DECORATIVE ART OF THE INDIANS. 



485 



Mexico. All their ceremonial weavings are covered with more or 

 less realistic designs, while all their ordinary wearing-apparel pre- 

 sents geometrical motives. In fact, the style of the two is so different 

 that it hardly seems to belong to the same tribe (Fig. 2). The same 

 phenomenon may be observed outside of America, as is demonstrated by 

 the difference in style between the shaman's coat and the ordinary 

 coat of the Gold of the Amur River (Fig. 3). We may perhaps recog- 

 nize the same tendency in the style of decoration of modern dwelling- 

 rooms and in that of public buildings. The designs on the stained 

 glass of house-windows are usually arranged in geometrical forms; 

 those of churches represent pictures. The wall decorations of houses 

 are wall papers of more or less geometrical character; those of halls de- 

 voted to public uses are generally adorned with symbolic pictures. 





Fig. 2. Woven Designs of the Huichol Indians. (After Dr. Carl Lumholtz.) 



This difference in the treatment of ceremonial and common objects 

 shows clearly that the reason for the conventionalization of motives 

 can not be solely a technical one, for if so, it would act in one case 

 as well as in the other. In ceremonial objects the ideas represented 

 are more important than the decorative effect, and it is intelligible 

 that the resistance to conventionalism may be strong; although in 

 some cases the very sacredness of the idea represented might induce the 

 artist to obscure his meaning intentionally, in order to keep the signifi- 

 cance of the design from profane eyes. It may, therefore, be assumed 

 that, if a tendencv to conventionalization exists, it will manifest itself 



