,IO 



PRIMITIVE ART 



Sometimes, in the effort to bring the animal form into the 

 decorative field, the animal is dissected and distorted in a most 

 astonishing manner. This is particularly true in the case of the 

 large ceremonial blankets woven by these tribes, in which various 

 parts of the animal body seem to be combined in the most irreg- 

 ular manner, although really each part represents a definite por- 

 tion of the animal represented. The blanket above Case D 3 and 

 the explanatory model in that section illustrate this dissection. 

 Similar distortions occur in paintings. For instance, in the copy 

 of a painting from a house-front (Case D 3), representing the killer- 



whale, the central part of the figure represents the head of the 

 whale. The flippers are shown close to the corners of the jaws, 

 half of the blow-hole and half of the dorsal fin in the right and 

 left hand upper corners, while the tail is shown just over the head. 

 A collection of designs representing various animals, indicated 

 by their symbols and distorted so as to fit the decorative field, is 

 shown in the exhibition cases. The lower part of Case 3 c con- 

 tains representations of the dog-fish or shark. Case 3 h contains 

 representations of a mythical sea-monster. In Case D i the sea- 

 lion, sculpin, raven, crane, frog and seal are shown. Case D 2 

 contains representations of the beaver, all of which are charac- 

 terized by the large incisors and the tail with hachure. Case D 3 

 contains representations of the killer-whale, characterized by 



