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Readers are asked to re- port all cases of books marked or mutilated. Do not deface books by marks and writing. I • J .^ ^ - J" * -r '' '' *■•■ * , ' ••^.•» ^ •'•■•' Cornell University Library N5303.B17 A7 + Arts of the world: 3 1924 030 645 125 olin Overs Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924030645125 ARTS OF THE WORLD ARTS OF THE WORLD COMPARATIVE ART STUDIES BY EDWIN SWIFT BALGH AND EUGENIA MAGFARLANE BALGH AUTHORS OF "ART AND MAN PHILADELPHIA ALLEN, LANE AND SCOTT 1920 1 n Y ;Y |\^^^3 02. Copyright, 1920, by EDWIN SWIFT BALCH PBSSB OF ALLEN, LANE AND SCOTT FHILADBLPaiA / A. ^:.^- OTHER WORKS BY EDWIN SWIFT BALCH GliACI^BES OE FSEEZINQ CaVEENS PHILADELPHIA 1900 Antabctica Philadelphia 1902 COMPAEATIVB AbT PHILADELPHIA 1908 The North Pole and Bradley Land Philadelphia 1913 Mount McKinlet and Mottntain Climbers' Proofs Philadelphia 1914 Elise Willing Balch, In Memoriam Philadelphia 1917 MoTjNTAiN Exploration Bull. Geog. Club op Phila. 1893 A Projected Railroad Across the Sahara Around The World 1894 The Highest Mountain Ascent Pop. Sci. Mon. 1895 Ascents Near Saas Appalachia 1896 Ice Caves and the Causes op Subterranean Ice J. Franklin Ins. 1897 Ice Cave Hunting in Central Europe Appalachia 1897 Reminiscences of Tyrol Appalachia 1898 Was South America Sighted Before 1448? J. School Geog. 1898 Subterranean Ice Deposits in America J. Franklin Ins. 1899 Ice Breakers in Polab Explobation J. Franklin Ins. 1900 Antarctica, A History of Antarctic Discovery J. Franklin Ins, 1901 Evaporation Underground Monthly Weather Review 1901 Tallow Cave, Etc J. Franklin Ins. 1901 Antarctic Exploration Sci. Amer. Supp. 1903 Roman and Prehistoric Remains in Central Germany J. Franklin Ins. 1903 Savage and Civilized Dress J. Franklin Ins. 1904 The Highest Mountain Ascent Bull. Amer. Geog. Soc. 1904 Develop the Submarine J. Franklin Ins. 1904 Antarctica Addenda J. Franklin Ins. 1904 Termination Land Nat. Geog. Mag, 1904 American Explobebs in Afbica Bull. Ameb. Geog. Soc. 1904 Antabctic Nomenclatube Bull. Amer. Geog. Soc. 1905 Wilkes Land Bull. Amer. Geog. Soc. 1906 The Survival of the Shortest xxx in Language J. Franklin Ins. 1906 Abctic Expeditions sent fbom the American Colonies Penn. Mag. Hist. & Bioa. 1907 Art and Ethnology Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. 1907 Crocker Land Bull. Amer. Geog. Soc. 1908 Art in America befobe the Revolution Penn. Soc. Col. Wars 1908 Stonington Antarctic Explorers Bull. Amer. Geog. Soc. 1909 High Mountain Ascents Appalachia 1909 Why America Should Re-explore Wilkes Land Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. 1909 Wilkes' Antarctic Discoveries Science 1911 Chabcot's Antarctic Explorations Bull. Amer. Geog. Soc. 1911 Palmer Land Bull. Ameb. Geog. Soc. 1911 Hudson Land Bull. Amer. Geog. Soc. 1911 Antarctic Names Bull. Amer. Geog. Soc. 1912 Robebt Bbooke, Thomas Brooke, Edward Shipfen Penn. Soc. Col. Govs. 1916 Atlantis or Minoan Crete Geographical Review 1917 Early Man in America Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. 1917 American Explobebs of Africa Geographical Review 1918 The Art op George Catlin Proc. Amer. Philos, Soc. 1918 Evolution xxx in the Discovery op America Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. 1919 Etc. ARTS OF THE WORLD. VU TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION PART I. EUROPE. Stone iMPiiEMENXs and Pleistokenb Art, p. 1. Geological periods, p. 1. Archeological horizons, p. 2. Climate, p. 2. Fauna, p. 2. Anthropology, p. 3. Stone implements, p. 5. Acheulfen figure stones, p. 7. Glyptic Pleistokene, p. 9. Distribution, p. 9. Sculptures, p. 10. Humans, p. 10. Animals, p. 11. Drawings, p. 11. Animals, p. 12. Zebras, p. 14. Rhinoceroses, p. 14. Cave paintings, p. 16. Hands, p. 17. A realistic art, p. 18. Its importance, p. 19. Why it was made, p. 22. Dates, p. 24. Resemblances, p. 25. Descendants, p. 27. NboiiIthic Art, p. 28. Races, p. 28. Horizons, p. 29. AziUen marks, p. 30. Palaftttes, p. 30. Megaliths, p. 31. Pottery, p. 33. Lack of art, p. 34. Dates, p. 35. Bronze Age Art and Iron Age Art, p. 36. Dates, p. 36. Poor decorative arts, p. 37. Scandinavia, Germany, Hallstadt, La Ttoe, p. 37. Etruscan Art, p. 38. Descent, p. 38. Bucchero pottery, p. 39. Bronzes, p. 39. Rock tombs, p. 40. Resemblances, p. 41. Cretan Art, p. 42. Distribution, p. 42. Periods, p. 43. Atlantis, p. 44. Pottery, p. 45. Sculpture, p. 46. Metal work, p. 47. Painting, p. 49. A European art, p. 50. Greek Art, p. 51. Dates, p. 51. Archaic, p. 51. Resemblances, p. 53. Sculpture, p. 54. Painting and portraiture, p. 56. Pottery and decorations, p. 58. Distribution, Carthage, Sicily, Asia, p. 61. Cypriote Art, p. 63. Sculpture, p. 63. Pottery, p. 65. Rhodes, p. 65. Relationships, p. 65. Roman Art, p. 66. Dates, p. 66. Architecture, p. 66. Fortifi- cations, p. 67. Sculpture, p. 68. Mosaics, p. 68. Painting, p. 69. End of R. art, p. 69. Byzantine Art, p. 70. Art wave from western Asia, p. 70. Color and decoration, p. 70. Churches in Italy, Russia, etc., p. 71. Ikons, p. 72. Reaches Alaska, p. 72. Medieval and Modern European Art, p. 73. Rebirth of naturalistic art, p. 73. Religious subjects at first, p. 74. Gothic architecture and sculpture, p. 74. Early painting and missals, p. 75. Oil colors, p. 75. Evolution of painting, p. 76. Renaissance, p. 77. Resemblances, p. 77. Recent art and the future, p. 78. viii TABLE OP CONTENTS. PART II. AFRICA. Bushman, Libyan and Pygmy Art, p. 79. Arts of Africa, p. 79. Libyan art, p. 79. Pygmy art, p. 80. Strandloopers art, p. 81. Bushman race, p. 81. Drawings and paintings, p. 82. Resemblances, p. 85. Relationships, p. 86. Negro Art, p. 87. Distribution, p. 87. Characteristics, p. 87. Examples from Abyssinia, Uganda, Lake Mweru, Orange Free State, Zululand, West Africa, Congo, Nigeria, Benin City, Gold Coast, Ashantee, Dahomey, p. 89. Age, p. 94. Resemblances, p. 94. Zimbabwe Art, p. 95. Characteristics, p. 95. Resemblances, p. 96. Madagascar Art, p. 96. Egyptian Art, p. 97. Chronology and classification, p. 97. Early art, p. 97. Sculpture, p. 99. Pottery, p. 101. Bas reliefs and painting, p. 102. Art freaks, p. 105. Animal headed figures, p. 108. Resemblances, p. 110. PART III. ASIA. Asiatic Arts, p. 112. Four great Asiatic arts, p. 112. Intrusive arts, p. 113. West Asiatic Art, p. 113. Varieties, p. 114. Resemblances, p. 114. Influence, p. 115. SuMERiAN, Babylonian and Kaldean Art, p. 115. Early picture writ- ing, p. 115. Steles, p. 115. Statues of Gudea, p. 116. Statuettes, p. 116. Big noses, p. 118. Terra cotta figurines, p. 119. HiTTiTE Art, p. 120. Chronology, p. 120. Heads, p. 120. Figures, p. 121. Slabs, p. 121. Double headed eagle, p. 122. Assyrian Art, p. 122. Date, p. 122. Rudimentary pictorial bas reliefs, p. 123. Faces, noses, eyes, p. 124. Animals, p. 124. Monsters, p. 125. Relationships, p. 126. Phcenician Art, p. 128. Jewish Art, p. 129. Persian Art, p. 129. Architecture, p. 130. Friezes of lions and archers, p. 130. Resemblances in Old Persian, p. 131. Modern Persian, p. 131. Pottery and tiles, p. 132. Rugs, p. 132. Arab Art, p. 133. Limitations, p. 133. Distribution, p. 134. Architecture, p. 135. Decorations, p. 136. Tiles, p. 137. Syrian pottery, p. 137. Beauty of Arab art, p. 138. North Asiatic Art and Early Asiatic Art, p. 138. Decorative, p. 138. Distribution, p. 139. Early Asiatic, p. 140. Lapp, p. 141. Yakuts, p. 141. Yakaghir, p. 141. Amur tribes, p. 142. Ainu, p. 143. Resemblances, p. 143 Date, p. 144. ARTS OF THE WORLD. IX South Asiatic Art, p. 144. Distribution, p. 144. Naturalistic, p. 145. Origin and resemblances, p. 145. Hindu Art, p. 147. Date, p. 147. Old sculptures, p. 148. Sculptures of Buddhist figures, p. 149. Sculptures of Brahmanist deities, p. 150. Monsters, p. 153. Resemblances, p. 153. Later sculpture, p. 154. Painting, p. 154. Indo-Pehsian Art, p. 164. Date, p. 154. Small paintings, p. 155. Characteristics of paintings, p. 155. Resemblances, p. 156. Ceylon Art, p. 157. Paintings at Sigiri, p. 157. Buddhist and Brahmanist patronage, p. 158. Indo-Chinese Art, p. 158. Mixture of Early Asiatic, Hindu and Chinese, p. 158. Burmese art, p. 159. Siamese art, p. 160. Temples of Angkor, p. 160. East Asiatic Art, p. 161. Distribution, p. 161. Different kinds, p. 162. Naturalistic and decorative, p.l63. Styles, p. 163. Memory, p. 164. Animals, p. 164. Color, p. 165. Subjects, p. 166. Materials, p. 168. Lines and spots, p. 169. Design, p. 170. No shadows, p. 171. Values, p. 172. No imitation, p. 172. Resemblances, p. 174. Chinese Art, p. 175. Oldest specimens decorative, p. 175. Dynasties, p. 175. Naturalistic art from Han, p. 176. Buddhist-Brahmanist subjects, p. 177. Origins, p. 177. Sculptures, p. 178. Potteries and porcelain, p. 181. Lacquers, p. 184. Drawings and paintings, p. 184. Animals, p. 188. Paper money, p. 188. Naturalistic and indigenous, p. 189. Tibetan, Annamese and Formosan Art, p. 190. Tibetan a mixture of East and South Asiatic, p. 190. Buddhistic subjects pleasant, p. 190. Brahman- istio subjects horrid, p. 190. Technic inferior, p. 191. Annamese art, p. 191. Formosan art, p. 192. JCoREAN Art, p. 192. First Early Asiatic, then East Asiatic, p. 192. Decorations, p. 192. Pottery, p. 193. Painting, p. 193. Japanese Art, p. 193. Early art, p. 193. Dates, p. 194. Resemblances to Australasian, p. 194. Pottery, p. 196. Sculpture, p. 198. Painting, p. 199. Buddhist subjects, p. 200. Lay subjects, p. 200. Landscapes, p. 201. Animals, p. 204. Prints, p. 206. Their characteristics, p. 206. Their evolu- tion, p. 207. Their charm, p. 211. Famous print designers, p. 211. PART IV. AUSTRALASIA. Australasian Art, p. 218. Its distribution, p. 218. Races of Australasia, p. 219. Melanesian art, p. 220. Polynesian art, p. 220. Malaya, p. 221. Micronesia, p. 221. Characteristics of Australasian art, p. 222. Malaya, p. 223. Andamans, p. 223. Nicobars, p. 223. Sumatra, p. 223. Java, p. 224. Bali, p. 225. Borneo, p. 227. Celebes, p. 229. Philippines, p. 229. Melanesia, p. 230. New Guinea, p. 230. Admiralty Islands, p. 231. New Hanover, p. 232. New Britain, p. 232. New Ireland, p. 232. Solomon Islands, p. 234. New Hebrides, p. 235. New Caledonia, p. 235. Fiji, p. 235. Torres Strait Islands, p. 236. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Polynesia, p. 236. Australia, p. 236. New Zealand, p. 239. Tonga, p. 241. Niue or Savage Island, p. 241. Hervey Islands, p. 241. Austral Islands, p. 241. Tahiti, p. 242. Easter Island, p. 242. Marquesas, p. 244. Hawaii, p. 245. Samoa, p. 246. Ellice, p. 246. Micronesia, p. 246. Gilbert Islands, p. 246. Marshall Islands, p. 247. Caroline Islands, p. 247. PART V. AMERICA. Early Art in America, p. 249. Two arts in America: Arctic, primarily naturalistic, then decorative; Amerind, primarily decorative, then naturalistic, p. 249. Two races in America: Eskimo, Amerind, p. 250. Neanderthal-like skulls, p. 250, Thick paleolithic strata lacking, p. 251. Paleolithic horizons at Trenton, Mammoth Cave, middle west, and Vero, p. 252. Origin and age of stone culture uncertain, p. 255. Nampa statuette, p. 256. Age of Amerind and Eskimo art, p. 257. Amerind art akin to Polished Stone p. 253. Resemblances, p. 259. Conclusions about early man, p. 260. Arctic (Korak-Chukchee, Eskimo) Art, p. 262. Distribution, p. 262. Korak art, p. 262. Chuckchee art, p. 263. Eskimo race, p. 264. Drawings, p. 264. Sculpture, p. 265. Decorative art, p. 267. Clothing, p. 267. Resemblances, p. 267. Amerind Art, p. 269. One art, p. 269. Many varieties, p. 270. West North Amerind Art, p. 270. Age, p. 270. Decorations, p. 271. Carvings, p. 272. Totem poles, p. 274. Resemblances, p. 276. MouNDBtriLDERS Art, p. 276. Mounds, earthworks, p. 276. Potteries, sculpture, p. 277. Resemblances, p. 279. East North Amerind Art, p. 280. Carvings, tobacco pipes, p. 280. Drawings, p. 281. Pottery, p. 281. Plains Art, p. 282. Colors, p. 282. Decorative pictographs, p. 283. Drawings on bison skins, p. 283. Art of southern Rocky Mountains, p. 286. Resemblances, p. 286. California Art, p. 287. Basketry, p. 287. Cliff-dwellers Art, p. 287. Architecture, p. 287. Pottery, p. 288. Decorations, p. 289. PuBBLO Art, p. 290. Still living, p. 290. Implements, p. 290. Basketry, p. 291. Pottery, p. 291. Rugs, p. 292. Sand paintings, p. 292. North Mexican Art, p. 293. Aztec Art, p. 294. Chronology and distribution, p. 294. Tarascan art, p. 295. Totonacan art, p. 295. Nahuan art, p. 296. Pottery, p. 296. Sculpture and bas reliefs, p. 296. Mosaics, p. 298. Codexes, p. 299. Resemblances, p. 299. Maya Art, p. 