, life forms, and fancies upon the skin and upon the surfaces
of utensils, garments, and other articles and objects. The figures are
very often decorative in effect and may be of a trivial nature, but
very generally such art is serious and pertains to events or
superstitions. The devices employed may be purely conventional or
geometric, containing no graphic element whatever; but life forms
afford the most natural and satisfactory means of recording,
conveying, and symbolizing ideas, and hence preponderate largely. Such
forms, on account of their intimate relations with the philosophy of
the people, are freely embodied in every art suitable to their
employment. As already seen, the peculiar character of textile
construction places great difficulties in the way of introducing
unsymmetric and complex figures like those of natural objects into
fabrics. The idea of so employing them may originally have been
suggested by the application of designs in color to the woven surfaces
or by resemblances between the simpler conventional life form
derivatives and the geometric figures indigenous to the art.
At any rate, the idea of introducing life forms into the texture was
suggested, and in the course of time a great deal of skill was shown
in their delineation, the bolder workmen venturing to employ a wide
range of graphic subjects.
Now, if we examine these woven forms with reference to the
modifications brought about by the textile surveillance, we find that
the figures, as introduced in the cloth, do not at all correspond with
those executed by ordinary graphic methods, either in degree of
elaboration or in truthfulness of expression. They have a style of
their own. Each delineative element upon entering the textile realm is
forced into those peculiar conventional outlines imposed by the
geometric construction, the character of which has already been dwelt
upon at considerable length. We find, however, that the degree of
convention is not uniform throughout all fabrics, but that it varies
with the refinement of the threads or filaments, the compactness of
the mesh, the character of the combination, the graphic skill of the
artist, and the tendencies of his mind; yet we observe that through
all there is still exhibited a distinct and peculiar geometricity.
So pronounced is this technical bias that delineations of a
particular creature--as, for example, a bird--executed by distant and
unrelated peoples, are reduced in corresponding styles of fabric to
almost identical shapes. This conventionalizing force is further
illustrated by the tendency in textile representation to blot out
differences of time and culture, so that when a civilized artisan,
capable of realistic pictorial delineation of a high order, introduces
a figure into a certain form of coarse fabric he arrives at a result
almost identical with that reached by the savage using the same, who
has no graphic language beyond the rudest outline.
A number of examples may be given illustrating this remarkable power
of textile combination over ornament. I select three in which the
human figure is presented. One is chosen from Iroquoian art, one from
Digger Indian art, and one from the art of the Incas--peoples unequal
in grade of culture, isolated geographically, and racially distinct. I
have selected specimens in which the parts employed give features of
corresponding size, so that comparisons are easily instituted. The
example shown in Fig. 338 illustrates a construction peculiar to the
wampum belts of the Iroquois and their neighbors, and quite unlike
ordinary weaving. It is taken from the middle portion of what is known
as the Penn wampum belt. The horizontal series of strands consists of
narrow strips of buckskin, through which the opposing series of
threads are sewed, holding in place the rows of cylindrical shell
beads. Purple beads are employed to develop the figures in a ground of
white beads. If the maker of this belt had been required to execute in
chalk a drawing depicting brotherly love the results would have been
very different.
[Illustration: FIG. 338. Figures from the Penn wampum belt, showing
the conventional form imposed in bead work.]
My second illustration (Fig. 339) is drawn from a superb example of
the basketry of the Yokut Indians of California. The two figures form
part of a spirally radiating band of ornament, which is shown to good
advantage in the small cut. Fig. 340. It is of the coiled style of
construction. The design is worked in four colors and the effect is
quiet and rich.
[Illustration: FIG. 339. Conventional figures from a California Indian
basket.]
[Illustration: FIG. 340. Basket made by the Yokut Indians of
California.]
Turning southward from California and passing through many strange
lands we find ourselves in Peru, and among a class of remains that
bespeak a high grade of culture. The inhabitants of Ancon were
wonderfully skilled in the textile art, and thousands of handsome
examples have been obtained from their ancient tombs. Among these
relics are many neat little workbaskets woven from rushes. One of
these, now in the National Museum, is encircled by a decorated belt in
which are represented seven human figures woven in black filaments
upon a brown ground.
The base and rim of the basket are woven in the intertwined
combination, but in the decorated belt the style is changed to the
plain right angled interlacing, for the reason, no doubt, that this
combination was better suited to the development of the intended
design. Besides the fundamental series of fillets the weaver resorted
to unusual devices in order to secure certain desired results. In the
first place the black horizontal series of filaments does not
alternate in the simplest way with the brown series, but, where a wide
space of the dark color is called for, several of the brown strands
are passed over at one step, as in the head and body, and in the wider
interspaces the dark strands pass under two or more of the opposing
strands. In this way broad areas of color are obtained. It will be
observed, however, that the construction is weakened by this
modification, and that to remedy the defect two additional extra
constructive series of fillets are added. These are of much lighter
weight than the main series, that they may not obscure the pattern.
