J28 TICXTII.K AHT IN RELATION TO FOKM AND ORNAMENT

t<.(Irstn.ytlicl.eauly..Fth,.fcalluTsin tlicpn.c-ss.

The

richly col- (in'il.lV'allii'rs lyiiii;siih.Mtlily in^>inc ilin-rti<inan'

made

torepresent variousligurcsin'i-issarily gcniiictrii-. This simple

work

is

much

surpassed, iKAvcvcr.^liythe marvelousfeatherornamentationofthe Mexicans and Peruvians,of

which

"glowing accountsaregivenby- historians

and

of

winch

a

few meager

tracesarefoundintombs.

Much

ofthefeather

work

ofallnationsisofthe natureofembroidery

and

willreceive attentionfurtheron.

A

verycleverdevicepracticed

by

the northwestcoast tribes consists intheuseof

two woof

strands oicontrastingcolors,oneortheother being

made

toappear

on

the surface, as the laatterndemands.

An example from

a higher gradeof art willbe ofvalueinthis connection.

The

ancient Peruvians resorted to

many

clever de- vices forpurposesofenrichment.

An

illustrationoftheuseofex- tra-i-onstructional

means

to seciiredesiredendsaregivenin Figs.

ooi

and

;j35. Threadsconstitutinga supplemental

warp and woof

are carried acrosstheundersideofa

common

piece of fabric,that they

may

be brought

up and woven

inhere

and

theretoproducefig- uresofcontrastingcolor

upon

therightside. Fi.t;-. 'VM

shows

the I'ightside ofthecloth,with the secondaryseries a|iiM arini;- inthe Ixn-der

and

centralfiu'ureonly. Fig.33.5illustratestlie o]i]i,.siteside

I'i,-LTc.ffiittoncloth shijwinj;tlifus.-..f.1siippli-iiientaryweb andwoof. AncientPeru.

and

showsthe loosehanging,\inusedportionsoftheauxiliaryseries.

Insuchwoi'k,

when

thefiguresareniimerous

and

occupy alargepart ofthesurface,thefabricisreallya doubleone,

having

adual

warp and

woof.

Examples

couldbe multipliedindefinitely,but itwill I'eadilybe seen

from what

hasbeen presentedthattheresxiltsofthese extraordinary

means

cannotdiffergreatly

from

thoselegitimately produced

by

thefundamentalfilaments alone.

Super

construefive features.

—

In reviewing the superconstructive decorative features intheprecedingsection Iclassified

them

some-

BOLMES.I

GEOMETKUITY OF SUPERfONSTRUCTIVE

ELEMENTS.

229 what

closely

by method

of execiitimidi-a])]>li(,-ationtothet'altric.as stitched, inserted, drawni,ciit. a]>])li(Ml.andaiipeiided. Itwilllieseen that, althouii-h thcsr devices an-^I.,a -iv.-it

cxtmt

of the iiatmvof needlework,all,-aiiiH.t^1,,.,-lassr,luii.jr,-il,ish..,,!.

Before needleseaiiieintousethe dee(.rati\e featureswereinserted and attachedinavariety ofways. Inopen

work

nothing

was

needed Inittheend^ofthefilletorpartinserted; again, in closework,jier- forations

were made

as in leatherwork,

and

thethreadswei'einserted as arethe

waxed

endsofthe shoemaker.

The

importanceof this class ofdecorative devicestoprimitive peopleswillbe apparentif

we

butcallto

mind

the

work

ofour

own

Indiantribes.

What

a vast dealofattentionispaidtotlioseclasses ofembroideriesin

which

beads,feathers,quills, shells,seeds, teeth,

&c.^,areemployed,

and

tothemultitudeofnovelapplications oftas- sels,fringes,

and

tinkling pendants.

The

^tasteforthesethingsis universal

and

their relation tothe developmentof esthetic ideasis doubtlessveryintimate.

Needlework

arose intheearliest stages of art

and

atfirst

was em-

ployedinjoiningparts,suchas leaves, skins,

and

tissiies,forvarious iisefulpurposes,

and

afterwardsin attaching ornaments. Intime the attaching media,asexposedin stitches, loops, knots,and^Ihelike, beingofbrightcolors,

were themsehes

utili/.edaseinliillisliinent.

and

margins

and

apertures

were

beautifiedby\-arious Ijindings

and

borders,

and

finallypatterns

were worked

incontrastingcolors'upon thesurfaces ofthecloths

and

other materialsof likenatureor use.

