BOAS— PRIMITIVE ART 



dent of certain traditional characteristics that impress a style upon 

 every particular area. This may be observed even in cases where we 

 are dealing with realistic representations executed in very crude out- 

 lines. Thus the human form as represented in certain South American 

 drawings consists very often of a triangle with point downward, the 

 two descending sides of the triangle being continued as legs, while the 

 horizontal line on top represents the shoulder line, and is continued 

 outward so as to represent the arms. In other regions we find that 

 the human body is often represented by a curved line which is open 

 below and terminates in the legs and feet. The Eskimo, on the other 

 hand, never utilize a form of this kind, but always execute their 

 drawings in the form of silhouettes. On account of their tendency to 

 show silhouettes, attention is directed only to the outlines, which are 

 executed in many cases with a remarkable degree of fidelity to nature. 

 On the other hand, the artist of the Magdalenian period was not satis- 

 fied with the mere outline, but tried to fill in details that the Eskimo 

 habitually disregards. The treatment of the body by the Bushman 

 shows again other characteristics. Cases of this kind indicate that we 

 have to speak of traditional style even in those cases in which the forms 

 seem at first glance to be a result of the naive attempt at representing 

 essential elements of the object to be represented. This stylistic char- 

 acter is expressed both in the outline and in the traits which are 

 selected for representation. 



The fundamental idea that in the representation of an object its 

 essential traits must be shown has led to the development of artistic 

 styles, which demonstrate a high technical skill, but which are quite 

 foreign to our feeling. Perhaps the most characteristic case is that of 

 the art of the Indians of the North Pacific coast of America, in which 

 the principle of the representation of an object by means of symbols is 

 carried to extremes. The conventional form in which an animal body 

 is represented does not differ much for various types of animals; but 

 the fundamental rule underlying the art is that the characteristic 

 parts of the animals must be shown. Thus a beaver, which is charac- 

 terized by the large incisors and by the tail, must contain these ele- 

 ments, no matter how the rest of the body may be treated. The 

 killerwhale must show the large dorsal fin, no matter how the rest of 

 the body may be treated. 



Since the art of the Northwest coast is at the same time, on the 

 whole, a decorative art, in which definite principles have developed 

 in regard to the treatment of the decorative field, we find that the 

 method of representation consists always in the attempt to squeeze 

 the symbols of the animal that is to be represented into the decorative 



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