299. Distribution, p. 299. Monoliths, p. 300. Heads, p. 301. Skulls, p. 301. Snakes, p. 301. Pottery, p. 302. Resemblances, p. 302. ABTS OF THE WORLD. xi Zapotecan Art, p. 302. Mitla decorations, p. 303. Squareness, p. 303. Jadeite, p. 303. Maps, p. 304. Yucatan Art, p. 304. A mixture, p. 304. Temple of Jaguars, p. 304. Colored wall paintings, p. 305. Centbal Amerind Art, p. 305. Pottery, p. 306. Alligator jars, p. 306. Sculpture, p. 307. ANTiiiLEAN Art, p. 307. Stone implements, p. 307. Sculpture, p. 308. Columbian Art, p. 308. Gold figurines, p. 309. West South Amerind Art, p. 309. Distribution, p. 309. Stone imple- ments, p. 309. Incas, p. 310. Pottery sculptures, p. 310. Stone sculptures, p. 311. Resemblances, p. 312. East South Amerind Art, p. 313. Distribution, p. 313. Potteries, p. 314. Feather work, p. 316. Art movement dies out in Austral America, p. 317. MAPS. African arts, p. 109. Asiatic arts, p. 215. North American arts, p. 315. Arts of the World, pp. 318, 319. ARTS OP THE WORLD. xiii INTRODUCTION. I Don't Know, But I Want to Know. Many years ago, I began delving into the graphic and glyptic arts from various parts of the world. In 1906 I brought out my observations and the theories resulting therefrom in a preliminary work: Comparative Art. This, as far as I know, was the first attempt ever made to examine into and classify the fine arts of all races. From that time on, my wife and I have continued the study of art from a comparative standpoint in the field, in art museums, in ethnographic museums, from our own collection, from photographs and from illustrations in books. In 1918, we published a book Art and Man,* a twenty-fold enlarged and elaborated presentation of the theoretical parts of Comparative Art. The present work records once more the observations made before 1906 together with those we have made since that date; and with the addition of a few fresh deductions formulated since the publication of Art and Man. Certain parts of this work, however, necessarily deal with prehistory or history. The data about these we have gathered as far as possible from leading authorities in their special fields. But these historical data have nothing to do with our art criticisms. These are based on what our own eyes have shown us; and from what we have seen we have drawn our own deductions and theories. In other words the observations and the criticisms are original with us and are regardless of and independent of what anyone else thinks or believes. * German translation by Mr. Erwin Volckmann: Kunst und Mensch, Wiirzburg, Gebriider Memminger. XIV INTRODUCTION. Some parts of this book are more elaborate than others. This comes partly from fortuitous circumstances. Some phases of art have interested us more than others and therefore we have studied them more. Material from certain places has been more accessible than material from other places. When there have been many genuine specimens available it has been possible to form a more authoritative opinion than when we have had to rely on copies or illustrations. For the best copies or photographs never give quite the vitality or flavor of the original art and all criticism based on such secondary material must be more hesitating than criticism based on original examples. The classification of the various arts in this book is very different from the one in Comparative Art and a little different from the one in Art and Man. This is the result of evolution. As we have learned more the subject has changed and expanded. But the matter is so involved that at best any classification must be more or less a makeshift; and whatever classification anyone should adopt, variants on it might be suggested. Two of the terms made use of in this book need explanation. One is the term "art." "Art" of course includes literature and music. But these are not referred to here. "Art" is employed in this work in a strictly limited sense, to cover the arts of space: sculpture, architecture, drawing, painting, etching, etc. The other term is "Amerind." This was invented by some one. Major Powell I have read, to distinguish the natives of America from the natives of Hindustan. In a study of art comparatively, where the arts of these two races are constantly referred to, some nomenclature must be adopted to keep them clearly distinct, and "Amerind art" and "Hindu art" seem best to answer the purpose. In the notes of this book, abbreviations of the names AKTS OF THE WORLD. XV of many of the museums and galleries cited are used. The letter "I" stands for Institution, "M" for Museum and "U" for University. American M. N. H. Boston M. F. A. British M. Carthage M. Lavigerie. Gizeh M. Harvard U. P. M. Harvard U. S. M. London Nat. Gal. Louvre. M. de Saint Germain. Munich Glyptothek. Naples M. Naz. New York M. M. Palermo M. Naz. Pittsburgh Carnegie M. Princeton U. M. Salem Essex I. Salem P. M. Smithsonian I. Tunis Bardo M. U. Penn. M. S. & A. United States N. M. American Museum of Natural History, New York City. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachu- setts. British Museum, London, England. Mus6e Lavigerie, Carthage, Tunis. Museum of Gizeh, Egypt. Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Cambridge, Massachu- setts. Semitic Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts. National Gallery, London, England. Louvre, Paris, France. Musee de Saint Germain, France. Glyptothek, Munich, Bavaria. Museo Nazionale, Naples, Italy. Metropolitan Museum, New York City. Museo Nazionale, Palermo, Sicily. Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, Pennsyl- vania. University Museum, Princeton, New Jersey. Essex Institute, Salem, Massachusetts. Peabody Museiun, Salem, Massachusetts. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. Mus^e du Bardo, Tunis. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Science and Art, Philadelphia, Pennsyl- vania. United States National Museum, Washing- ton, D. C. I think it well to mention also that this book is printed exactly as it was written. This indeed has been the case with aU my books. No editor has tampered with them nor made hash of any of my ideas. Edwin Swift Balch. JULY, 1920. ARTS OF THE WORLD. Part I. EUROPE. STONE IMPLEMENTS AND PLEISTOKENE ART. I. Art is an extremely early child of man's brain. It was born many thousands of years ago and, as far as can be predicated at present, this happened in western Europe during the Acheuleen horizon of the middle Pleistokene period. Man himself may have been in existence five hundred thousand or a million years ago: he may have appeared in only one place or he may have appeared in several spots: but in geological time his span of life has been brief. Geologists divide the story of the earth into five main periods: I. Archaic; II. Primary; III. Secondary; IV. Tertiary; V. Quater- nary. The Tertiary is divided into four periods: 1. Eocene; 2. Oligocene; 3. Miocene; 4. Pleiocene. And the Quaternary is divided into two periods: 1. Pleistokene; 2. Holokene or Recent. Man comes in only late in the series. It is possible that he dates back to some part of the Tertiary: it is certain that he was in existence thruout the Quaternary. His presence on the planet in these prehistoric periods is proved thru three kinds of evidence: stone implements; his own remains; works of the fine arts. Stone implements especially, but also works of art and bones of men and animals, have enabled archeolo- gists gradually to work out in geological sequence a number of horizons or strata in which may be traced to some extent the story of prehistoric man. About 2. PLEISTOKENE ART. the earlier of these strata there is still much contro- versy, in accordance as to whether archeologists believe that the fractured stones found in them are or are not genuine artifacts. It is claimed that two of these horizons, the Fagnien ahd the Cantalien of the Miocene period, contain stones chipped by man, but this is very doubt- ful. In the Pleiocene, on the contrary, almost cfertainly the Kentien and the Prestien horizons have yielded human artifacts. No less than ten horizons have been established in the European Pleistokene and some of these are gradually being subdivided. These Pleis- tokene horizons in their order of time are as follows: Reut^lien; Mafflien; Mesvinien; Strepyen; Chelleen or more correctly Chell6sien; Acheul^en; Moust^rien; Aurignacien; Solutreen; Magdal6n6en. All these hori- zons so far meniioned are named after the places where they were first observed. In the Recent, we find the Azilien, also a place name; then the Neolithic; then the Bronze; and finally the Iron. During the Pleistokene and Recent periods in which man has been a prominent inhabitant of the planet^ the cUmate has ch&nged several times and passed thru periods of cold and periods of heat. When it was cold, the ice increased and covered the northern and the mountainous patts of Europe, forming so called Glacial periods. HoW many of these there were is still a moot point; Some geologists say four, some five, some six. Betweeh these cold spells came warmer ones known as Interglabial periods. Thru how long a time these Glacial and Interglacial periods extended is also a moot point: some think two hundred thousand, others five hundred thousahd, others a million years. The climatology and chronology of the Pleistokene, in other words, as far as our knowledge goes, are most uncertain quantities. There is an evolution in the -fauna of the European ARTS OF THE WORLD. 3 Pleistokene. During the hot spells or Interglacial periods, African and South Asiatic animals advanced into Europe whilst Arctic animals retreated north: a process reversed in the cold spells or Glacial periods. Some of the fauna, however, remained in Europe regardless of high or low temperatures. Among the fauna distinctive of the Interglacial periods, we find elephas meridionalis, an ancestor of the African elephant; elephas antiquus, an ancestor of the Indian elephant; hippopotamus major, the ancestor, only bigger, of the African hippopotamus; rhino, etruscus and rhino, msrcki. Among the fauna distinctive of the Glacial periods, we find the mammoth, elephas primiginius, whose character- istics resemble those of the Indian elephant; the two horned woolly rhinoceros, rhino, tichorinus; musk ox, reindeer, cave bear, grizzly bear, chamois, ibex, marmot, glutton and lemming. Common to both Interglacial and Glacial periods are the sabre toothed tiger, mxichai- rodus latidens, bison, aurochs or urus or wild cattle, lion, leopard, cave hyena, wild boar, wolf, fox, saiga antelope, red deer, roe deer, hare, and some others. With each successive Interglacial or Glacial period, certain animals are lacking, either because they had become extinct or because they had retired from or been exterminated in western Europe, until with the opening of the Recent period, only the present day fauna had survived as the result of various processes of evolution. The anthropology of European Pleistokene times is most involved. Nevertheless it is certain that there were several distinct prehistoric races in central western Europe, altho how many is uncertain. In 1912, at Piltdown, in the south of England, Mr, Dawson obtained from a gravel pit a fragment of a liuman skull, an ape-like jaw, and a few other bones. Some writers have argued that the skull was a man's and the jaw an ape's. The distance between the two 4 PLEISTOKENE AKT. fragments when found — about half a yard — does not lend color to this nebulous hypothesis. The most rational explanation is that they are remains of a primitive man, possibly a representative of a Pleiocene race, who almost surely made only eolithic implements and certainly no art. About the middle of the nineteenth century there was discovered in the Neanderthal, in western Germany, some remains of another race of primitive man. Homo Neanderthalensis. A good many more bones of Neander- thal man have now been found, mainly in the Mousterien horizon of the middle Pleistokene. Apparently none has 'been found in the earlier Acheuleen or Chell^en horizons. But apparently also some remains of Neanderthal man have been excavated in horizons ante-dating the Chell^en. The famous piece of a skull dug out of a pit near Heidelberg appears to be an early Neanderthal man, dating probably from the Mafflien horizon. Neanderthal man certainly had no art. The most numerous remains of European Pleistokene man come from the Aurignacien, Solutreen and Mag- dalen^en. Some of these remains at least belong to a race spoken of as the Cro-Magnon and which some anthropologists think is allied to the Eskimo. Some other remains dug up not long ago in the Grimaldi caves near Mentone, have certain resemblances to the Bushmen and the Australians, the most noteworthy one being that the jaws are rather negroid. It is not settled as yet whether these Grimaldi specimens belong to a separate race, or whether they are a variant of the Cro-Magnon race. Both the Cro-Magnon and the Grimaldi remains have heads closely resembUng modern European heads. In the Chelleen and Acheuleen horizons at MouUn Quignon, Galley Hill, the Olmo, Ipswich and other places, a few human remains have been found whose ARTS OF THE WORLD. 