No

otherai-tsoconstantly

and

decidedly sngucsted embellishment

and

calledfortheexercise oftaste. It

waslhe

natural habitat for decoration. It

was

thefieldin

which

teclini([ue

and

tastewitc most frequentlycalled

upon

to

work hand

in hand.

With

the

growth

ofculturetheart w^as

expanded ami

perfected, itswou(hM'ful eapaeityforexiiressionleading;'tmni^ni.M-ebin. linns to pretentiousIx.r.lei-s. t..patterns, to thein1 rodiictionot ideooiaplis. to the representationof syndiolsand inytlioj.iyic sulijects.an<l tnan the.setothedelineation of nature, thepresentationof historical

and

purelypictorial scenes.

And now

a,few wordsin i-i'gardtothecharacterofthe

work and

itsbearing

upon

thei;eoine1 firsystemofdecoration.

As

purelycon- structiveornanuMitation hasalreadybeenpresented, I-will^firsttake

up

thatclassofsuperconstructive

work most

nearlyrelated toit. In

some

varietiesofbasketrycertainbindingsofthe

warp and woof

are actuallyleftimperfect,with the ideaofcompleting the construction

by

subsequentprocesses,theintersectionsbeing

gone

overstitch

by

stitch

and

lashedtogether,the embroidery threads passinginregular order

through

the openingsofthe mesh. This processisextremely convenienttothedecorator, aschanges

from

onecolor toanother are

made

withoutinterferingwithconstruction,

and

theresultisofa

2.">0 TO

KOKM AND

OKXAJIEN'I closely similarcharactertothat reached

by working

tliecolors in with

warp and

^{woof. In}a very^closefabric this

method

cannotlie

employed,bvxtlike results arereached

by

passing theaddedfilaments beneath the protruding parts ofthe bindings and,stitch

by

stitch, covering

up

theplain fabi'ic,

working

brightpatterns. Fig. 330is intcndi'd to

show

Ikjw thisisdone.

The

foundationisoftwined

work

embroideryup<

northwestcoast Indians.

and

the decoratingfilletsarepassed under

by

lifting, witliorwith- out aneedle. Thisprocessisextensivelypracticed

by

our westcoast tribes,

and

theresultsareextremelypleasing.

The

materials

most

usedare quills

and

brightcolored straws,the foimdationfabricbeing ofbarkor ofinishes. Tlie results in such

work

aregenerallygeo- uictrii-.ina

way

corrcspdiiding

more

orlesscloselywiththe

ground

wni'kcombination.

A

largo class ofembroideriesareapplied

by

1iki']ii'(<vi^sses,but with- niitrt'fcrfucetotheconstructionofthe foundation lalnicastheyare alsoappliedtofelt

and

leather. Again,artificiallypti-paredperfora- tionsare used,through

which

thefilletsare passed.

The

resultsare

much

lessuniformly geometric than

where

thefabricisfollowed;

yetthe

men'

addingofthefigures,stitcli

by

stitchorpart

by

part.

is siilliciciil toimpart alargeshareof -vnmetricity, as

may

be seen

illthebuckskin bead

work and

inthedeiitalium

and

quill

work

^of theIndians.

Feather embroidery

was

carried toa high degreeof perfection

by

oTirancientaborigines,

and

theresultswere perhaps the mostbrill- iantofallthesewonderfuldecorations. Ihave already

shown how

feathers are

woven

inwith the

warp and

^woof,

and may now

give a single illustration oftheapplication of feather

work

^tothesurfaces of fabrics.

Among

thebeautiful articlesrecovered

from

the

tombs

of

Ancon,

Peru,are

some much

decayed specimensof featherwork. In our

example

delicatefeathers of red, blue,

and

yellow hues areap- plied tothe surface ofacoarsecottonfabric

by

^firstcarefullytying

them

togetherinrowsatregulardistances

and

afterwardsstitching

them

down,as

shown

inFig. 337.

The same method

^ispracticed

by modern

peoplesin

many

pai'tsof the world. Other decorative materialsareappliedin similar

ways by

attachmenttocordsorfillets

which

areafterwardsstitcheddown.