Over the dark series they run vertically and over the light obliquely.
[Illustration: FIG. 341. Conventional human figures from an ancient
Peruvian basket.]
It will be seen that the result, notwithstanding all this modification
of procedure, is still remarkably like that of the preceding examples,
the figures corresponding closely in kind and degree of geometricity.
The fact is that in this coarse work refinement of drawing is
absolutely unattainable. It appears that the sharply pronounced steps
exhibited in the outlines are due to the great width of the fillets
used. With the finer threads employed by most nations of moderate
culture the stepped effect need not obtrude itself, for smooth
outlines and graceful curves are easily attainable; yet, as a rule,
even the finer fabrics continue to exhibit in their decorations the
pronounced geometric character seen in ruder forms. I present a
striking example of this in Fig. 342, a superb piece of Incarian
gobelins, in which a gaily costumed personage is worked upon a dark
red ground dotted with symbols and strange devices. The work is
executed in brilliant colors and in great detail. But with all the
facility afforded for the expression of minutely modulated form the
straight lines and sharp angles are still present. The traditions of
the art were favorable to great geometricity, and the tendencies of
the warp and woof and the shape of the spaces to be filled were
decidedly in that direction.
[Illustration: FIG. 342. Human figure in Peruvian gobelins, showing
characteristic textile convention. From chromolithographs published by
Reiss and Stuebel in The Necropolis of Ancon.]
[Illustration: FIG. 343. Human figures from a Peruvian vase, done in
free hand, graphic style.]
In order that the full force of my remarks may be appreciable to the
eye of the reader, I give an additional illustration (Fig. 343). The
two figures here shown, although I am not able to say positively that
the work is pre-Columbian, were executed by a native artist of about
the same stage of culture as was the work of the textile design. These
figures are executed in color upon the smooth surface of an earthen
vase and illustrate perfectly the peculiar characters of free hand,
graphic delineation. Place this and the last figure side by side and
we see how vastly different is the work of two artists of equal
capacity when executed in the two methods. This figure should also be
compared with the embroidered figures shown in Fig. 348.
The tendencies to uniformity in textile ornament here illustrated may
be observed the world over. Every element entering the art must
undergo a similar metamorphosis; hence the remarkable power of this
almost universally practiced art upon the whole body of decorative
design.
[Illustration: FIG. 344. Human figure modified by execution in
concentric interlaced style of weaving--1/3.]
That the range of results produced by varying styles of weaving and of
woven objects may be appreciated, I present some additional examples.
Coiled wares, for instance, present decorative phenomena strikingly at
variance with those in which there is a rectangular disposition of
parts. Instead of the two or more interlacing series of parallel
fillets exhibited in the latter style, we have one radiate and one
concentric series. The effect of this arrangement upon the introduced
human figure is very striking, as will be seen by reference to Fig.
344, which represents a large tray obtained from the Moki Indians. The
figure probably represents one of the mythologic personages of the
Moki pantheon or some otherwise important priestly functionary,
wearing the characteristic headdress of the ceremony in which the
plaque was to be used. The work is executed in wicker, stained in such
bright tints as were considered appropriate to the various features of
the costume. Referring in detail to the shape and arrangement of the
parts of the figure, it is apparent that many of the remarkable
features are due to constructive peculiarities. The round face, for
example, does not refer to the sun or the moon, but results from the
concentric weaving. The oblique eyes have no reference to a Mongolian
origin, as they only follow the direction of the ray upon which they
are woven, and the headdress does not refer to the rainbow or the
aurora because it is arched, but is arched because the construction
forced it into this shape. The proportion of the figure is not so very
bad because the Moki artist did not know better, but because the
surface of the tray did not afford room to project the body and limbs.
[Illustration: FIG. 345. Figure of a bird painted upon a Zuni shield,
free hand delineation.]
Now, it may be further observed that had the figure been placed at one
side of the center, extending only from the border to the middle of
the tray, an entirely different result would have been reached; but
this is better illustrated in a series of bird delineations presented
in the following figures. With many tribes the bird is an object of
superstitious interest and is introduced freely into all art products
suitable for its delineation. It is drawn upon walls, skins, pottery,
and various utensils and weapons, especially those directly connected
with ceremonies in which the mythical bird is an important factor. The
bird form was probably in familiar use long before it was employed in
the decoration of basketry. In Fig. 345 I present an ordinary graphic
representation. It is copied from a Zuni shield and is the device of
an order or the totem of a clan. The style is quite conventional, as a
result of the various constraints surrounding its production. But what
a strange metamorphosis takes place when it is presented in the
basketmaker's language. Observe the conventional pattern shown upon
the surface of a Moki tray (Fig. 346). We have difficulty in
recognizing the bird at all, although the conception is identical with
the preceding. The positions of the head and legs and the expanded
wings and tail correspond as closely as possible, but delineation is
hampered by technique. The peculiar construction barely permits the
presentation of a recognizable life form, and permits it in a
particular way, which will be understood by a comparison with the
treatment of the human figure in Fig. 344. In that case the interlaced
combination gives relievo results, characterized by wide, radiating
ribs and narrow, inconspicuous, concentric lines, which cross the ribs
in long steps. The power of expression lies almost wholly with the
concentric series, and detail must in a great measure follow the
concentric lines. In the present case (Fig. 346) this is reversed and
lines employed in expressing forms are radiate.