5 heads Closely resemble modern European heads. It is sharply controverted whether these remains are intru- sive by burial or whether they belong to Chelleen and Acheuleen times. Probably some of them do belong to these horizons and, if so, they take back modern European man to the pre-Moust^rien. Whether any of these early races were autochthon- ous in Europe or whether they invaded Europe from Asia or from Africa is unknown. Whether the pre- historic modern European race consisted of the same three subdivisions, the dark Mediterranean, the blond Baltic, and the hairy Slav, as the present European race, is scarcely noticed as yet. Of course, there is unanimous divergence of opinion among anthropologists about these questions, but to me the various finds seem to point to some ancestors of the White race having dwelt in Europe at least from Aurignacien and possibly from Chelleen times. II. Pleistokene art in Europe is closely connected with stone implements. These date from far back and progress in a regular evolution from formlessness and roughness into shapeliness and poUsh. There are four classes of stone implements: ordinary pebbles or bits of rock unworked by man; stones chipped roughly by man to a cutting edge but not into definite shapes; stones chipped into distinct forms; stones chipped into distinct forms and then polished. These four classes are most conveniently spoken of as pre-eoliths, eoliths, paleoliths and neoliths. The existence of a pre-eolithic period, of course, can only be inferred.' It is a mere assumption, looking at the gradual evolution of stone implements, that the earUest implements were pebbles or fragments of rock unshaped by man. Such rock fragments of course could 6 PLEISTOKENE ART. not be identified as implements and to speak of them as pre-eoliths is merely a matter of convenience. A definite name can, however, be attached to stone imple- ments chipped by man, even if they have no definite form. And as the dawn of chipped stone implements surely coincides with the dawn of human intelUgence, it was a happy thought to call the earhest chipped stone formless implements "eoliths" or "dawn stones." But as it is sometimes necessary to refer to the assumed uncut stone period preceding the eolithic, a name for it is also imperative, and the most suitable one so far suggested is the Pre-eolithic. About eoliths, there is still strong difference of opinion. Certain of those exhibited in museums, as for instance some from Thenay, Loir et Cher, France,* some from Kent, England,* and some from Belgium are so rough and shapeless that it seems hard at first to credit them with being man's handiwork. Neverthe- less when placed side by side in a continuous series with early paleoliths there may be noticed resemblances which point towards their genuineness, f There are also two other arguments in their favor. The first is the evolution of stone implements themselves, which points to the fact that they must have passed thru a formless chipped stage. The second is the evidence of Pleisto- kene art. This shows that the later Pleistokene man must have been a thoroly developed man: and that he must have had a long family tree. The advanced mental stage of the later Pleistokenes is a strong proof that some of the eoliths, at least, are genuine. The proofs afforded by the eoliths in turn is that man must have been in existence for hundreds of thousands of years on the earth and that he may have lived even in the Tertiary. * United States N. M. t Harvard U. P. M. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 7 It is still debated whether any of the geologic strata or horizons in Europe in which eoUthic but no paleolithic implements are found are Tertiary. The evidence never- theless points towards some of them being Pleiocene and others very early Pleistokene. The roughest formed imple- ments are found only in the lower levels, then with succes- sive levels more and more advanced implements are found, altho the forms found in the lower horizons are also found in the higher ones. The forms of the implements and the horizons in which they first appear are now fairly well established and the sequence of the Pleisto- kene horizons at least are generally accepted by Euro- pean archeologists. Stone implements pass from an eolithic to a pal- eoUthic stage, that is definite forms begin to appear in stone implements, certainly in the Str^pyen horizon. These forms improve in the Chell^en and again in the AcheuMen. There is something of a setback in the Moust^rien. Then they advance again and become more refined thru the later Pleistokene horizons. That is formed stones appear in Europe somewhat before the earhest known skulls resembling modern European skulls and their one moment of retrogression coincides with the second epoch in which the remains of Nean- derthal man are found. No art relics have been found in the Str^pyen and Chelleen horizons, in which the earliest paleoliths or formed chipped stone implements are found. But in the superimposed Acheul^en horizon, Boucher de Per- thes* in the valley of the Somme and Mr. Newtonf in the valley of the Thames, found a number of flints, whose natural forms had vague resemblances to certain animals, resemblances which had been greatly increased * AntiquiUs Celtiques et AnUdiluviennes. t W. N. Newton: On Palaeolithic figures of Flint, etc.: "Journal British Archaeological Association," March, 1913, pp. 3-44. 8 PLEISTOKENE ART. by some chipping, notably of holes for the eyes and Unes for the mouth. As far as I know, these figure- stones have received no attention so far from any writers on art , nor indeed from almost any scientists. And yet think of the many things they imply. For one thing they entitle Boucher de Perthes, who fought the first great battle of the Somme to victory, to rank as the discoverer of the earhest known fine arts. They show that the earliest known fine arts were the inven- tion of some prehistoric ancestor of modern European man, who possibly belonged to the Mediterranean branch of the White race. They place the time of the invention of the fine arts in the AcheuMen epoch. Of these figure-stones, many persons will promptly say that they are not the genuine handiwork of man; that they are only accidental resemblances. But if one examines the numerous illustrations in Boucher de Perthes' monu- mental work and in Mr. Newton's paper, it is difiicult to refuse to recognize them as primitive at,tempts to fashion stones into the semblance of animals. Personally I am convinced that they are genuine and the earliest at- tempts at sculpture and the earhest rehcs of the fine arts so far discovered in any part of the world. The technic of these figure-stones is of surpassing artistic interest. The technic of chipping stones was inherited in the AcheuMen from long before. It began probably during the Pleiocene, with eoliths or unformed chipped stones. The chipping process continued, but prehistoric European man developed the sense of form and this sense of form he started to apply to his implements at about the advent of the Str^pyen hori- zon, and he continued applying it with improvements thruout the Chell^en epoch to his implements only. But his sense of form grew with passing millenniums and in the next epoch, the Acheul6en, it had grown so strong that he not only continued to chip stone imple- ARTS OF THE WORLD. 9 ments, but he began to chip flints into the semblance of animals. The AcheuMen sculptor took a flint nodule, whose natural form suggested to him some mammal or bird or fish, usually as seen from one posi- tion in profile only. On this he chipped almost always a hole for one eye and occasionally he chipped at other places, notably at the mouth and the nostrils. In a very few instances, he chipped holes for both eyes. And this, as far as we know, is the genesis of the technic and the birth of the fine arts. III. Thruout the Moust^rien, when the human fossils belong to the Neanderthal race, art is lacking in Europe. With the beginning of the Aurignacien, art starts afresh and lasts thru the Solutr^en and Magda- 14n6en. Hence this part of the Pleistokene is some- times rightly called the Glyptic Pleistokene. Appar- ently the Glyptic Pleistokene begins well before the last cold climatic and faunal period and extends thru this into warmer times. It is in the caves and refuse heaps of the later or Glyptic Pleistokene in France, Spain, England, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, former Austria, Poland and former southern Russia, that Pleistokene art remains have been preserved for us. While Pleistokene art, however, has been traced in many localities thruout central Europe, its chief center was southern France and northern Spain. The first specimens found were dug up while searchiiig for stone implements, as was also the case with the Acheul^en figure-stones. The arts of the Glyptic Pleistokene comprise sculp- tiu-e in the round, bas relief sculpture, engraving, drawing, painting and decorative art. Some rough pottery finds have been reported from Belgium, which 10 PLEISTOKENE ART. might possibly belong to the latest Pleistokene. Per- sonally, however, I doubt this, for the Pleistokenes were such clever sculptors, that had they had pottery, they would almost surely have made pottery statuettes and nothing of the kind has been reported. It is probable that painting the body and perhaps tattooing was in fashion. This may be inferred from the fact that some Pleistokene skeletons were found tinted in red. Shells were also commonly used for personal adornment, at least by the Cave Men. Whether the Pleistokenes had any dancing or music is at present mere guess work, but it seems, judging by analogy with other unciviUzed or semi-civilized races of today, extremely Ukely that they did both dance and sing. The sculptures consist principally of statuettes in stone or ivory of humans, and of carvings in ivory, bone or antler of animals. At first they are mostly in the round but towards the end of the Pleistokene the number in bas relief increases. They also progress and are best as art in the late glyptic period. The statuettes are uncompromisingly nude.* Three or four of them are of steatite, a dark, greenish, some- what transparent stone. These are some six to eight centimeters high and unlike any art I have seen. Several of them are of ivory. These are better done and larger than the steatite statuettes. A couple of the ivory statuettes may have been twenty or twenty- five centimeters high, but as none of the Pleistokene statuettes is entire, it is impossible to tell their exact dimensions. They have less exaggerated proportions than the steatite statuettes. Several of the statuettes are strongly steatypige and this would suggest negro blood. The most curious thing about them, however, is that in several cases the abdomen sticks out abnor- mally, almost in the form of a cube. It has been * M. de Saint Germain. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 11 suggested that this means that in time of famine these people ate mud or clay, but that is an uncertain explanation. The only other statuettes where I have seen anything of the kind are a few from the Congo* and a few from Alaska, f None of these statuettes has the head remaining. There are, however, three small Pleistokene heads which are certainly good work. J The hair is long and hangs down over the neck. These heads convey an impression of being Egyptian heads but they are too small and not good enough for any certainty as to the type represented. Both the statuettes and the heads appar- ently come from the Aurignacien or the Solutr^en horizons. It is in the representations of animals, however, that the Pleistokene sculptors did their best work. These mostly belong to the Magdaleneen horizon. Some are in the round, some in bas relief. They are usually sculptures of reindeer and horses, altho there are one or two of mammoth and bison heads. Several are first ratej. A splendid carved reindeer bone knife handle from Les Eyzies, representing a crouching reindeer, in its conception, Unes and execution, is worthy of any sculptor. Perhaps the best Pleistokene sculpture, however, is the head of a whinnying horse from Mas d'Azil. This would hold its place beside the horses' heads from the pediment of the Parthenon. There are a great many Pleistokene drawings or engravings, on stone, on ivory, on teeth, on bone, and on' horn. It is not known positively what tools were used in their making, but it seems most probable that it was simply a pointed bit of flint. Among the drawings are a few humans: many mammals, including mam- * Harvard U. P. M. t Harvard U. P. M.