Chapter 1

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A STUDY OF THE TEXTILE ART IN ITS RELATION TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF FORM AND ORNAMENT

BY

WILLIAM H. HOLMES.

Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1884-'85, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1888, pages 189-252

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CONTENTS.

Page Introduction. 195 Form in textile art. 196 Relations of form to ornament. 201 Color in textile art. 201

Textile ornament. 202 Development of a geometric system within the art. 202 Introduction. 202 Relief phenomena. 203 Ordinary features. 203 Reticulated work. 210 Superconstructive features. 211 Color phenomena. 215 Ordinary features. 215 Non-essential constructive features. 226 Superconstructive features. 228 Adventitious features. 231 Geometricity imposed upon adopted elements. 232 Extension of textile ornament to other forms of art. 244

ILLUSTRATIONS.

FIG. Page. 286. Mat or tray with esthetic attributes of form 197 287. Tray having decided esthetic attributes of form 198 288. Pyriform water vessel 198 289. Basket with esthetic characters of form 199 290. Basket of eccentric form 200 291. Character of surface in the simplest form of weaving 204 292. Surface produced by impacting 204 293. Surface produced by use of wide fillets 204 294. Basket with ribbed surface 205 295. Bottle showing obliquely ribbed surface 205 296. Tray showing radial ribs 205 297. Combination giving herring bone effect 206 298. Combination giving triangular figures 206 299. Peruvian work basket 206 300. Basket of Seminole workmanship 207 301. Surface effect produced in open twined combination 207 302. Surface effect produced in open twined combination 207 303. Surface effect produced by impacting in twined combination 208 304. Surface effect produced by impacting the web strands in twined combination 208 305. Surface effect produced by crossing the web series in open twined work 208 306. Tray with open mesh, twined combination 208 307. Conical basket, twined combination 209 308. Example of primitive reticulated weaving 210 309. Simple form of reticulation 211 310. Reticulated pattern in cotton cloth 211 311. Peruvian embroidery 213 312. Basket with pendent ornaments 213 313. Basket with pendent ornaments 213 314. Tasseled Peruvian mantle 214 315. Pattern produced by interlacing strands of different colors 216 316. Pattern produced by interlacing strands of different colors 216 317. Pattern produced by interlacing strands of different colors 216 318. Pattern produced by interlacing strands of different colors 217 319. Base of coiled basket 218 320. Coiled basket with geometric ornament 218 321. Coiled basket with geometric ornament 219 322. Coiled basket with geometric ornament 220 323. Coiled basket with geometric ornament 220 324. Coiled basket with geometric ornament 221 325. Coiled basket with geometric ornament 223 326. Coiled tray with geometric ornament 224 327. Coiled tray with geometric ornament 225 328. Tray with geometric ornament 225 329. Tray with geometric ornament 226 330. Ornament produced by wrapping the strands 227 331. Ornament produced by fixing strands to the surface of the fabric 227 332. Basket with feather ornamentation 227 333. Basket with feather ornamentation 227 334. Piece of cloth showing use of supplementary warp and woof 228 335. Piece of cloth showing use of supplementary warp and woof 228 336. Example of grass embroidery 230 337. Example of feather embroidery 231 338. Figures from the Penn wampum belt 233 339. Figures from a California Indian basket 234 340. California Indian basket 234 341. Figures from a Peruvian basket 235 342. Figure from a piece of Peruvian gobelins 236 343. Figures from a Peruvian vase 237 344. Figure from a circular basket 238 345. Figure of a bird from a Zuni shield 239 346. Figure of a bird woven in a tray 240 347. Figure of a bird woven in a basket 241 348. Figures embroidered on a cotton net by the ancient Peruvians 242 349. Figures of birds embroidered by the ancient Peruvians 243 350. Conventional design painted upon cotton cloth 243 351. Herring bone and checker patterns produced in weaving 246 352. Herring bone and checker patterns engraved in clay 246 353. Earthen vase with textile ornament 247 354. Example of textile ornament painted upon pottery 248 355. Textile pattern transferred to pottery through costume 248 356. Ceremonial adz with carved ornament of textile character 250 357. Figures upon a tapa stamp 251 358. Design in stucco exhibiting textile characters 251

TEXTILE ART IN ITS RELATION TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF FORM AND ORNAMENT.

