When primitive artists depict members of their own society they generally 

 do not resort to naturalistic portraiture, either of facial features or of body 

 attitudes. (There are some exceptions, notably on the Northwest Coast of 

 North America.) This was not due to inability, but was a matter of inten- 

 tion. Since primitive art usually functioned in important life-crisis cere- 

 monies, especially funerary or memorial, the social characteristics and status 

 of the represented person, rather than his personal attributes, were empha- 

 sized. This was done by means of a display of social symbols, such as cloth- 

 ing, face and body painting, tattoo marks, badges, clubs, spears, and the like. 

 A face might be represented as wearing a mask. The position of the body 

 was similarly symbolic, perhaps an attitude used in a ceremony, or the 

 position in which the body was arranged for burial or cremation. Thus, in 

 primitive art, characterization of an individual tended to be accomplished 

 by means of depiction of that person in conjunction with his material status 

 symbols and in a familiar and stereotyped, socially significant attitude — the 

 latter often rather static and formal. (Continued on page 8) 



Above: Traveling Eu- 

 ropean. Detail from a 

 whole procession carved 

 from a single block of 

 wood. Early 20th cen- 

 tury, Bara, Madagas- 

 car. Length 41% in- 

 ches. 



Below: A Judge and a Sea Captain. Carved in the late 

 19th century by Haida carvers in British Columbia. Height 

 10% and 10%, inches. 



heft: German Colonial 

 OjficialTPottery, paint- 

 ed black. Early 20th 

 century, Bali, Camer- 

 oons, Africa. 7% in- 

 ches. 



degree unpleasant for the primitive peoples involved. It is thus 

 most interesting to see that, although caricature was often in- 

 tended, and European persons were sometimes shown in un- 

 pleasant ways, by and large the characterizations are not particu- 

 larly derogatory nor malicious. Indeed, when these depictions of 

 Europeans are compared with representations of members of the 

 artist's own society, it is apparent that most of the characterizations 

 were done in indigenous style. The element of satire is found more 

 in the minds of European viewers of such works than in the inten- 

 tions of the primitive artist. 



However, there are some differences in the way that Europeans 

 were depicted as compared with the treatment of indigenous 

 subjects. There seems to have been an attempt at portraiture of 

 Europeans, and the body attitudes, also, seem to be naturalistically 

 observed and rendered. That is to say, in contrast with the repre- 

 sentation of the human image in primitive art, the depiction of 

 Europeans has tended to be more naturalistic. 



PHOTOGRAPHS FOR THIS ARTICLE, IN- 

 CLUDING THIS MONTH'S COVER, BY 

 JOHN BAYALIS AND HOMER HOLDREN 



Page . 