— American M.. N. H. I M. de Saint Germain. 12 PLEISTOKENE ABT. moth, woolly rhinoceros^ bison, aurochs, ibex, chamois, saiga, horse, zebra, reindeer, red deer, wild boar, bear, wolf, fox, lynx, otter, rabbit, seal: a few birds, among them swan and goose: some fishes, among them salmon and pike: a few drawings of plants: and some decor- ative drawings. There are several drawings of humans, but these, as is also the case in the drawings of some other primitive races, are artistically inferior. So badly drawn in fact are some of the heads, that certain archeologists have suggested they were representations of monkeys. This does not seem possible, however, for no fossil monkeys haye been found in the European Pleistokene strata. Several drawings from the Magdal6n6en horizon represent hunters wearing chamois skins and heads, which are evidently hunting disguises. These drawings are the earliest representations of this practice, which is found among the Bushmen, the Eskimo, and some other hunting races, and which I believe is the origin of the animal headed human and human headed animal representations of deities among the Hindus, the West Asiatics and the Egyptians. Some of the drawings or engravings of animals are masterly. Among the niost interesting are those of mammoth and woolly rhinoceros, because they prove that man was a contemporary with those huge extinct mammals. There are some striking drawings of mam- moth on mammoths' tusks:* one representing a mam- moth with long streaming hair, and another, from La Laugerie Basse, the head of a furious mammoth charging with his tusks crossed and his mouth open, doubtless a mpmory sketch of an unpleasant incident.* The bison was one of the animals most often drawn. A sketch of two bison heads from La Madelaine is noteworthy.* The reindeer was a favorite subject. * M. de Saint Germain. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 13 The best drawing of a reindeer is the one with its head down feeding on the herbage near some water, which was dug up in the Kesslerloch near Thayingen. There are many excellent drawings of horses, and some of the scenes in which horses appear show that they were a favorite quarry. A drawing of a horse's head found in the Robin Hood Cave, Cresswell Crags, Derbyshire,* proves that Pleistokene artists dwelt at one time in England. In most cases there is only one figure in a drawing. Sometimes there are two or more. In a few examples, it is apparent that all the figures belong to the same drawing and in some cases they show a decided sense of perspective. Frequently the Pleistokene artists did a solitary animal admirably and occasionally a row of animals fairly well. But often there are two or three drawings jumbled together on the same surface. In one instance a reindeer is lying on its back with its legs drawn right thru the body of a second reindeer which is standing directly over it.f In another drawing are shown the legs and belly of a standing reindeer whose back and head are broken off, and beyond is a nude woman lying on her back, apparently belonging to another drawing, f Evidently these curious mixed efforts did not bother the artists in the least, but they show a certain lack of visual comprehension. In the drawings of animals, the feet and the legs are omitted as a rule. Probably this is because they were concealed by the herbage from the artists while looking at their wild fauna models. In many cases an engraving is made around a bone. When a mould is taken of these engravings and the mould is flattened, it is extraordinary how accurate some of the drawing is then found to be. * British M. t M. de Saint Germain, 14 PLEISTOKENE ART. Zebra bones apparently have not been reported from the European Pleistokene, at any rate no stress has been laid upon them by paleontologists. But there are at least two Pleistokene drawings of zebras.* On these my friend Dr. Spencer Trotter of Philadelphia based first a lecturef and later a paperf and insisted on the existence of the zebra in Pleistokene Central Europe. Dr. Trotter is a biologist, not an art critic, and it is certainly unusual that the existence of an animal in a past geological period should be established not by paleontology but by art. There are also several drawings or engravings of rhinoceroses. All the writers apparently who mention them speak of them as drawings of the rhino, tichorinus or woolly rhinoceros. But is this deduction correct? Are these engravings attempts at representing only one or do they represent more than one variety of rhinoceros? Paleontology reveals three species of rhinoceroses in Quaternary Europe: 1, rhino, etruscus; 2, rhino, mercki; 3, rhino, tichorinus; and paleontologists by no means agree as to which horizons of the Pleistokene these animals coincide with. Some writers place rhino, mercki in the Moust^rien and as late even as the Aurignacien and think he had a broad nose. § Some authorities refer rhino, tichorinus only to the Solutreen and the Mag- daleneen and think he resembled the African white rhinoceros, while others think he was an ancestor of the Asiatic rhinoceros. An important difference, how- ever, is that rhino, mercki appears to be a member of the warm fauna and to come in the Interglacial periods, while rhino, tichorinus belongs to the cold fauna and comes in_ the Glacial periods. * Illustrations: Ed. Piette: L'Art pendant I'age du Renne. t Academy Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. J Science, April, 1911, N. S. Vol. XXXIII, p. 530. § Arthur Keith; The Antiquity of Man, p. 64. ARTS OP THE WORLD. 15 One of these portraits of a rhinoceros is engraved on a stone. It was found in the Grotte du Trilobite, Arcy sur Cure, Yonne, France. It represents the fore quarters and head of a square or . broad nosed two horned rhinoceros. It looks to me hke an African rhinoceros and resembles more closely the white than the black variety. According to Abb6 Breuil, this engraving dates from the Aurignacien horizon and is probably one of the earliest drawings or engravings known to us.* Can this be a belated rhino, mercki from the Mousterien? There are several other drawings or engravings of rhinoceroses from the Glyptic Pleistokene. These also have an African look, but suggest the black rather than the white variety, as the nose is pointed and not square as in the engraving from the Grotte du Trilo- bite. In these the long hair, whence the name woolly rhinoceros, is clearly suggested. There is one engraving of a rhinoceros, however, on a piece of stalagmite, which looks as if it might be done from still another variety of rhinoceros, f It was found in the Grotte de Gourdan, valley of the Garonne. It represents a pointed nose apparently two horned rhinoceros and resembles most nearly an Asiatic rhin- oceros. According to Piette, this engraving dates from about the middle of the Magdal^neen.J These drawings certainly offer an interesting problem. Did the Pleistokenes actually see and draw two varie- ties of rhinoceros or did they not? If they did, what kinds of rhinoceroses were they? The problem admits * Illustrations: Ahh6 Henri Breuil: Revue deVecoled' anthropologic de Paris, 1906, p. 241 — Joseph D^chelette, Manuel d'archiologie, Vol. I., p. 126. t M. de Saint Germain. X Illustrations: Ed. Piette: L' Anthropologic 1904, p. 147 — Ed. Piette: L'Art pendant I'age du Rehne, p. 87 — ^Joseph D^chelette: Manuel d'ArchSologie, Vol. I., p. 227. 16 PLEISTOKENE ART. of two solutions: either some of these drawings are bad, or they represent different kinds of rhinoceroses. "We can assume that in each of these drawings the artist rendered as faithfully as he could an animal which he actually saw, for two of the chief characteristics of Pleistokene art are observation of nature and a decided ability to present accurately that observation. Still all the drawings are not on the same high level. But on the one hand, these particular drawings represent apparently one variety of square nose rhinoceros and at least one variety of pointed nose rhinoceros. On the other hand, judging from paleontological remains, early European man actually saw at least three varieties of extinct rhinoceroses. It is therefore possible that he delineated two varieties of rhinoceros. And when one considers how uncertain paleontology still is about extinct European rhinoceroses, and how accurate many Pleistokene drawings are, it certainly is permissible to suggest that these drawings may represent different varieties of rhinoceroses. We must trust that further digging will clear up the matter and that some day we shall know whether the Pleistokenes made notes of a fauna when rhino, mercki and perhaps even ehphas antiquus still lingered in Europe. In northern Spain and in southern France there have been found within the last four decades many remarkable Pleistokene drawings and paintings on the walls of several caverns. They were first discovered by the little daughter of a Spaniard, Don Marcel de Sautuola, in the cavern of Altamira, near Santander in northern Spain. When Sautuola announced this great discovery, he was promptly informed by certain learned men that these pictures were fakes and that he had offered a gold brick to the scientific world. But as a number of other caves, some thirty up to date, with wall paintings have since been discovered. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 17 these learned men have been obliged to recant and de Sautuola will go down to history as having made one of the most important discoveries in art and in ethnology. These wall pictures are mostly of animals, but there are a few badly done humans. North of the Pyrenees mammoth are common; there is at least one rhino, tichorinus; many reindeer; and a good many horses, some with marks which some ethnologists believe to be, and others believe not to be, harness. South of the Pyrenees portraits of extinct animals have not been observed as yet (1913), and the bison and red deer are the most abundant animals. Some of these paint- ings are fairly big, as much as one and a half to two meters long. The colors are generally black and red ochre. There are sometimes three and even four superposed paintings: an occurrence also found in Bushman art. It is feared these paintings will not last long, now that, as the result of the removal of the accumulated rubbish of thousands of years which blocked the entrances, fresh air has access to the caves. The hand, in Pleistokene art, presents certain oddities. Among the sculptures there are two or three little single hands.* The thumb is not clearly represented in these, and my brother, Thomas Willing Balch, called my attention to the fact that monkeys do not grasp with their thumbs as firmly or as fully as man and that their thumbs are more like a fifth finger. On the walls of certain French and Spanish caves a number of drawings or rather prints of hands exist. Usually they are in red or rose color; almost always they are left hands; almost always the fingers point upwards. The thumb is there, but sometimes one or more of the fingers is too short, as if they were folded in or had been cut off. It is believed * M.' de Saint Germain. 