Figs. 3. AND 4.
The subject of drawing can be here only touched upon, but the results of study go to show, in general, two main directions of primitive expression: pictorial representation, aiming at truth of life, and symbolic ornament. The drawings of Australians, Hottentots and Bushmen, and the carvings of the Esquimaux and of the prehistoric men of the reindeer period show remarkable vigor and naturalness; while the ornamentation of such tribes as the South Sea Islanders has a richness and formal beauty that compare favorably with the decoration of civilized contemporaries. But these two types of art do not always keep pace with each other. The petroglyphs of the North American Indians[8] exhibit the greatest irregularity, while their tattooing is extremely regular and symmetrical. The Brazilian savage [9] draws freehand in a very lively and grotesque manner, but his patterns are regular and carefully developed. Again, not all have artistic talents in the same direction. Dr. Schurtz, in his 'Ornamentik der Aino,'[10] says: "There are people who show a decided impulse for the direct imitation of nature, and especially for the representation of events of daily life, as dancing, hunting, fishing, etc. It is, however, remarkable that a real system of ornamentation is scarcely ever developed from pictorial representations of this kind; that, in fact, the people who carry out these copies of everyday scenes with especial preference, are in general less given to covering their utensils with a rich ornamentive decoration."[11] Drawing and ornament, as the products of different tendencies, may therefore be considered separately.
The reason for the divergence of drawing and ornament is doubtless the original motive of ornamentation, which is found in the clan or totem ideas. Either to invoke protection or to mark ownership, the totem symbol appears on all instruments and utensils; it has been shown, indeed, that practically all primitive ornament is based on totemic motives.[12] Now, since a very slight suggestion of the totem given by its recognized symbol is sufficient for the initiated, the extreme of conventionalization and degradation of patterns is allowable, and is observed to take place. The important point to be noted in this connection is, however, that all these changes are toward symmetry. The most striking examples might be indefinitely multiplied, and are to be found in the appended references (see Figs. 8 and 9).
Fig. 5.
Fig. 6.
Fig. 7.
We may distinguish here, also, between the gradual disintegration and degradation of pattern toward symmetry, as seen in the examples just given, and the deliberate distortion of figures for a special purpose. This is strikingly shown in the decorative art of the Indians of the North Pacific coast. They systematically represent their totem animals—their only decorative motives—as split in symmetrical sections, and opened out flat on the surface which is to be covered[13] (see Fig. 11). Dr. Boas argues that their purpose is to get in all the received symbols, or to show the whole animal, but, however this may be, every variation introduces symmetry even where it is difficult to do so, as in the case, for instance, of bracelets, hat-brims, etc. (Fig. 10). This may in some cases be due to the symmetrical suggestions of the human body in tattooing,[14] but it must be so in comparatively few.