PRIMITIVE ART 23 



of the people appear frequently in their interpretations of their 

 designs. Purely animal forms are, comparatively speaking, rare ; 

 while geographical features, — such as mountains, valleys and 

 rivers, — tents, parts of the body and plant designs occur very 

 frequently. 



Case 17 c. 



Interpretation of Blackfoot Designs. — Among the Blackfoot we 

 find the same type of decorative designs as among the Arapaho, 

 triangles and diamonds being the 

 most important elements , but they 

 are purely decorative, without sym- 

 bolic significance. These geometric 

 forms, however, have pattern- 

 names as constituent elements of 

 the complex designs, for example : 

 the diamond - shaped figures are 

 known as " spavin" patterns. The 

 idea is, not that the design repre- 

 sents a "spavin," but that it resembles this affection as it 

 appears upon a horse's foot. 



Cases 24, 25. 



Interpretation of Sioux Designs. — The decorative art of the 

 Siouan tribes comprises geometrical designs in bead-work, and 

 pictographic designs in paintings. The geometric designs are both 

 symbolic and decorative. The pictographic designs are usually 

 symbolic. Most of the geometric designs are made by the women ; 

 the pictographic, by the men. The art of the women is especially 

 interesting, because we find them using simple geometrical forms 

 as design elements, for example : all triangular designs of a certain 

 size are known as "tent" patterns; all rectangular designs are 

 known as "bag" patterns ; all small triangular designs are known 

 as "point" patterns, or "leaf" patterns; diamond-shaped de- 

 signs are known as " arrow-point" patterns. Complex geometri- 

 cal designs are built up from these simple elements, and the 

 names given above are the technical names for these designs. 

 The complex designs are best represented in the decoration of 

 tobacco-pouches, as illustrated in Case 25 a. 



