EXTENSION UP TEXTILE ORNAMENT TO OTHER FOR.MS OF ART

Tba.vc n..wdweltafsiiflicientlength

upon

Ilie(diaracier nfthe lexlile system(if(ii-nainenf

and have

laides|iecial stressn|».ii the niaiiiier inwhieliit isinterwoven withthe teehnit'al cunsl^ilntiim of theart. Ihaveillustratedthe remarkable

power

oftheartbywliieli

<lec(ii'a.tive elements

from

without,

coming

once within theniagii- iidhieiice.are seized

upon and

remodeledinaccordance withthelaws oftextilecoiidiiuatiim. Pursuingthe investigationstillfui-therit is

found tliat thedominionofthetextilesystem^isnotlimited to the art,but extendstootherarts. Like astrongrace of

men

itisnotto beconfined toits

own

original habitat,but spreads^tootherrealms, stampingits

own

habits

and

character

upon

whatever happens^to

come

within its rr:\r]\. Itsinfluenceis feltthroughout the whole rangeofthoseartswith

which

theesthetic sense of

man

seeks to associate ideas ofbeauty. It isnecessary,beforeclosing this])aper.

toexaminebrieflythecharacter

and

extentof this inlhieneeand to describe in

some

detailtheagenciesthroughwhiidi the results are aceoni])lished. First

and most

important aretheresults of direct transmission.

H<. usebuilding, or aivhitecl ure as^{it is}called inthe higherstages, is in |ii-iinitivetimeslo a greatextent textile;as culture develops.

othei-materials

and

othersystemsofconstructionareemployed,

and

the residtantforms vary accordingly; buttextilecharactersare espe- cially sti-ong

and

persistent inthematterofornament,

and

survive all(dianges, howsoe\'er(-ompletc. Inasimilar

way

other branchesof artdifferentiatedinmati/rial and function

from

the parentart in-

IIOLJIES.J

TKANSFKK

OF

TKXTILK

(11AK.VCTKKSTO

OTHKR

ARTS. -^45 lifi-itiiiauycliaractrrsiit'form

and ornament

conceivedinthe textile sta,i;e. It

may

^lie(lilliiult tosay with referenceto

any

particular

example

ofdesignthatit

had

atextileorigin,forthere

may

bemul- tipleorigins tothe

same

orto closelycorrespondingfornis;biit

we may

assert ina general

way

ofthegreat

body

of geometi'ic

ornament

thatit

owes

something

—

^ifnotitsinspiration, ^its

modes

of expres- sion

—

tothe teachings of thetextilesystem. This appears rea- sonable

when we

consider that the weaver'sart, asa

medium

of esthetic ideas,

had

precedenceintime over nearlyallcompetitors.

Beingfirstinthefield itstoodready

on

the birthof

new

formsof art,

whether

directly relatedornot, toimposeitscharacters

upon

them.

What

claimcanarchitecture, sculjiture,orceramics

have upon

the decorative conceptionsofthe Digger Indians,or even

upon

thoseof theZufiior

Moki? The

former

have no

architect- ure,sculpture,or ceramics; buttheirsystemof decoration, as

we have

seen,ishighly developed.

The Pueblo

^tribesat their best

have

barelyreached the stageat

which

estheticideasareassociatedwith building;yetclassicarthas not prodxiced asetofgeometric motives

more

chasteorvaried. These examplesofthe

development

ofhigh fornisofdecorationduring the veryearly stages oftheartsarenot isolated. Othersareobservedinothercountries,

and

it islarobable thatif

we

couldlifttheveil

and

peerintothefarprehistoric stages ofthewoi'ld'sgreatestculturesthe

same

condition

and

order

would

herevealed. It is

no

doubt true thatalloftheshapingarts in the fullnessoftheir

development have

givenrisetodecorativefeatures peculiar to themselves; forconstruction,

whether

in stone, clay, wood, ormetal, in their rigid conditions, exhibitscharacters

unknown

before,

many

of

which

tendtogiverisetoornament.

But

thisorna-

ment

^isgenerally onlyapiilicablc tothe art in

which

itdeveloiJs.

and

is nottransfrrahl.'Iiy iiatinal ]iro<fsscs

—

asofa parenttoils offspring

—

^{asan- thr}I'stJictii-rcatui-csoftlicweaver'sart.

Besides thedirecttransmissionofcharacters

and

formsassuggested ina preceding paragraph, there are

many

^lessdirectbutstilleffica- cious

methods

oftransfer

by means

of

which

variousartsacquire textiledecoi-ativefeatures, as willbe seen

by

thefollowingillustra- tions.

Japaneseartiscelebratedforitsexquisitedecorativedesign.

Upon

superb

works

ofporcelain

we have

skillfulrepresentationsofsui)- jectstaken

from

natureand

from

mythology,

which

aresetwithper- fecttaste

upon

fieldsorwithinl)ordersofelaboratrgii

mul

rirdesign.

If

we

should ask

how

such motives

came

tobeeiiiplovedinceramic decoration,the

answer would

be given that they

were

selected

and

employed

becausethey

were

regardedas fitting

and

beautiful

by

a race ofdecorators

whose

tasteiswellnighinfallible.

But

thisexplan- ation,

however

satisfactory asapplied toindividual examples of

modern

art isnotatallapplicabletoprimitiveart,forthe

mind

of

24(1

TEXTILE

^AK'l [N

RELATION

TO

FORM AND ORNAMENl

mail

was

not primarily consciousofthebeautyor tituess of decora- tive elements,nor didliethinkofusing

them

independentlyofthe art to

which

they were indigenous.

Now

theceramicartgivesrise to comiiarativelyfew elementsof decoration,

and must

therefore ac- quire the great

body

ofitsdecorativemotives

from

otherarts

by some

processnot primarily dependent

upon

theexercise of

judgment

ortaste,

and

yetnot

by

direct inheritance, asthetechniquesofthe

two

arts arewhollydistinct.

Textile

and

fictilearts are, in their earlier stages,toalarge ex- tent,vessel

making

arts,theone beingfunctionallytheoffshoot of the other.

The

textileartis theparent,and,as I

have

already shown, develops withinitselfa geometricsystemofornament.

The

fictileartistheoffshoot

and

has withinitself

no

predilection for decoration. It isdependent

and

plastic. Itsformsare toa great extent

modeled and molded

within the textileshapes

and

acquire automatically

some

ofthe decorative surface charactersofthemold.

Thisis thebeginningofthetransfer,

and

astime goes

on

other

methods

aresuggested

by which

elementsindigenoustotheoneart are transferred totheother.

Thus we

explain theoccurrence,the constantrecurrenceof certain

primary

decorativemotivesinprim- itive ceramics.

The

herring bone, thechecker,theguilloche,

and

the likearegreatlythe heritageofthetextileart.

Two

forms derived fromtextilesurfacesare illustrated in Figs.S.^l

and

352. In the

heckerpaltt'nis]

yy^y/y^y^^///yyy/

Fig.35;;.llerriUKbu I'hecker figuresin fictilefori

first

example

shown, herring bone patterns appearastheresult of textilecombination,

and

inthesecond a triangular checkerispro- ducedinthe

same

way. InFig.352

we

seetheresult ofcopying thesepatternsin incised lines

upon

soft clay.

Again, the ancientpotter,

who was

inthehabitofmodelinghis

TEXTILE CHARACTERS

IN FICTILE

ORNAMENT.

241