18 PLEISTOKENE ABT. now, that these hands date as far back as the earliest Pleistokene drawings. Almost exactly similar prints or drawings of hands, in red and black, have been found on rocks in Australia and California. The Bushmen also were in the habit of chopping off the end of one of their fingers, for instance, when one of their near relatives died. There are a few drawings or engravings of plants in Pleistokene art on reindeer bone or antler. They belong to the late Glyptic period, to the Magdaleneen horizon. To the same time also belongs some conventionaUzed decorative work, some of which is almost surely a degeneration from reaUstic drawing. There are also curves, spirals, lozenges and zigzag hues, which may or may not come from basketry fabrics. This is decidedly transitional to the Neolithic art of western Europe, for much the same curves, lozenges, spirals and zigzags are found in the latter art. And it almost seems there- fore as tho Neolithic art derived at least some nourish- ment from Pleistokene art. If this is the case, then there is no break or hiatus between them and Pleisto- kene art is not a solitary emanation of art unrelated to other arts, but simply the first great wave of art. IV. Pleistokene art, of course, varies to some extent at different times and in different places. But it remains generically the same. The quaUty of the drawing especially is noticeably the same, at Altamira, at Les Eyzies, at Thayingen, or at Creswell Crags. And this implies an important fact: Pleistokene art is one art. Pleistokene art is distinctly an art of observation. The Pleistokene artists were surrounded by a wild fauna which appealed to them artistically and they recorded their impressions as well as their imperfect ARTS OF THE WORLD. 19 tools permitted. Most of the drawing is as simple and straightforward as possible. Some of the drawings are remarkable in quality, and show a thoroly developed faculty of observation and the power of carrying out the observation. There is nothing infantile about the best. Indeed some of their drawings of animals in action have not and cannot be surpassed. There is a limit and in some respects the Pleistokenes reached it. Besides observation, the drawings show a sense of proportion, a great deal of action and motion, and some little composition. Their art is pure realism. There is not much of the faculty of picture making, and none whatever of symboUsm. The Pleistokene artist was not trying to represent some idea, some philosophic or historic or reUgious conception, but he was trying to represent something which he had seen. His point of view, for instance, was the exact opposite of that of the early Flemish missal painters, to whom he was immeasurably superior as an artist. His work must be ranked as frank, true sketching from nature or from memory; it is portraiture and falls among what is known to painters as a sketch, a study, or an im- pression. The best Pleistokene paintings are not tyro's work. The artists did not engrave and paint as students in the caves: they went in as masters. And it is a ques- tion whether they did not regularly learn and teach one another, that is whether there was not a regular school of Pleistokene art. The art of the Pleistokene races of western central Europe is of importance both from the artistic and from the ethnologic standpoints. There is no other case which shows as clearly as that of the Pleistokenes how much comparative art can help ethnology. We have no written records from the Pleistokenes, but we have implements and art. Their implements tell us some- 20 PLEISTOKENE AET. thing of their habits, but their art reveals a great deal of which the implements give no hint. In the first place Pleistokene art tells us the fauna amongst which these men lived. It takes us back to a past geological epoch, when the mammoth, the cave bear, the woolly rhinoceros, the machairodus, and the cave lion roamed over Western Europe. The Pleisto- kene artists actually saw these now extinct animals aUve, they hunted them, they ran away from them, they ate them, they made artistic counterfeits of them: and all this quite overshadows the fact that they also lived in Europe in the midst of many other animals not yet extinct. If Pleistokene art were to be called, as some writers do, after the name of one of the then living mammals, it should be called the Art of the Age of the Mammoth. Pleistokene art also reveals another important fact. It proves that some of these early men had unques- tionably some well developed mental characteristics. They had certainly stopped hanging on by their tails. No one who was not distinctly intelUgent could possibly have made their sculptures, drawings and paintings. The European human of the later Pleisto- kene was a thoroly developed man. The makers of Pleistokene art must have been in a distinctly advanced mental stage, in a higher civilization than is usually supposed. Thru Pleistokene art our knowledge of man is extended back thousands of years. For it is not possible that the Pleistokene painters, who were working at the minimum twelve thousand years ago, and who may have produced their immortal paintings twenty or more thousand years ago, could have evolved to their social stage and their intellectual condition without along line of ancestors. Pleistokene art certainly implies that man antedates the Quaternary period and is a strong argu- ARTS OF THE WORLD. 21 ment that some at least of the eolithic implements of the Pleiocene are genuine. Pleistokene art tells us a great deal about the mode of life and the habits of its makers. They were hunt- ers and fishermen. They utilized the shelter afforded by projecting rocks and the entrance of caves as habi- tations, as is proved by the fact that many of their remains have been found in such places. Whilst this earned for them their title of Cave-dwellers, their art proves that they were not wholly troglodites. They must have lived at least part of the time in huts and shelters built out of hides, trees and brush. This is evident by two or three small drawings* which can represent nothing but primitive dwellings not unlike the teepees .of the Amerinds or the skin tents of the Eskimo. They probably lived more in the open than in caves, nevertheless the name Cave-dweller sometimes is a convenience. Another point on which Pleistokene art gives us some cue is whether these early men had any domestic animals. From the bones found in the refuse heaps of the rock shelters, it seems unlikely that the dog had been domesticated by the Pleistokenes, but certain art fragments point towards the fact that the Pleistokenes, at least occasionally, utilized the services of the horse. On the sculpture of the whinnying horse's head from Mas d'Azil there are several lines which decidedly look like some kind of rope intended to represent a sort of harness, and on several drawings of horses' heads* there are some distinct lines. These hnes have aroused much discussion among archeologists, some considering that they may be some kind of magical marks, others favoring the idea that they are some kind of harness. It must be said that they look like a rough form of harness and that there does not seem * M. de Saint Germain. 22 PLEISTOKENE ART. to be any apparent reason why the Pleistokene artists should have placed magical marks on drawings of horses. It would also seem possible that the Pleis- tokenes may have occasionally captured and used horses, much as did the Northern Amerinds, without thereby domesticating the horse completely. My own beHef is that art shows that the Pleistokenes did cap- ture and use the horse to a limited extent. Two of the most knotty questions connected with Pleistokene art are: "Why did the Pleistokenes sculpt and paint? Why did they decorate caves? Many of the cave paintings are way back, far from daylight, in narrow, almost impassable little rock galleries, in places where the Pleistokenes certainly did not live. Many archeologists have puzzled over these problems and up to date they remain unanswered with certainty. It has been suggested that the Pleistokenes deco- rated caves from some religious motive. Nothing in the works of art themselves, however, warrants any asstlmp- tion that the Pleistokenes had any reUgious ideas or beUefs. None of . their art takes the form of idealized pictures; none of it handles subjects in any wise suggesting any ceremonies: none of the sculpture gets away in the least from nature. It is a fact never- theless that the Pleistokenes decorated caves much as the Egyptians did their tombs and as the Etruscans did, for instance, the Hall of the Leopards at Corneto. Reasoning by analogy, it may be argued that since the skeletons found at La Chancelade, Hoteaux, Grimaldi, etc., almost surely reveal interment, therefore in some cases the cave paintings were connected with mortuary observances. Further discoveries may throw new light on this problem. It has also been suggested that the Pleistokenes may have thought that the painting of animals might in some way bring them luck in hunting. This would ARTS OF THE WORLD. 23 base Pleistokene art on what is sometimes called tot- emism. The Australian blacks, the Zuni Amerinds, and some other races are said to make their drawings for totemistic reasons, either because they wish the protection of certain animals, or because they think the drawings increase the numbers of these animals or bring success in the chase. Some of the Australian rock pictures are also in retired spots and are tabu to all the uninitiated. It may be, of course, that the Pleistokenes thought that their art work brought luck in hunting. That any of it was tabu I doubt. For the vast majority of it was found on the refuse heaps marking the dwelUng places. They must have lived with their art. Neither of these three suggestions seems to me satisfactory, for they entirely neglect the force which impels all artists, at least in starting, namely the art impulse. They are archeological, not artistic reasons. There may be something due to them in Pleistokene art, but they are not the driving power. The art impulse, which is common to all mankind, but in varying degrees and in varying kinds, must have been unusually strong with the Pleistokenes. It was so strong, and their means of carrying it out so Umited, that they undoubtedly took any mode they could to express themselves. They drifted naturally from sculpting stone implements into sculpting stone and ivory statuettes, and they probably also evolved naturally from drawing and engraving on ivory, bone and antler into painting on rock surfaces. They must have discovered in course of time that cave walls offered convenient surfaces on which to paint pictures. It is most probable that they also painted pictures on rocks in the open, but these must almost surely have been destroyed long ago by rain and frost and sun and heat. 24 PLEISTOKENE ART. The times at which the Acheul^en figure-stones and the art of the Glyptic Pleistokene were made can be estimated roughly thru various agencies: by meteoro- logical data of the glacial periods: by the geological depth of the deposits where art specimens are found; by the stone implements found in the deposits; by the drawings and engravings of animals long since extinct, but which the Pleistokenes hunted for their sustenance and whose portraits are absolute proof that thousands upon thousands of years have elapsed since the artists sketched them from hfe or, immediately after seeing them, from memory. Pleistokene art remains undoubtedly antedate any- thing from Babylonia or Egypt may be by ten, or twenty, or fifty thousand years. But altho we can place them geologically in proper sequence, we cannot place them chronologically with accuracy. Neither astronomical calculations of the glacial periods, nor the depth of soil overlying the specimens, nor the bones of extinct mammals found with them, nor any other mode of measiirement can be depended on for telling the centuries. The depth of soil is an uncertain proof, since accumulation is varied, sometimes slow and sometimes rapid. At the Saalburg, for instance, remains of Mithras worship were found buried under about two meters of soil which has certainly accumulated within the Christian era.* The fact that frozen mammoths were found in Siberia and that their flesh was eaten by the dogs of the finders, is a proof that the mammoth became extinct not so long ago. We can say posi- tively only that Pleistokene art remains date back a long time. Indeed it seems fairly certain that the Glyptic Pleistokene started at least twenty thousand * Edwin Swift Balch: The SaMurg near Homburg, 1904. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 25 and may be fifty thousand years ago. And it is also fairly certain that the AcheuMen figure-stones date back over forty thousand and possibly over one hundred thousand years ago. Geological Period. Men. Horizons. Length ol horizons. Imple- ments. Art. ■• « 14 Bronze. Comparatively short. Bronze. Hindu Art. Chinese Art. Cretan Art. West Asiatic Art. Egyptian Art. " 13 Neontlilo. Bather long. Neolltha. Neolithic Art. Recent. " 12 AzUien. 