Part 2

Many works of art affect us in another way. The emotions may be stimulated not by the form alone, but also by close associations that exist between the form and ideas held by the people. In other words, when the forms convey a meaning, because they recall past experiences or because they act as symbols, a new element is added to the enjoyment. The form and its meaning combine to elevate the mind above the indifferent emotional state of every day life. Beautiful sculpture or painting, a musical composition, dramatic art, a pantomime, may so affect us. This is no less true of primitive art than of our own.

Sometimes esthetic pleasure is released by natural forms. The song of a bird may be beautiful; we may experience pleasure in viewing the form of a landscape or in viewing the movements of an animal; we may enjoy a natural taste or smell, or a pleasant feeling; grandeur of nature may give us an emotional thrill and the actions of animals may have a dramatic effect; all of these have esthetic values but they are not art. On the other hand, a melody, a carving, a painting, a dance, a pantomime are esthetic productions, because they have been created by our own activities.

Form, and creation by our own activities are essential features of art. The pleasure or elevation of the mind must be brought about by a particular form of sense impression, but this sense impression must be made by some kind of human activity or by some product of human activity.

It is essential to bear in mind the twofold source of artistic effect, the one based on form alone, the other on ideas associated with form. Otherwise the theory of art will be one-sided. Since the art of man, the world over, among primitive tribes as well as among civilized nations, contains both elements, the purely formal and the significant, it is not admissible to base all discussions of the manifestations of the art impulse upon the assumption that the expression of emotional states by significant forms must be the beginning of art, or that, like language, art is a form of expression. In modern times this opinion is based in part on the often observed fact that in primitive art even simple geometrical forms may possess a meaning that adds to their emotional value, and that dance, music and poetry almost always have definite meaning. However, significance of artistic form is neither universal nor can it be shown that it is necessarily older than the form.

I do not intend to enter into a discussion of the philosophical theories of esthetics, but will confine myself to a few remarks on the views of a number of recent authors who have treated art on the basis of ethnological material, and only in so far as the question is concerned whether primitive art is expressive of definite ideas.

Our views agree fundamentally with those of Fechner[5] who recognizes the “direct” appeal of the work of art on the one side and the associated elements that give a specific tone to the esthetic effects on the other.

[5] G. T. Fechner, Vorschule der Aesthetik.

Wundt[6] restricts the discussion of art to those forms in which the artistic work expresses some thought or emotion. He says, “For the psychological study art stands in a position intermediate between language and myth.... Thus the creative artistic work appears to us as a peculiar development of the expressive movements of the body. Gesture and language pass in a fleeting moment. In art they are sometimes given a higher significance; sometimes the fleeting movement is given a permanent form.... All these relations are manifested principally in the relatively early, although not in the very earliest stages of artistic work in which the momentary needs of expression of thought dominate art as well as language.”

[6] Wilhelm Wundt, Völkerpsychologie, Vol. 3, Die Kunst; third edition, Leipzig, 1919, p. 5.

Max Verworn[7] says: “Art is the faculty to express conscious processes by means created by the artist himself in such a manner that they may be perceived by our sense organs. In this general sense language, song, music and dance are art, just as well as painting, sculpture and ornamentation. The graphic and plastic arts in the narrow sense of the term result from the ability of making conscious processes visible in permanent materials.”

[7] Die Anfänge der Kunst, Jena, 1920, p. 8. “Kunst im allgemeinsten Sinne ist, wie das Wort schon sagt, ein ‘Können’.”

Richard Thurnwald[8] accepts the view-point of Wundt when he says, “Art, however inadequate its means may be, is a means of expression that belongs to mankind. The means employed are distinct from those used in gesture, language and writing. Even when the artist is intent only upon the repetition of what he has in mind he does so with at least the subconscious purpose of communicating his ideas, of influencing others.”

[8] Richard Thurnwald, Handbuch der vergleichenden Psychologie, herausgegeben von Gustav Kafka, Vol. I, p. 211.

The same onesidedness may be recognized in Yrjö Hirn’s[9] opinion, who says: “In order to understand the art impulse as a tendency to esthetic production we must bring it into connection with some function from the nature of which the specifically artistic qualities may be derived. Such a function is to be found, we believe, in the activities of emotional expression.”

[9] Yrjö Hirn, The Origins of Art, London, 1900, p. 29.