BY WILLIAM H. HOLMES.

INTRODUCTION.

The textile art is one of the most ancient known, dating back to the very inception of culture. In primitive times it occupied a wide field, embracing the stems of numerous branches of industry now expressed in other materials or relegated to distinct systems of construction. Accompanying the gradual narrowing of its sphere there was a steady development with the general increase of intelligence and skill so that with the cultured nations of to-day it takes an important, though unobtrusive, place in the hierarchy of the arts.

Woven fabrics include all those products of art in which the elements or parts employed in construction are largely filamental and are combined by methods conditioned chiefly by their flexibility. The processes employed are known by such terms as interlacing, plaiting, netting, weaving, sewing, and embroidering.

The materials used at first are chiefly filiform vegetal growths, such as twigs, leaves, roots, and grasses, but later on filiform and then fibrous elements from all the kingdoms of nature, as well as numerous artificial preparations, are freely used. These are employed in the single, doubled, doubled and twisted, and plaited conditions, and are combined by the hands alone, by the hands assisted by simple devices, by hand looms, and finally in civilization by machine looms.

The products are, first, individual structures or articles, such as shelters, baskets, nets, and garments, or integral parts of these; and, second, "piece" goods, such as are not adapted to use until they are cut and fitted. In earlier stages of art we have to deal almost exclusively with the former class, as the tailor and the house furnisher are evolved with civilization.

In their bearing upon art these products are to be studied chiefly with reference to three grand divisions of phenomena, the first of which I shall denominate _constructive_, the second _functional_, and the third _esthetic_. The last class, with which this paper has almost exclusively to deal, is composed mainly of what may be called the superconstructive and superfunctional features of the art and includes three subdivisions of phenomena, connected respectively with (1) form, (2) color, and (3) design. Esthetic features of form are, in origin and manifestation, related to both function and construction; color and design, to construction mainly. In the following study separate sections are given to each of these topics.

It is fortunate perhaps that in this work I am restricted to the products of rather primitive stages of culture, as I have thus to deal with a limited number of uses, simple processes, and simple shapes. In the advanced stages of art we encounter complex phenomena, processes, and conditions, the accumulation of ages, through which no broad light can fall upon the field of vision.

In America there is a vast body of primitive, indigenous art having no parallel in the world. Uncontaminated by contact with the complex conditions of civilized art, it offers the best possible facilities for the study of the fundamental principles of esthetic development.

The laws of evolution correspond closely in all art, and, if once rightly interpreted in the incipient stage of a single, homogeneous culture, are traceable with comparative ease through all the succeeding stages of civilization.

FORM IN TEXTILE ART.

Form in the textile art, as in all other useful arts, is fundamentally, although not exclusively, the resultant or expression of function, but at the same time it is further than in other shaping arts from expressing the whole of function. Such is the pliability of a large portion of textile products--as, for example, nets, garments, and hangings--that the shapes assumed are variable, and, therefore, when not distended or for some purpose folded or draped, the articles are without esthetic value or interest. The more rigid objects, in common with the individuals of other useful arts, while their shape still accords with their functional office, exhibit attributes of form generally recognized as pleasing to the mind, which are expressed by the terms grace, elegance, symmetry, and the like. Such attributes are not separable from functional attributes, but originate and exist conjointly with them.

In addition to these features of form we observe others of a more decidedly superfunctional character, added manifestly for the purpose of enhancing the appearance.