11 Magdaienien. Not very long. Rather long. : Fainted pebbles. Decorative art. [Best art. « " 10 Solutreen. Somewhat shorter. « " Glyptic Better art. " Modern Man. 9 Aurlgnaclen. Rather long. " Plelstokene Art Early art « Neanderthal. 8 Mousterlen. Very long. " " " 7 Acheuteen. Very long. " Figure atones U Modern Man. 6. Chell^en. Very long. " u 6 Strepyen. Paleollths. Formed chipped atones. ' 4 Mesvluien. « « Heidelberg. 3 MaflUen. " Plelstokene. 2 Reutellen. " Plelstoliene. or Flelocene. PUtdown. 1/PrestIen. \Kentiea. Eoliths. VI. Pleistokene art has decided differences with certain arts and decided resemblances with certain others. There are differences between Pleistokene art and Negro, Australasian, and Amerind art. There are resemblances with Libyan and Bushman art, with Arctic and East Asiatic art, and with Egean and Modern European art. The resemblances of prehistoric Libyan art to Pleistokene art are slight, nevertheless there is no doubt that art distantly resembling the latter has been found in southern Algeria and in the Sdhara. Unfortunately there is a gap in knowledge just here, since we know nothing of the pre-historic archeology of Morocco and will not for many a day, altho there is no place perhaps which would better repay the scientific digger. Further south in Africa, there is a decided artistic similarity between 26 PLEISTOKENE ART. the art of Altamira and Cogul and certain Bushman drawings, with the artistic advantage on the side of the Pleistokenes. The Grimaldi remains with their negroid characteristics also suggest ethnological resemblance to the Bushmen. And therefore there is strong justification in assuming that the Bushmen belonged to a Eur- African or west Mediterranean negroid race and that they made their way in past millenniums across the Sahara to the Congo forest and the South African veldt. There are also certain resemblances between Pleisto- kene art and Arctic art. These are stronger in the sculptures than in the drawings. And there are much more pronounced resemblances between the implements than between the arts of the Pleistokenes and the Arctics. In the drawings noticeably there is divergence rather than resemblance. Both arts are naturalistic and not decorative, it is true. But the technic and the quality of the drawing is wholly different. Undoubtedly there is a certain physical resemblance between some of the men now living in the Dordogne and the Eskimo.* But geographically and artistically, the Eskimo are also closely related to the East Asiatics. Moreover the resemblances between Pleistokene animal paintings and Chinese and Japanese animal paintings are much more striking than those between Pleistokene and Eskimo drawings. In order to trace the art descent of the Eskimo from the Pleistokenes therefore, it seems as if we should have to trace an intermediate descent of the East Asiatics from the Pleistokenes. And that we surely could not do from our present knowledge. It is of course possible that the ancestors of the Bushmen and of the Arctic races were in central Europe in Pleistokene times and that some of them swarmed off to the south and others to the north * Photographs. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 27 east. But how did they both happen to be in cen- tral Europe? Did they both belong to the White race? Where were the ancestors of the White race in the meantime? Bushman paintings undoubtedly are far superior to Arctic drawings. They are also much closer to Pleisto- kene paintings than are Arctic drawings, so much so indeed, that they distinctly show that if any race inhabiting distant parts of the world was descended from the Pleistokenes, that race was the Bushman. But Bushman drawing, altho naturalistic and full of life and action, does not rise in the quality of the line to the level of the best Pleistokene drawing nor to that of the drawing of European or East Asiatic master animal painters. And it is precisely in the quaUty of the drawing that we find the most vital point of divergence between Pleistokene art, and Bushman and Eskimo arts. The quaUty of certain Pleistokene drawings of animals is first rate. No one has done, no one could do better. In actual drawing, the Pleistokene master who drew the Kesslerloch reindeer and those who drew some of the horses and deer at Niaux are on the same level as the best European or East Asiatic animal draftsmen. The work of the former is as spirited and accurate as that of the latter, and if it is not carried as far forward, it is on account of the imperfect Pleistokene tools. The quality of the best Pleistokene drawing especially it is, which makes me think that it can have been done only by ancestors of great White race artists. When then one considers that the makers of Pleisto- kene art lived principally in France and Spain but were scattered all across central Europe; that the quality of their drawing is closer to that of good modern French animal drawing than is that of Bushman or Eskimo drawing; that their art degenerated into decorative 28 NEOLITHIC ABT. patterns which may have continued into the European Neolithic and prehistoric periods; that the human fossils possibly of the Chell^en and Acheuleen, but certainly of the Aurignacien, Solutr^en and Magdal^n^en are physically almost identical with the Europeans of to-day: — does it not seem most probable that the Pleistokene races were the ancestors of some of the races now living in Europe and that the early European artists were the direct ancestors of the European artists of to-day. Personally I believe that the old Egean artists and the modern French artists are mainly descended from the same stock which produced the great art of Pleistokene times. NEOLITHIC ART. The Recent geological period follows and evolves from the Pleistokene period. While these are classified as separate and while they are different in many respects, in nature the Recent is simply a continuation with variations of the Pleistokene. There is no gap or hiatus between them. Towards the end of the Pleisto- kene the climate grew warmer and, on account of this, some of the more heavily furred animals, such as the musk ox, finally retreated beyond the Arctic Circle; while others, such as the chamois and the ibex, ascended from the hills to Alpine altitudes. When the Recent was fairly under way, the chmate of Central Europe had become much what it is to-day and the wild fauna was represented by much the same animals as those of to-day; altho a few animals now extinct in Europe, such as the lion and the leopard, survived sporadically during part of Recent times. The European races of Recent times are not yet thoroly classified and systematized. Nevertheless they seem to fall into two or three main branches. One is a short dark southern race, well designated as the Medit- AETS OF THE WOELD, 29 erranean race. The second is a tall blond northern race, sometimes called the Nordic race, but which per- haps might better be called the Baltic race. A possibly third race living in eastern Europe and sometimes called the Alpine race, is perhaps identical with that most uncertain type, the Slav. A certain number of skeletons of small stature moreover have been dug up, proving that in all probabiUty there was also a pigmy race in Europe in the prehistoric Recent. The archeologic remains of the Recent are also much involved. There are many fragments of hori- zons and these are most complicated. Four main divi- sions, however, based on the implements, can be made: the Azilien; the Neolithic; the Copper, Bronze and Early Iron; and our own times. During the beginning of the Recent, in the Azilien or Arisien period, when the cUmate and the wild fauna were already those of to-day, bone and chipped stone paleolithic implements still hold their own. Following this is the Polished Stone or Neolithic European period, in which there is a number of small horizons abounding in polished stone implements and which have received all sorts of local names: Campignien, Robenhausien, Tardenoisien, etc. After the Polished Stone period come deposits with metal implements, first copper and bronze, and then iron, which last continues to late historic times. While there is no gap between the Pleistokene and the Recent in the evolution of climate, animals or man, there may or there may not be a gap in the evolution of art. Neolithic art may or may not evolve from Pleistokene art. The great Pleistokene art dies out, in Europe at least, except possibly in a few decorative designs, with the Pleistokene period. In the Azilien of the Recent there is practically no art. Even the bone implements of the Azilien show deterioration from the bone implements of the Pleistokene Magdaleneen. Flat 30 NEOLITHIC ABT. harpoons of red deer antler supersede the round ones of reindeer antler, and shellfish for food and shells for decoration become of greater import than in earlier times. But there is one unusual set of archeological speci- mens from the Azilien which is a mystery. A certain number of small stones, almost all taken from the cavern of Mas d'Azil in the Pyrenees, have some strange marks on them.* These marks are red in color: some resemble certain letters of our alphabet: others suggest the effect of a sun emitting rays: a few of them are large dots. There are from one to nine of these marks on each stone. It is not known what these marks mean, but it has been suggested that they were a system of numeration: that they were ownership marks: that they were the start of the Phoenician alphabet : that they were used in some kind of . game. Whatever they were intended for, these stones, which the French call galets calories Aziliens, are practically unique. The beginning of the second period of the Recent coincides with the first European poUshed stone imple- ments and this period lasts until the discovery of metal implements. It is usually called the Neolithic and might better be called the Polished Stone period of Europe. In this period man progressed in certain ways: in his improving chipped stone into polished stone implements; in his advances towards architecture; in his domestication of many animals; and in his start in cultivating plants. He also probably invented pottery in the early Recent. But he retrograded in other ways, especially in his lack of and debasement of the fine arts. To the Neohthic period belong the earliest remains in Europe of huts, villages, lake dwellings or palafittes, * M. de Saint Germain. ABTS OF THE WORLD. 31 and fortified places. The Neolithic peoples no longer lived the life of pure hunters, but they erected dwellings in wood and stone, and they often surrounded these with a wall or fortification of stone or earth or wood. They were apparently the first who thought of driving piles into lake beds, laying a floor on these piles and building huts on them. And these palafittes, which remained in use in the Bronze and Iron ages, extended in a belt in lakes and bogs across Europe in Neolithic times. Very similar lake dwellings have been found among certain wild tribes in Africa, Asia, Australasia and America, and these were probably invented inde- pendently. The well known Danish kjokkenmoddings also belong to the Neolithic period. There are numerous semi-architectural remains formed out of big, rough, unpolished, undecorated stones or megaliths, the majority of which, in Europe at least, must be assigned to the NeoUthic period: menhirs, great single rough obelisks; cromlechs, megaliths grouped in circles or squares; ahnements, megahths arranged in straight rows; and dolmens or covered alleys, vertical megaliths supporting horizontal ones forming a roof. Whether these megaUthic monuments were invented in Europe and whether they all date only from Neolithic times or whether some date from post NeoUthic times, however, are questions impossible to answer at present. For they are found not only in England, France, Sicily, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Holland, North Germany, Denmark and Sweden; but in the Crimea, Caucasus, Syria and India; in Morocco, Algeria, Tunis, and Tripoli; in Egypt at Edfoo; in Abyssinia; on the Nile at Lado; and in South Africa at Zim- babwe and other places. Moreover it is well to remember that the Aztecs and Mayas also erected very similar, only highly decorated, megaliths; that the Alaska Amerinds set up their wooden totem poles; 32 NEOLITHIC AET. and that the Easter Islanders evolved a sort of megalithic monument in their big stone statues. Of fine art the Neolithic peoples of Europe had singularly little; and as they had advanced in certain directions beyond the Chipped Stone peoples, the marked inferiority of their art is noteworthy and the reason thereof is not clearly evident. For there is only a little most rudimentary graphic art, which only by the widest stretch of language might possibly be called drawing, remaining from the Neolithic. About the only things the European Neolithic men apparently ever drew, in which there is even a semblance of resemblance, are a few stone axes. The best of these perhaps is the rude figure of a stone ax engraved on the roof of the sepulchral chamber of Dol-al-Marchant, near Locqmariaquer, Brittany. All other European Neolithic drawings appear to be decorative. In a few dolmens are scratched a few lines, parallel, diverging and concentric. Some examples of these in the dolmen of Gavrinis, Morbihan, can be seen by any tourist, and at certain times, as happened to myself, when the tides are high and the currents strong, only after an exciting sail. Some of the linear decorations at Gavrinis are in spirals: and these have been found also in Ireland and on possibly early Mykenean remains in Greece. There are a few sculptural bas reliefs from the European NeoUthic. Most of them are rudimentary sjonbols of a woman: eyes, nose, mouth, chin, hands, waist line, and two little legs are the parts indicated, tho not all in the same specimens. Some of these art freaks are on megaUthic stones, others are on pieces of pottery. Where this elementary suggestion of a female starts from is unknown, but it is found over a large stretch of country, at Troy in Asia Minor, in one or two places in Greece and in the ARTS OF THE "WORLD. 