A Survey of Ancient Peruvian Art. 365 



"The processes are: i. Simplification. 2. Elaboration. 3, 

 Elimination. 4. Substitution. 



"Careful analysis of one group of designs after another, dur- 

 ing which special attention is paid to the changes in homologous 

 parts, makes pretty clear the matter in which the imagination 

 works. In the first place, imagination does not create, it merely 

 reshapes and recombines, taking suggestions and material from 

 any thing lying within the field of experience 



"Simplification. . . . Dr. Harrison Allen discusses the rela- 

 tions between natural forms and art forms. He finds that the 

 tendencies of conventional art are : 



1st, to repeat the normal lines of the model; 



2nd, to diminish the normal lines of the model ; 



3rd, to modify according to a symbol ; 



4th, to modify according to mystic or religious ideas. . . . 



"Elaboration. Of less real worth in the development of art, 

 but of more common occurrence, is the process of elaboration. 

 This process amplifies rather than reduces and by means of 

 adventitious ornament renders the original form more com- 

 plex. . . . 



"Elimination. Elimination of one feature after another of a 

 natural motive till only one or two survive is a common phenom- 

 enon the world over in decorative art. In Maya art the process 

 is frequently observed in the case of the serpent. Very often 

 the entire lower jaw is omitted. . . . 



"Substitution. The process of substitution likewise plays a 

 great part in all highly developed art, whether barbaric or 

 civilized. The substitution of new and striking details for old 

 and commonplace ones — even at the cost of the first meaning 

 of the design — is one of the simplest and most natural ways by 

 which imagination can reconstruct and revivify worn-out sub- 

 jects. . . . Especially in decorative art, details of a composi- 

 tion realistic or geometric may be progressively replaced by 

 other quite different details until in the end only a trace of 

 the original setting remains." ^^ 



Let us now seek carefully to apply the principles outlined 

 by Dr. Spinden to Proto-Chimu, Proto-Nasca and Tiahuanaco 

 II arts. We will take up the principles in order. We find, in 

 the transition from Proto-Chimu to Proto-Nasca and to Tiahu- 

 anaco II (at Tiahuanaco, on the coast, and at Chavin), that an 

 important part is played by the second aspect of Simplifi,cation. 

 We have in Proto-Chimu a highly realistic decorative art in 

 which both modelling and painting seek to approach as nearly 



^Cf. Allen, 1881 ; Batchelder, 1910; MacCurdy, 1911, 127. 