In very primitive times when a utensil is produced functional ideas predominate, and there is, perhaps, so far as its artificial characters are concerned, a minimum of comeliness. But as the ages pass by essential features are refined and elements of beauty are added and emphasized. In riper culture the growing pressure of esthetic desire leads to the addition of many superficial modifications whose chief office is to please the fancy. In periods of deadened sensibility or even through the incompetence of individual artists in any period, such features may be ill chosen and erroneously applied, interfering with construction and use, and thus violating well founded and generally accepted canons of taste. In respect to primitive works we may distinguish four steps in the acquisition of esthetic features of form, three of which are normal, the fourth abnormal: First, we have that in which functional characters alone are considered, any element of beauty, whether due to the artist's hand or to the accidents of material, construction, or model, being purely adventitious; second, that in which the necessary features of the utensil appear to have experienced the supervision of taste, edges being rounded, curves refined, and symmetry perfected; third, that in which the functionally perfect object, just described, undergoes further variations of contour, adding to variety, unity, &c., thus enhancing beauty without interfering with serviceability; and, fourth, that in which, under abnormal influences, beauty is sought at the sacrifice of functional and constructive perfection.

The exact relations of the various classes of forces and phenomena pertaining to this theme may be more fully elucidated by the aid of illustrations. Woven mats, in early use by many tribes of men and originating in the attempt to combine leaves, vines, and branches for purposes of comfort, are flat because of function, the degree of flatness depending upon the size of filaments and mode of combination; and in outline they are irregular, square, round, or oval, as a result of many causes and influences, embracing use, construction, material, models, &c. A close approach to symmetry, where not imposed by some of the above mentioned agencies, is probably due to esthetic tendencies on the part of the artist. The esthetic interest attaching to such a shape cannot be great, unless perhaps it be regarded, as all individuals and classes may be regarded, in its possible relations to preceding, associated, and succeeding forms of art. The varied features observed upon the surface, the colors and patterns (Fig. 286), pertain to design rather than to form and will receive attention in the proper place.

In point of contour the basket tray shown in Fig. 287 has a somewhat more decided claim upon esthetic attention than the preceding, as the curves exhibited mark a step of progress in complexity and grace. How much of this is due to intention and how much to technical perfection must remain in doubt. In work so perfect we are wont, however unwarrantably, to recognize the influence of taste.

A third example--presented in Fig. 288--illustrates an advanced stage in the art of basketry and exhibits a highly specialized shape. The forces and influences concerned in its evolution may be analyzed as follows: A primal origin in function and a final adaptation to a special function, the carrying and storing of water; a contour full to give capacity, narrow above for safety, and pointed below that it may be set in sand; curves kept within certain bounds by the limitations of construction; and a goodly share of variety, symmetry, and grace, the result to a certain undetermined extent of the esthetic tendencies of the artist's mind. In regard to the last point there is generally in forms so simple an element of uncertainty; but many examples may be found in which there is positive evidence of the existence of a strong desire on the part of the primitive basketmaker to enhance beauty of form. It will be observed that the textile materials and construction do not lend themselves freely to minuteness in detail or to complexity of outline, especially in those small ways in which beauty is most readily expressed.

Modifications of a decidedly esthetic character are generally suggested to the primitive mind by some functional, constructive, or accidental feature which may with ease be turned in the new direction. In the vessel presented in Fig. 289--the work of Alaskan Indians--the margin is varied by altering the relations of the three marginal turns of the coil, producing a scalloped effect. This is without reference to use, is uncalled for in construction, and hence is, in all probability, the direct result of esthetic tendencies. Other and much more elaborate examples may be found in the basketry of almost all countries.

In the pursuit of this class of enrichment there is occasionally noticeable a tendency to overload the subject with extraneous details. This is not apt to occur, however, in the indigenous practice of an art, but comes more frequently from a loss of equilibrium or balance in motives or desires, caused by untoward exotic influence. When, through suggestions derived from contact with civilized art, the savage undertakes to secure all the grace and complexity observed in the works of more cultured peoples, he does so at the expense of construction and adaptability to use. An example of such work is presented in Fig. 290, a weak, useless, and wholly vicious piece of basketry. Other equally meretricious pieces represent goblets, bottles, and tea pots. They are the work of the Indians of the northwest coast and are executed in the neatest possible manner, bearing evidence of the existence of cultivated taste.