It will be seen that all these authors confine their definition of art to those forms which are expressions of emotional states or of ideas, while they do not include in art the pleasure conveyed by purely formal elements that are not primarily expressive.

Ernst Grosse[10] expresses similar views in somewhat different form. He stresses the practical purpose of artistic forms which appears to him as primary. However, he assumes that these forms, while devoted first of all to practical purposes, are intended at the same time to serve an esthetic need that is felt by the people. Thus, he says, that primitive ornament is by origin and by its fundamental nature not intended as decorative but as a practically significant mark or symbol, that is to say as expressive. If I understand him correctly this practical significance implies some kind of meaning inherent in the form.

[10] Ernst Grosse, Die Anfänge der Kunst, 1894, p. 292.

Emil Stephan[11] concludes from his detailed discussion of Melanesian art that technical motives offer no sufficient explanation for the origin of artistic forms (pp. 52 et seq.). He considers all ornament as representative and sees the origin of art in that unconscious mental process by which the form appears as distinct from the content of the visual impression, and in the desire to give permanence to the form (p. 51). For this reason he considers the artistic forms also as equivalents of the way in which the form appears to the primitive artist.

[11] Emil Stephan, Südseekunst, Berlin, 1907.

Alfred C. Haddon[12] and W. H. Holmes[13] seek the origin of all decorative art in realism. They discuss the transfer of technical forms to ornament but they see in these also results of the endeavor to reproduce realistic form, namely; technical details. Henry Balfour[14] agrees, on the whole, with this position but he stresses also the development of decorative motives from the actual use of technical processes.

[12] Alfred C. Haddon, Evolution in Art, London 1895.

[13] W. H. Holmes, Origin and Development of Form in Ceramic Art, Annual Report Bureau of Ethnology, Vol. 4, 1886, pp. 443 et seq.

[14] Henry Balfour, The Evolution of Decorative Art, London 1893.

Gottfried Semper[15] emphasizes the importance of the form as determined by the manner of use. He also stresses the influence of designs developed in weaving and of their transfer upon other forms of technique, particularly upon architectural forms.

[15] Gottfried Semper, Der Stil in den Technischen und Tektonischen Künsten, 1860.

Alois Riegl[16] is also inclined to stress the representative character of the most ancient art forms, basing his argument essentially upon the realistic paleolithic carvings and paintings. He sees the most important step forward in the attempt to show the animals in outline, on a two-dimensional surface which necessitates the substitution of an ideal line for the three-dimensional form that is given to us by every day experience. He assumes that geometric ornament developed from the treatment of the line, obtained by the process just mentioned, according to formal principles.

[16] Alois Riegl, Stilfragen, 2nd edition, Berlin, 1923, pp. 2 et seq.

Setting aside the assumed sequence of these two aspects, his view-point is distinguished from that of the authors referred to before, by the recognition of the principle of form as against that of content.

The principle of form is still more energetically defended by van Scheltema, who tries to prove definite developmental processes through which the formal treatment of North European art has passed, first in the Neolithic period, then in the bronze age and finally in the iron age.[17]

[17] F. Adama van Scheltema, Die altnordische Kunst, Berlin, 1923. For a comprehensive review of works on primitive art up to 1914, see Martin Heydrich, Afrikanische Ornamentik, Internationales Archiv für Ethnographie, Supplement to Volume XXII, Leyden, 1914; also the bibliography in Eckert von Sydow, Die Kunst der Naturvölker und der Vorzeit, Berlin, 1923; and Herbert Kühn, Die Kunst der Primitiven, München, 1923. An excellent review of the subject has been given by Elizabeth Wilson, Das Ornament (Dissertation, University of Leipzig).

Alfred Vierkandt[18] also emphasizes the fundamental importance of the formal element in the esthetic effect of all manifestations of art.

[18] Prinzipienfragen der ethnologischen Kunstforschung, Zeitschrift für Aesthetik und allgemeine Kunstwissenschaft, Vol. XIX, Berlin, 1925, pp. 338 et seq. See also Jahrbuch für historische Volkskunde, Vol. II; Vom Wesen der Volkskunst, Berlin, 1926; Rafael Karsten, Civilization of South American Indians, New York, 1926.

GRAPHIC AND PLASTIC ARTS

THE FORMAL ELEMENT IN ART

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.