Illallthis

work

thegeometricityisentirely ornearly uniform with

HoLMKs.] (iROMETKIC CHAIt.VCTKK

OK ADVENTITIOUS

ELEMENTS. 231 tliatcifthi^ tduulitioutil)ii(s ()tlui clashes ofdetoiation,

drawn

work,appliqut uidtlu lik( lu not of^..(ieatimpoitance

m

^aborig-

inalart

and

need

no

additional attentionheieasthey ha\tbutslight bearing

upon

the developmentotdesign

^^^-^i

^^

^{^v-frwm'^'h}

"*

_{„ I,}

Fig.:m. Featherembroitlery..fthe oiuient. IViuviaiia.showingthemethodof attaching the feathers

Attachedor

appended ornaments

constitutea

most

important part ofdecorativeresource.

They

are lesssubjecttothe lawsofgeome- tricity,beingfixed to surfaces

and margins

withoutclose reference tothe

web and

woof.

They

includefringes,tassels,

and

the multi- tudeofappendableobjects,natural

and

artificial,with

which

primi- tiveracesbedecktheir

garments and

utensils.

A somewhat

detailed studyof this class of

ornament

isgivenatthe endofthepreceding section.

Adventitious features.

— Ornament

is appliedtothe surfaces of fabrics

by

^painting

and by

stamping. These

methods

ofdecoration were

employed

inveryearlytimes

and

probably originatedinother

1tranchesofart. Ifthesvirfacefeatures of thetextile

upon which

a designispainted are'strongly pronounced, thefiguresproduced with thebrush orpencil willtendtofollowthem, giving a decidedly geo- metricresult. Ifthe surfaceis

smooth

the

hand

^isfreetofollowits naturaltendencies,

and

theresults willbe analogousincharacterto designsi)ainted

upon

pottery, rocks,or skins. In primitive times l)otli the textureof thetextiles

and

the habitsofthedecorator, ac(iuired in textilework, tended towards the geometricstyle of de- lineation,

and we

findthatin

work

in

which

thefabric linesarenot followedatallthe designsarestillgeometric,

and

geometricinthe

same way

asare similardesigns

woven

inwith thefabric. Illustra- tionsof thisare giveninthe nextsection.

I

have

dweltatsufllcicntlengthui)onthecliaracterand theten- denciesoftheiRMidiai- sNstcni ofembcUislinient thatariseswithin textileart asthent-cessai-y (»itgrowth(iftechnique,

and now

i^vo- ceedtoexjdain therelationsof thissystemtoassociatedart.

2i52

TEXTILK ART

IN liKI.ATfOXTO

FORM AND ORNAMENT.

luthestrongforwardteiuk-iicy oftlietextilesystemofdecoration

ithas

made two

conquestsof especialimportance. In thefirstplace ithas subdued

and

assimilatedallthoseelementsof

ornament

that haveliajipi'iiiMl tncntiTitsrealm

from

withoi;t,

and

inthesecond placeit hasiiiiiM.srditshaliils

and

customs

upon

the decorativesys- temsofall ai-tswithwhichthe textile arthas

come

incontact.

(iEOMETRICITV

IMPOSED UPON ADOPTED ELEMENTS OF

DESKiN.

At

a veryearlystage of culture

most

peoples manifest decided artistictendencies,

which

arerevealedinattemptstodepictvarious devices,^lifeforms,

and

fancies

upon

the skin

and upon

thesurfaces of utensils,garments,

and

otherarticles

and

objects.

The

figures areveryoftendecorativein effect

and may

beofatrivialnature,but very generally suchartisserious

and

pertains toeventsorsu])ersti- tions.

The

devices

employed may

be purely conventionalor

gem

^Iletric, containing no graphic element whatever; butlife formsaffoidthe most natural

and

satisfactory

means

of recording,conveying,

and sym-

bolizing ideas,

and

hence preponderatelargely.

Such

forms,on ac- countof theirintimatei-elatiimswiththe)ihil(>so]iliyofthe)ie(i])l(\are freelyembodiedin e\ei\aitsuitahh' totlieireiiiphiyiiient.

As

already seen,the i)eculiarchaiaeterof textilecnnstruetiouplaces greatditti- cultiesinthe

way

ofintroducing

unsymmetric and complex

figures likethoseofnaturalobjects into fabrics.

