/ 



THE 



POPULAR SCIENCE 



MONTHLY. 



OOTOBEE, 1903. 



THE DECORATIVE ART OF THE NORTH AMERICAN 



INDIANS. 



By Professor FRANZ BOAS, 



COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY. 



THE extended investigations on primitive decorative art which have 

 been made during the last twenty years have clearly shown that 

 almost everywhere the decorative designs used by primitive man do 

 not serve purely esthetic ends, but that they suggest to his mind 

 certain definite concepts. They are not only decorations, but sym- 

 bols of definite ideas. 



Much has been written on this subject ; and for a time the opinion 

 prevailed that wherever an ornament is explained as a representation 

 of a certain object, its origin has been in a realistic representation of 

 that object, and that it has gradually assumed a more and more con- 

 ventionalized form, which often has developed into a purely geometrical 

 motive.* On the other hand, Cushing and Holmes have pointed out 

 the important influence of material and technique in the evolution of 

 design, and, following Semper, have called attention to the frequent 

 transfer of designs developed in one technique to another. Thus, 

 according to Semper, forms developed in wood architecture were 

 imitated in stone, and Cushing and Holmes showed that textile de- 

 signs are imitated on pottery. 



The origin of certain designs from technical forms is now recog- 

 nized as an important factor, and it must therefore be assumed that 

 in many cases the interpretation has been read into the design. The 

 existence of this tendency has recently been pointed out by H. 



*See A. C. Haddon. 'Evolution in Art.' 



VOL. LXIII. 31. 