33 Egean islands, in Italy, in Spain, in Portugal, in France, in England, in Denmark. Strange to say, it is not found in Brittany. It certainly has not the dimmest resemblance to a human being, but it is believed by some archeologists to be the symbol of some divinity, possibly a household goddess. As art it is absurd: in its ethnologic significance it is important, for it hyphenates to a certain extent the Neolithic of the eastern to that of the western shores of the Mediterranean. This figure tends to show that the religion or belief which possibly called for it naust have been nearly similar in Asia Minor and in Spain, and also that all over the Mediterranean belt the Neolithic must have been fairly simultaneous. There are also some small Neolithic pottery stat- uettes of women from Roumania which resemble some early Egyptian statuettes and show a little attempt at form. In both these cases, these nude figures are covered with lines and marks of various kinds: and this is almost absolute proof that some of the Neolithic peoples either tattooed or painted themselves with decorative designs. Some Neohthic pottery also is decorated with various lines and patterns. Of these some are probably derived from basketry patterns: others resemble certain Pleistokene decorative patterns and may or may not be descended from the latter. There are three or four varieties of the decorations apparently based on basketry patterns and it is thought they were produced by the application of pieces of coarse cloth or strings to the soft paste. The basketry pattern potteries are found mainly in central and eastern Europe, in Switzer- land, Germany and Russia, while those with patterns resembling Pleistokene patterns are found in the main in Portugal, Spain, Belgium, Austria, Roumania, and Asia Minor: a circumstance arguing in favor of the 34 NEOLITHIC ABT. latter being a survival of Pleistokene patterns. Some of these potteries are distinctly pretty and may be looked on as the highest artistic expression of Neolithic times. In examim'ng into the comparative position and rank of European Neolithic art, one is instinctively led to compare it first with Pleistokene art. The obvious, strange thing about European Neolithic art is its difference and change from Pleistokene art. Pleistokene art is a good naturalistic art, Neolithic art is a poor decorative art. In Pleistokene art, we have masterly, straightforward, reaUstic work, the result of observation, of selection, and of the abihty and technic to record the observations. European Neolithic art, on the con- trary, shows an entire lack of observation or of any real art power. The Neolithic men never tried to draw what they saw, they merely scratched a con- fused jumble, a scrappy symbol of an idea. They absolutely lacked technic. No race on earth ever showed less art instinct than the European Neohthic men. From the art standpoint, they were merely inartistic children, without the glimmer of a notion, beyond elementary decoration of pottery, of what art is. That Pleistokene art died out entirely after rising to such a high plane and was followed by NeoHthic art, is, after all, nothing more than has happened with many other arts. Cretan art died out in Egean lands. Greek art rose there afterwards and degenerated as Roman art. Roman art changed into Byzantine art, and European art rose from this with Gothic art, etc., etc. The change from Pleistokene art to Neolithic art, therefore, is quite in the ordinary course of art events. That the Neolithic men had no art, no artistic ideas, does not in the least explain why they had none. Barring some of the patterns on potteries which they possibly inherited from the Pleistokenes, they had for- ARTS OP THE WORLD. 35 gotten or never knew anything that the Pleistokenes knew. It has been suggested that as they were rather farmers than hunters, they did not need to produce art from any totemistic reason; but that would not explain their lack of art instinct. It has been claimed also that the Neolithic men were expressing ideas already accumulated among their race, whilst the Pleistokenes merely observed and drew correctly because their minds were free from inherited thoughts and traditions; and that, therefore, artistically, the scratchy representations by the Neolithic men really • stand higher than the Pleistokene drawings. Yet it would seem as if the most inexpert art observer would see that Pleistokene art is a good naturahstic art and that Neolithic art is such a poor decorative art that, barring the pottery patterns, it is only by courtesy that it can be called an art at all. It is uncertain where the Neolithic art and culture of Europe started. It may be native to Europe or it may be an intrusive art which entered Europe from Asia Minor or thru Spain. From the dolmenic remains being thick along the north African coast and the shores of France and England, and the Neolithic pottery female symbolic figure also being found in some of the same locaUties, it is evident that Neolithic culture, commerce and art, extended along the Mediterranean and up the Atlantic coast. But altho the birthplace of Neolithic art can not be specified definitely, my own belief is that it is not intrusive but that it is a comatose period of European art. WMle the time of NeoUthic art can not be given with chronological accuracy, yet there are certain facts which enable something more than mere guessing to be attempted. In Crete and Greece there was a Neolithic culture antedating Minoan-Mykenian times. This may probably be placed with some accuracy as ending before 36 BEONZE AND IRON AGE AET. 3500 B. C. It may not come down as late as 3500 B. C. in western Europe, but it certainly was in existence for some millenniums before 5000 B. C. It would seem therefore as if from 10,000 to 4000 B. C, varying to a certain extent in different countries, would be a tolerably safe conjecture about the date of Neolithic art in the lands of North Africa and Europe. BRONZE AGE ART AND IRON AGE ART. The Pohshed Stone period in Eur-Asia was followed in certain places by a Copper period, in most places by a Bronze period and this in turn by an Iron period. In western Europe during the Copper, Bronze and early Iron ages, art was of small importance. What there is of it, however, is related to Neolithic art and is, doubtless, its direct descendant. The limited quan- tity of Bronze and Iron age West European art now extant has been recovered chiefly from lake dwellings or palafittes in central European lakes and Irish bogs, and from plain villages or terremare. In some instances, NeoUthic peoples lived in these lake dwellings or plain villages, which continued in use into the Bronze and even Iron periods, and the palafittes and their art therefore, in some cases, extend back to the Neolithic period. In western central Europe this art comes down into the first half of the last millennium B. C, when it merges in Italy into Etruscan art: in northern Europe it lasts longer. Bronze age art is spoken of by some writers under the indefinite name of Geometric art. It is rude and elementary. It consists mainly of decorations, in straight or cross lines and in circles or spirals, on potteries and bronzes. This style of ornamentation, which partly originated from an imitation of basketry patterns or woven tissues, is found principally along Alpine slopes in central Europe, in Switzerland, France, AETS OK THE WORLD. 37 Italy and Austria; to some extent in northern Europe; and to a lesser extent in the Balkan peninsula. There are a few attempts at drawing in Bronze and Iron age European art. Among these are some engravings on rocks in Scandinavia, of men, oxen, and boats.* The boats are evidently Viking ships, but their high curved stems and sterns suggest an earh'er model than the one from Sanderfjord in Christiania.f There is apparently nothing symbolic about these engravmgS and they are doubtless picto- graphs in commemoration of some event, but they are so rude and evince such a lack of drawing, form, or perspective, that they must rank among the poorest possible art. A couple of figures on pots from Odenburg in Germany, said to date from the early Iron age, which begins about 1000 B. C, are in entirely straight lines and perfectly infantile. A man and horse on a bronze vase of the later Iron age' fiom Moritzing in Tirol, are extraordinarily hke Etruscan art, and tend to show how closely Etruscan art is related to Iron age European art. J From the early European Iron age there is some art, which varies perhaps somewhat, in the forms and orna- ments used as decorations principally on metal work, from the art of the Bronze age. One slight variation of prehistoric European art is known as Hallstadt art, because it was first observed at a burial ground near Hallstadt, Tyrol. It has been traced also in Bur- gundy, at Bologna and Este in Italy, in Hungary, and at the graves of Glavinae in Bosnia. * Illustrations: W. Boyd Dawkins: Early Man in Britain. t Edwin Swift Balch: The Lange Skib of Sandefjord: "City and State," Philadelphia, 7 September 1899, p. 153. t Illustrations : Max Verworn : Zur Psychologic dcr primitiven Kunst. 38 ETRUSCAN ART. From Lake NeuchMel in Switzerland, and from Alesia and the Champagne in France, comes some art dating also from the Iron age. This likewise varies slightly from Bronze age art and also from Hallstadt art. It is sometimes called late Keltic art or La T^ne art, the latter because most of the specimens, bronze and iron implements, weapons of many shapes and forms, and also potsherds decorated in basketry patterns, have been recovered from the lake dwelling of La T^ne, Lake NeuchMel.* "While the patterns show that La T6ne art belongs to European Iron age art, they are of especial interest because some of these patterns are also found on some examples of Etruscan pottery* and prove that Etruscan art is at least partly descended from the Bronze and Iron age European art. Bronze and Iron age European art is, in my judgment, a different art from Cretan-Mykenian art. But, as they were at least partly simultaneous, it is not surprising that there is some evidence of dovetailing. For instance, some spiral ornaments similar to some from the Mykenian times in Greece have been found, it is said, at Gavrinis, Morbihan, and in Ireland. As art, the art of the Bronze and Iron ages in Europe is of a distinctly low order. In some ways it is perhaps below, in one or two instances it is perhaps in advance of, the art of the Neolithic age. But in all respects it is incomparably inferior to the art of the Pleistokenes. ETRUSCAN ART. Before the rise of Rome, there was some art in Italy which is usually spoken of as Etruscan art. The name is a convenient one and may well be applied to prehistoric art in Italy antedating Roman art. Some * Harvard U. P. M. