Sbptembee 26, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



503 



{a) 



History of the Arts and Industries. 

 Synopsis of the Art of Sculpture. 



SEMES 2. ABORIGINAL AMERICAN SCULPTUEE. 



The American tribes displayed a strong predilection for sculpture. 

 They shaped their stone implements with great skill, and delighted in 

 representing animal forms. Religious motives inspired most of the 

 more elaborate work, although esthetic appreciation was not wanting. 



The series of objects here presented covers nearly the full range 

 of native achievement, although the best examples shown fall short of 

 the highest types of Aztec and Maya work. The simpler forms are 

 placed at the left, and a series of progressive steps lead up to the 

 higher forms at the right. It is believed by some that germs of culture 

 have occasionally reached America from other lands and that sculpture 

 on this continent is not wholly of native growth. 



The practice of the art in its higher forms has, for the most part, 

 been abandoned by the native tribes, but stone implements and utensils 

 are still made in some remote districts. 



(0) 



HISTORY OF SCULPTUEE. 



The term sculpture is here applied to the whole range of processes 

 and products pertaining to the shaping of stone, but does not extend 

 to the carving of wood, bone, ivory, or other like substances, the model- 

 ing of plastic materials or the shaping of metals. The products of the 

 art, briefly epitomized in this exhibit, constitute a most important 

 record of human progress, for they tell not only a story of technical 

 and industrial development but throw many side lights on the his- 

 tory of religion, esthetics and general culture. It is observed that 

 with very primitive peoples the shaped forms are implements and uten- 

 sils merely, but that with advancing culture ornaments are made and 

 life forms gradually appear, and that in civilization realistic and ideal 

 phases of the art are dominant. 



In this exhibit we have to deal with two classes of artifacts ; first, 

 the implements and appliances used in manufacture, and second, the 

 shaped product. The shaping processes include flaking, pecking, cutting 

 and grinding in their various forms, and the implements and devices 

 used are in the main extremely simple even in the advanced stages of 

 the art. The implements are arranged in progressive order in Series 

 1, and the sculptured product in some of its varied phases appears in 

 Series 2, 3 and 4. Series 2 indicates the range of native American 

 work; Series 3, the sculpture of the Orient; and Series 4, the full scope 

 of the art as developed on the shores of the Mediterranean. 