[Illustration: FIG. 346. Figure of a bird executed in a coiled Moki
tray, textile delineation.]
The precise effect of this difference of construction upon a
particular feature may be shown by the introduction of another
illustration. In Fig. 347 we have a bird woven in a basket of the
interlaced style. We see with what ease the long sharp bill and the
slender tongue (shown by a red filament between the two dark
mandibles) are expressed. In the other case the construction is such
that the bill, if extended in the normal direction, is broad and
square at the end, and the tongue, instead of lying between the
mandibles, must run across the bill, totally at variance with the
truth; in this case the tongue is so represented, the light vertical
band seen in the cut being a yellow stripe. It will be seen that the
two representations are very unlike each other, not because of
differences in the conception and not wholly on account of the style
of weaving, but rather because the artist chose to extend one across
the whole surface of the utensil and to confine the other to one side
of the center.
[Illustration: FIG. 347. Figure of a bird woven in interlaced wicker
at one side of the center.]
It is clear, therefore, from the preceding observations that the
convention of woven life forms varies with the kind of weaving, with
the shape of the object, with the position upon the object, and with
the shape of the space occupied, as well as with the inherited style
of treatment and with the capacity of the artist concerned. These
varied forces and influences unite in the metamorphosis of all the
incoming elements of textile embellishment.
It will be of interest to examine somewhat closely the modifications
produced in pictorial motives introduced through superstructural and
adventitious agencies.
We are accustomed, at this age of the world, to see needlework
employed successfully in the delineation of graphic forms and observe
that even the Indian, under the tutelage of the European, reproduces
in a more or less realistic way the forms of vegetal and animal life.
As a result we find it difficult to realize the simplicity and
conservatism of primitive art. The intention of the primitive artist
was generally not to depict nature, but to express an idea or decorate
a space, and there was no strong reason why the figures should not
submit to the conventionalizing tendencies of the art.
I have already shown that embroidered designs, although not from
necessity confined to geometric outlines, tend to take a purely
geometric character from the fabric upon which they are executed, as
well as from the mechanical processes of stitching. This is well shown
in Fig. 348, a fine specimen given by Wiener in his work Perou et
Bolive.
[Illustration: FIG. 348. Embroidery upon a cotton net in which the
textile combinations are followed step by step. Ancient Peruvian
work.]
A life form worked upon a net does not differ essentially from the
same subject woven in with the web and woof. The reason is found in
the fact that in embroidery the workman was accustomed from the first
to follow the geometric combination of the foundation fabric step by
step, and later in life delination he pursued the same method.
It would seem natural, however, that when the foundation fabric does
not exhibit well marked geometric characters, as in compactly woven
canvas, the needlework would assume free hand characters and follow
the curves and irregularities of the natural object depicted; but such
is not the case in purely aboriginal work. An example of embroidery
obtained from an ancient grave at Ancon, Peru, is shown in Fig. 349. A
piece of brown cotton canvas is embellished with a border of bird
figures in bright colored wool thread. The lines of the figures do not
obey the web and woof strictly, as the lines are difficult to follow,
but the geometric character is as perfectly preserved as if the design
were woven in the goods.
[Illustration: FIG. 349. Embroidery in which the foundation fabric is
not followed accurately, but which exhibits the full textile
geometricity. Ancient Peruvian work.]
[Illustration: FIG. 350. Design painted in color upon a woven surface,
exhibiting the full degree of geometric convention. Ancient Peruvian
work. Copied from The Necropolis of Ancon.]
So habit and association carry the geometric system into adventitious
decoration. When the ancient Peruvian executed a design in color upon
a woven surface (Fig. 350), using a pencil or brush, the result was
hardly less subject to textile restraint.
As a matter of course, since there are two distinct styles of
decorative design--the textile and the free hand--there exist
intermediate forms partaking of the character of both; but it is
nevertheless clear that the textile system transforms or greatly
modifies all nature motives associated with it, whether introduced
into the fabric or applied to its surface.
In countries where the textile art is unimportant and the textile
system of decoration does not obtrude itself, free hand methods may
prevail to such an extent that the geometric influence is but little
felt. The Haidah Indians, for example, paint designs with great
freedom and skill, and those applied to woven surfaces are identical
with those executed upon skins, wood, and stone, but this art is
doubtless much modified by the means and methods of Europeans. Our
studies should be confined wholly to pure indigenous art.