The

ideaof soemploy- ing

them may

originally

have

been suggested

by

theapplication of designsincolor tothe

woven

surfaces or

by

resemblancesbetween thesimpler conventionallife

form

derivatives

and

thegeometricfig- uresindigenoustotheart.

At any

rate,theidea ofintroducinglifeformsintothe texture

was

suggested,

and

inthe courseoftimeagreatdeal ofskill

was shown

intheir delineation,the bolder

workmen

venturing^to

employ

awide rangeofgraphicsubjects.

Now,

^if

we examine

these

woven

forms with.referencetotheinod- ificationsbrought about

by

thetextilesurveillance,

we

findthatthe figures,asintroducedinthecloth,do not^atallcorrespondwith those executed

by

ordinarygraphicmethods,either indegreeofelaboration orintruthfulnessofexpression.

They

haA^eastyleof theirown.

Each

delineativeelement

upon

entei-iiii;-the textilerealmisforced intothose peculiarconventional uiitlines imiMisedliythe ^-eonietric construction,thecharacterofwhichliasalreadylieendweltu]icinat considerablelength.

We

^find,however, thatthedegreeofconven- tionisnot uniform throughoutallfabrics,but thatitvarieswith the refinementofthethreads orfilaments,thecompactness^ofthemesh, thecharacterofthecombination, the graphicskilloftheartist,and thetendenciesof hismind;yet

we

observe thatthroughallthereis stillexhibitedadistinct

and

peculiar geometricity.

Sopronouncedisthistechnical biasthat delineationsⁱifaparticular

HOLMES.) (JEOMETRIC

CHARACTER OF ADOPTED

MOTIVES.

233

creature

—

as,for exami)le,a bird

—

executcil

Ly

distantand unrdati'd peoples,are rediiced incorrespondingstyles df faluic to alirmst iili'ii- ticalshapes. This conventionalizingforceisfurther illustratedbytlie tendencyin textilerepresentationtoblotoutdifferencesoftime

and

culture, sothat

when

acivilized artisan,capableof realistic pictorial dclinrati-.n of alii-li.>rdrr.ininMlin-rsafi-urr into acntainl\>nuof c.iai-sclalirirli.'ai'rivcs at a ivsiilt aliiKist idciitiralwithtlialreadied byII.esavayv usingthesame.win.liasn..graphic languageheymid tlierudestoutline.

A

niimberofexamples

may

be givenillustrating thisrenuirkable piiwiTiif textilecombination over ornament. Iselectthreein

which

the

human

li-iireis|.ivsi>nted.

One

ischosen

from

Iroquoiauart,one fiMinDigger Indianart.

and

one

from

theartofthe Incas

—

jjeoples unequalingradeof culture, isolatedgeographically,

and

racially dis- tinct. I

have

selectedspecimensin

which

theparts

employed

give features ofcorrespondingsize,sothat comparisonsare easilyinsti- tuted.

The example shown

inFig.:338 ilbist lalⁱ'sa

liartothe

wampum

belts ofthe Iroquois and tli quiteunlike oidinaiy

wea\ing

It istiken^fi ni of

what

is 'Luov,

n

asthe

Penn wampum

^belt

Th

strandsccmsists ot

n^llow

stiijisofbu(

kskm

tin posingSLiies ottlueiIs

ue

^{se^\}ed holdiu,, ni plac(

CIins

234

^{TKXTII.K M!T IN KKl.ATKiS I} partofa^spirallyradiatingl)aii.l⁽ifd advantageinthe smallcut, Fi^.•'+"

struction.

The

designiswoi-ked i

(jnietand^i-ich.

FORM AXn OKXAMKXT.

anient,

which

is

shown

^togood Itisofthecoiled style of con- fourcolors

and

the effect is

Fic.'MO.Ba,sketmiiJf

Turinng- soutlnvai'dfromCalifornia

and

passing through

many

strange lands^\vi'findourselves inPeru,

and among

aclassofremains thatbespcakahi;;ligradeofculture.

The

inhabitantsof

Ancon were

wonderfullyskilledinthetextileart,

and

thousandsof

handsome

exam[)les

have

been obtained

from

theirancient tombs.

Among

these relics are

many

^{neat little}workbaskets

woven from

rushes.

One

of these,

now

intheNational

Museum,

^isencircled

by

a decorated T)eltin

which

are represented seven

human

figures

woven

in black tilamcnts

upon

a

brown

ground.

