LIFE-FORM IN ART. 



acuteness of observation he shows in the trail, and the remembrance of the human 

 face. ''Of the Alfonras (New Hollanders), Oldfield narrates that on being shown a pic- 

 ture of one of themselves, one said it was a ship, another a kangaroo, not one in a dozen 

 identifying the portrait as having any connection with himself."* Other examples 

 to the same effect could be quoted. This peculiarity evidently could not apply to the 

 Indians of the northwest coast of i^orth America, who long before any European in- 

 fluence was possible among them, produced elaborate carvings of animal foi ins on 

 pipes, tent posts and other objects. 



Fig. 1. 



Realistic pre-liistoric design, f 



It is highly probable, that a tribe might be proficient in shaping a mass in the 

 round, and yet be defective in appreciating it in the flat. WincklemannJ has given it 

 as his belief, that " art began with the simplest shape and by working in clay, conse- 

 quently, with a sort of statuary ; for even a child can give a certain form to a soft 

 mass, though unable to paint anything on a surface, because" — he continues, "merely 

 an idea of an object is sufficient for the former, whereas for the latter much more 

 knowledge is I'equisite." Herbert Spencer§ would lead us to the opposite conclusion. 

 He traces the gradual evolution of sculpture from painting, and infers that in advancing 

 from the rude outline on the wall, rock, or slab of wood or stone to a perfect statue, 

 the painter has in time became a sculptor. We recall the fable of the Siscyonian 

 potter's daughter, who drew her lover's profile on the wall, and therewith began the 

 art of sculpture, and wonder whether after all it may not be true. We are in no po- 

 sition to decide which of the positions cited be the correct one, although we would 

 not be surprised if both hypotheses prove correct within definite ranges of art -growth. 



* Lubbock (L c), 348. 



t Mortillet Matereaux pour r [listoire do riloiume I, H'.i. Also, Man's Origin and Destiny. J. P. Lesley, Phila. 

 1858, 259. 



X Ancient Art, I, 193, Wincklcmann. Trans, by G. llcnry Lodge, 31. D. 



§ First Principles, 165. Dr. .]. T. Kothrock has informed us that he has actually traced such a transiition among 

 the art-products ol" the people of the northwest coast ol' North America, from tlie interior country westward to the sea. 