It appears from the preceding analyses that _form_ in this art is not sufficiently sensitive to receive impressions readily from the delicate touch of esthetic fingers; besides, there are peculiar difficulties in the way of detecting traces of the presence and supervision of taste. The inherent morphologic forces of the art are strong and stubborn and tend to produce the precise classes of results that we, at this stage of culture, are inclined to attribute to esthetic influence. If, in the making of a vessel, the demands of use are fully satisfied, if construction is perfect of its kind, if materials are uniformly suitable, and if models are not absolutely bad, it follows that the result must necessarily possess in a high degree those very attributes that all agree are pleasing to the eye.

In a primitive water vessel function gives a full outline, as capacity is a prime consideration; convenience of use calls for a narrow neck and a conical base; construction and materials unite to impose certain limitations to curves and their combinations, from which the artist cannot readily free himself. Models furnished by nature, as they are usually graceful, do not interfere with the preceding agencies, and all these forces united tend to give symmetry, grace, and the unity that belongs to simplicity. Taste which is in a formative state can but fall in with these tendencies of the art, and must be led by them, and led in a measure corresponding to their persistency and universality. If the textile art had been the only one known to man, ideas of the esthetic in shape would have been in a great measure formed through that art. Natural forms would have had little to do with it except through models furnished directly to and utilized by the art, for the ideas of primitive men concentrate about that upon which their hands work and upon which their thoughts from necessity dwell with steady attention from generation to generation.

RELATIONS OF FORM TO ORNAMENT.

It would seem that the esthetic tendencies of the mind, failing to find satisfactory expression in shape, seized upon the non-essential features of the art--markings of the surface and color of filaments--creating a new field in which to labor and expending their energy upon ornament.

Shape has some direct relations to ornament, and these relations may be classified as follows:

First, the contour of the vessel controls its ornament to a large extent, dictating the positions of design and setting its limits; figures are in stripes, zones, rays, circles, ovals, or rectangles--according, in no slight measure, to the character of the spaces afforded by details of contour. Secondly, it affects ornament through the reproduction and repetition of features of form, such as handles, for ornamental purposes. Thirdly, it is probable that shape influences embellishment through the peculiar bias given by it to the taste and judgment of men prior to or independent of the employment of ornament.

COLOR IN TEXTILE ART.

Color is one of the most constant factors in man's environment, and it is so strongly and persistently forced upon his attention, so useful as a means of identification and distinction, that it necessarily receives a large share of consideration. It is probably one of the foremost objective agencies in the formation and development of the esthetic sense.

The natural colors of textile materials are enormously varied and form one of the chief attractions of the products of the art. The great interest taken in color--the great importance attached to it--is attested by the very general use of dyes, by means of which additional variety and brilliancy of effect are secured.

Color employed in the art is not related to use, excepting, perhaps, in symbolic and superstitious matters; nor is it of consequence in construction, although it derives importance from the manner in which construction causes it to be manifested to the eye. It finds its chief use in the field of design, in making evident to the eye the figures with which objects of art are embellished.

Color is employed or applied in two distinct ways: it is woven or worked into the fabric by using colored filaments or parts, or it is added to the surface of the completed object by means of pencils, brushes, and dies. Its employment in the latter manner is especially convenient when complex ideographic or pictorial subjects are to be executed.

TEXTILE ORNAMENT.

DEVELOPMENT OF A GEOMETRIC SYSTEM OF DESIGN WITHIN THE ART.

INTRODUCTION.

Having made a brief study of form and color in the textile art, I shall now present the great group or family of phenomena whose exclusive office is that of enhancing beauty. It will be necessary, however, to present, besides those features of the art properly expressive of the esthetic culture of the race, all those phenomena that, being present in the art without man's volition, tend to suggest decorative conceptions and give shape to them. I shall show how the latter class of features arise as a necessity of the art, how they gradually come into notice and are seized upon by the esthetic faculty, and how under its guidance they assist in the development of a system of ornament of world wide application.