Tlicbase

and

rimofthebasketare

woven

inthe intertwined com- bination,butinthe decoratedbeltthestyleis

changed

tothe])lain

H0I.MES.1

OEOMETKIC CH

A KAC

TKH OF ADOPTED

MOTIVES. 2?>'}

rightangled interlacing, forthereason,im ilmilit.thatthis comlji- nation

was

better suited tothedevelopmentoftlieintendeddesign.

Besides the

fundamental

seriesoffilletsthe

weaver

resorted toun- usual devicesin orderto securecertain desired results. In the firstplacetheblack horizontalseriesoffilamentsdoes notalternate inthesimplest

way

with the

brown

series,but,

where

a

wide

space

(iftlie(Lukcoloriscalledfor,several ofthe

brown

strands arepassed overatonestep,as inthe

head and

body,

and

inthewider inter- spaces thedark strands pass

under two

or

more

of theopposing strands. Inthis

way

broad areasof colorareobtained. Itwillbe observed,however, that the constructionis

weakened by

^thismodi- fication,

and

thatto

remedy

thedefect

two

additional extraconstruct- ive series offillets areadded. These ai'eof

much

lighterweight

r r'

Fin.:i41.Conventionalhumanfiguresfrom anancientPeruvianbasket.

than the

main

series,thatthey

may

not obscure thepattern.

Over

tliedarkseriesthey

run

vertically

and

over thelightobliquely.

Itwillbe seen that theresult,notwithstandingallthismodification of ])rocedure,is still

remarkably

likethatofthepreceding examples, thefigurescorrespondingclosely inkind

and

degreeofgeometricity.

The

factisthatin thiscoarse

work

refinementof

drawing

isabso- lutelyunattainable. Itappears that the sharply

pronounced

steps ex- hibited intheoutlines are

due

tothe greatwidthofthefilletsused.

With

thefinerthreads

employed by most

nationsofmoderatecult- ure thesteppedeffectneed not obtrudeitself,for

smooth

outlines

and

gracefulcurvesare easily attainable; yet. asarule,even thefiner fabricscontinuetoexhibit in theirdecorations the

pronounced

geo- metric character seeninruder forms. Ipresentastriking

example

of this in Fig. 34-3.asuperbpiece ofIncariangobelins, in

which

agaily

costumed

personageiswoi'kcilu]ioiim,darkred

ground

dot-

23<I

TEXTILK AKT

IX

KELATIoX

To

FORM A\D OKNAMENT.

Fig.:M2.Humai4flgui-einPeruviangobelins,showingcharacteristic textile oonvontion. Fromchro- molithographspublishedbyReissandStttbel inTheNecropolis ofAhcou.

(iEOJlETKIC

AND

RICALISTU;

FORMS CONTRASTED. 237

tedwith symbols

and

strangedevices.

The work

is executedin brilliant colors

and

ingreatdetail.

But

withallthefacilityafforded forthe expressionofminutely

modulated form

thestraight lines

and

sharp anglesarestillpresent.

The

traditions oftheart

were

favor- able togreatgeometricity,

and

the tendenciesofthe

warp and woof and

theshapeofthe spacestobefilled

were

decidedlyinthatdi- rection.

Fio.34').Humanfiguresfrom a Peruvianvase,doneinfreebaud,gi-aphic stylo.

In orderthatthefullforce of

my remarks may

be appreciableto totheeyeofthereader, Igive

an

additionalillustration (Fig.343).

The two

figureshere shown,althoughI

am

not abletosaypositively thatthe

work

ispre-Columbian,

were

executed

by

a nativeai'tistof aboiitthe

same

stageof ciilture as

was

the

work

ofthetextile design.

Thesefiguresareexecutedin color

upon

the

smooth

surfaceof

an

earthen vase

and

illustrateperfectlythepeculiarcharactersof free hand,graphicdelineation. Placethis

and

thelastfigure side

by

side

and we

see

how

vastly differentisthe Avorkof

two

artistsof eqiial capacity

when

executedinthe

two

methods. Thisfigureshouldalso be

compared

with the embroideredfigures

shown

in Fig. 348.

The

tendenciestouniformityin textile

ornament

hereillustrated

may

be observed theworldover.

Every

element entering theart

must undergo

asimilarmetamorphosis; hence the remarkable i)ower