TEXTILE ART IN IT8 llELATION TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF FOliM AM) ORNAMENT. 



By William H, Holmes. 



DMTRODUCTION. 



The textile ai-t is one of the most ancient known, dating back to 

 the very inception of enltuvo. In primitive times it occupied a wide 

 field, enihracinn' the stems of numerous l)raiic]ies of industry now 

 expressed in otlier materials .>r rele.^ati'd to distinct systems of con- 

 struction. Acciimpauyiny tlie gradual narrowing of its sphere there 

 was a steady development with the general increase of intelligence 

 and skill, so that with the cultured nations of to-day it takes an im- 

 portant, tlmugli uutilitrusive. place in the hierarchy of the arts. 



Woven falirics include all those products of art in which the ele- 

 ments or parts employed in construction are largely filamental and 

 are combined by methods conditioned chiefly by their flexibility. 

 The larocesses employed are known by such terms as interlacing. 

 plaiting, netting, weaving, sewing, and embroidering. 



The materials used at tirsf are chiefly filiform vegetal growths. 

 such as twigs, leaves, roots, and grasses. 1 lut later on filiform and then 

 fibrous elements from all the kingdoms of nature, as well as numer- 

 ous artificial preparation*;, are freely used. These are employed in 

 the single, doubled, doubled and twisted, and plaited conditions, and 

 are combined by the hands alone, by the hands assisted by simple 

 de\aces, by hand looms, and finally in civilization by machine looms. 



The products are, first, individual structures or articles, such as 

 shelters, baskets, nets, and garments, or integral parts of these; and, 

 second, " piece " goods, such as are not adapted to use until they are 

 cut and fitted. In earlier stages of art we have to deal almost ex- 

 clusively with the former class, as the tailor and the house furnisher 

 are evolved with civilization. 



In their bearing upon art these products are to be studied chiefly 

 with reference to three grand divisions of jihenomena, the first of 

 which I shall denominate constructive, the second functional, and 

 the third esthetic. The last class, with which this paper has almost 

 exclusively to deal, is composed mainly of what may be called tlie 

 supeicon-^iructive and superfunctional features of the art and in- 

 eludes ilii-ee sul)divisions of phenomena, connected respectively with 

 (1) form. (■.') color, and C!) design. Esthetic features of form are, 



I'Jo 