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 39 of the roots of Etruscan art spring from the art of the Bronze and Iron ages of central Europe; but it is also closely in touch with early Greek art. Exactly when and where it started can not be determined, but it flourished most in Umbria and the surrounding districts of central Italy. It continued down to about 300 B. C, when it became merged in Roman art. There is much pottery from old Etruria.* This is usually dark gray or black and is called bucchero pottery. Some vases of Etruscan bucchero date from at least 700 B. C, or earlier. These early types of Etruscan vases are of heavy clay, hand made, with decorations sometimes incized, sometimes produced by compressing the clay. They are apparently descendants from palafitte Neuchatel art. Bucchero pottery is dis- tinct in colors and decorations, and to some extent in forms, from Greek pottery. Some jars from Chiusi of this black gray bucchero pottery are shaped much like some Peruvian jars and the decorations are very Peru- vian: one of the numerous accidental resemblances between distinct arts. This early pottery to me seems good evidence that Etruscan art has its strongest root in Bronze and Iron age art. After 600 B, C. the shapes of bucchero improve; animals, humans, monsters, creep in as decorations; and after 500 B. C. these are often moulded in high relief. The Pointed Beard type which does not seem to be found in early bucchero, sometimes is delineated on the later Etruscan pottery and this would indicate it came from Greek black figure pottery. There is also some red pottery from Etruria which is much like Greek Corinthian work. A good deal of Etruscan art is made of bronze. There are for instance a lot of early, tiny bronze stat- uettes which are very shapeless and might come from * Harvard U. P. M.— New York M. M.— Boston M. F, A. 40 ETRUSCAN ART. anywhere.* One could not call them exactly autoch- thonous: but one might say they were almost surely non intrusive, and therefore native. A fine Etruscan bronze is a biga or chariot, sup- posed to date from about 700 B. C* It is made of thin bronze plates and is decorated with a couple of winged horses and some figures of the pointed beard Greek or Cypriote type; some of the feet of these figures are in profile as in Assyrian figures. And when one thinks of the shape of the Sicilian carts and the curious, brilliantly colored paintings on them which one sees in the streets of Palermo, it is perhaps not entirely fanciful to suggest that these carts are the humble descendants of the Etruscan biga. Some Etruscan mir- rors of metal, from between the fifth to the third centuries B. C. from Perugia, Chiusi, etc., are engraved with drawings practically similar to those on Greek metal- mirrors of those times.* The figures do not have pointed beards. The Etruscan pointed beard figures are so closely in touch with Greek and Cypriote pointed beard figures, from about the seventh and sixth centuries B. C, and the later Etruscan figures are so closely in touch with Greek figures of the same time, that there can be no doubt that between at least 700 B. C. and 300 B. C. Greek art and Etruscan art were in constant relation- ship. Two little statuettes discovered a few years ago in Sardinia, one of them of a man with a cloak and a stick, show that Sardinia was one habitat of the later Etruscan art with Greek characteristics.! There are some old Etruscan rock tombs, such as the "Grotta del Barone" and the "Tomb of the * New York M. M. t Illustrations: The Illustratbd London News, 12 March 1910, p. 393. ARTS OF THE WOELD. 41 Leopards," both at Corneto, in which are some wall paintings. Some of these form a, sort of frieze, done in red, black, gray and green.* There are men, horses and trees; they are stiff and archaic, showing no observation and standing in a formal row without pictoral composition. In the "Tomb of the Leopards" there are some wall paintings of sitting figures, f These are distinctly like early Greek pottery figures. Above them are some leopards. These are fairly well done: sufficiently so as to make it certain that the artist had seen live leopards, probably from North Africa, as the leopard must have died out long before this in Italy. There are no such leopards in Greek art and this inakes this frieze a good deal of a puzzle, for the style of the work is unmistakably Greek, altho more decor- ative than naturalistic. The Etruscans also sometimes buried their dead in stone sarcophagi. Two of these, in conception and execution, are singularly like such monuments from the Middle Ages. J On the top of each of them is a fife size figure of a man and a woman peaceful in death and good in proportions and technic. On the sides are bas reliefs resembling a Greek frieze, in which some men and horses are fairly well drawn and reveal obser- vation, while some lions are purely conventional and so inferior to the other figures as to make it certain that the artist had never seen a lion. The figures on top and the men and horses on the sides are not archaic at all, so that it seems probable that these coffins are late Etruscan. Not only is there Greek relationship in later Etruscan art, but there are also faint resemblances to some other arts, namely Kaldean and Egyptian arts. The most striking resemblance is noticeable in a number of small * Copies: Boston M. F. A. t Illustration: D. F. Piatt: Through Italy with car and camera. X Boston M. F. A. 42 CRETAN ART. boxes, or tombs, for human ashes, found at Chiusi.* Many of these are painted, and among the colors are some bright yellows, a httle blue, and a duU red. These boxes usually have figures on them, all leaning on the left elbow and holding a round dish with a lump in the center. This lump might represent an obolus for Charon and this might mean a Greek ancestry. Many of these figures resemble numerous similar figurines from Nippur in Ka]dea,t and this would indicate relationship with Kaldean art. Some of the bas reliefs on these boxes or tombs and one or two of the figures are distinctly Egyptian. One of these Egyptian-like figures with a body made of tufa is sitting in a chair and has movable head and hands of terra cotta.* It may be of course that there was some Kaldean and Egyptian art influence brought into ancient Italy, probably by Phoenician traders. But the most probable solution of these figurines is that they come from a Greek prototype which travelled to Etruria, Kaldea and Egypt. CRETAN ART. The Egean Sea is the geographical center of one of the great arts of the world. This art existed in the Egean islands, on some of the islands of the Mediter- ranean, in Greece, and on the western coast of Asia Minor. It began in Neolithic times and continued into the beginning of the Christian era. There were two waves of this art, the first of which flourished especially in Crete, while the second wave was the great art of Greece proper. The best generic name for the art of the Egean as a whole is Egean art. The first wave of Egean art, which itself probably had several rises and falls, has * Palermo M. Naz. t Harvard U. P. M. ARTS OP THE WORLD. 43 been spoken of by many names: PeJasgic, Cyklopean, Pre-Mykenean, Mykenean, Pre-Hellenic, Achaian, Egean, Minoan, Cretan-Mykenean, Cretan-Minoan, Cretan. But as there is little doubt that it started in Crete, where it rose to its acme, and also on account of brevity, the best name for it perhaps is Cretan art. For the sake of geographical clarity, however, sometimes it is con- venient to ampUfy the name into Cretan-Minoan or Cretan-Mykenean. Cretan art extended over Crete and over Greece where remains have been found at Mykenae, Tiryns and Vaphio. Traces of it have been obtained at Troy, perhaps in Phrygia, in Rhodes, Cyprus, in Egypt dating from about 1500 B. C, in Italy and in Spain. Some spiral ornaments belonging to this art have been found, it is said, at Gavrinis, Morbihan, and even in Ireland. Cretan art is true European and is neither West Asiatic nor Egyptian. It begins with pottery, slightly decorated with linear patterns: sculpture comes next: finally painting in bright colors. It is supposed to start somewhat later and it finishes perhaps eight hundred years earh'er than true Egyptian art. According to present knowledge, Cretan art went thru four periods: I., Neolithic; II., Early Minoan; III., Middle Minoan; IV., Late Minoan. Their chro- nology is extremely uncertain and it is only at the very end that dates in years approximate to accuracy. The Neolithic is estimated or rather guessed at starting about 10,000 B. C, and the Early Minoan between 5000 to 3000 B. C. The four Cretan art periods, how- ever, fortunately correspond fairly closely with the periods of art in Egypt and may be classified as follows: Crete. Egypt. I. Neolithic. Prehistoric. II. Early Minoan. Early Egyptian, IVth to Xth dynasties. III. Middle Minoan. Early Middle Egyptian, Xlth to XVIIth dynasties. IV. Late Minoan. Late Middle Egyptian, XVIIIth to XXth dynasties. 44 CRETAN ART. Apparently Cretan art was suddenly extinguished in Crete about 1300 B. C, possibly thru some piratical invasion of the island. At Mykene it probably lingered a Httle longer, possibly till about 1100 B. C, when certain inroads from the north, usually spoken of as the Dorian invasion, appear to have snuffed out the last sparks of its vitahty. The catastrophe which destroyed Minoan Crete is possibly the one that Plato refers to in his account of the lost Atlantis. At any rate the theory, launched by some clever anonymous writer in A. D. 1909, that Minoan Crete was the prototype of the lost Atlantis, is the most convincing one and the one most in accord with the facts.* In its various abodes, Cretan art includes archi- tecture, pottery, faience, sculpture, metal work, drawing and colored wall painting in an early pictorial stage. Only a limited number of specimens have been un- earthed so far. Pottery, some of it decorated, is found pretty much wherever Cretan art extended. Of sculp- tures, only a few small figures come from Crete. There is much gold and some silver work from Mykene, Tiryns, and Vaphio, and a little from Crete. The few paintings, really colored drawings, which have survived from Cretan-Mykenean times are mostly in Crete on the walls of the palaces. In Minoan Crete, architecture advanced further than on the Mykenean mainland. At Knossos what is known as the palace of Minos, and at Phsestos and other places other palaces have been found and unearthed. These covered more ground than any buildings in Mykenean Greece, and had columns, staircases, wall paintings, etc. Mykenean buildings were formed of great blocks of rough rectangular stone and were more like fortresses than like palaces. There can be no * Edwin Swift Balch : Atlantis or Minoan Crete: " The Geographical Review," May 1917. ARTS OF THE WORLD, 45 doubt therefore that Minoan architecture rose to a higher level than Mykenean architecture. There is pottery from all four Cretan periods. The earliest pottery is plain. From the Neolithic there is some black, hand made, very primitive ware. From the Early Minoan there are also specimens of rough pottery from Gournia and Vasiliki, Crete.* Pottery improves gradually. After the earliest undecorated ware, pottery begins to have rough, probably painted, decorations, in straight or curved lines, probably in imitation of basketry. One good Mykenean jar, for instance, has handles fashioned hke ropes and fluted sides, showing its direct descent from basketry, f On the later pottery there are a good many decorations, sometimes well done and well understood, largely drawn from the life of the sea, from octopusses, crabs, seaweed, etc., and some- times from plants, flowers, etc. J The Cretan-Mykenean pottery of about 1400 B. C, from the mainland, Rhodes, etc., generally has such decorations in a reddish color on a hght ground. These decorations are some- what rough but nevertheless rather flowing, and are pretty and artistic* In fact the later Cretan-Mykenean potters seem to me to have had the best decorative style of all the potters of the Egean. Egean (Cretan-Greek-Cypriote) potteries are all, except one or two elementary figurines, utterly unlike Chinese, Japanese, or Peruvian potteries. Some small vases of marble, alabaster, breccia and steatite, from the Early Minoan, Crete, have simple forms; no figures or decorations.* The same is the case with some vases or jars of variegated marbles of the Late Minoan, Crete.* These are locally distinctive and utterly unlike anything I have seen from elsewhere. * New York M. M. t Boston M. F. A. i New York M. M.— Boston M. F. A. 46 CRETAN ART. But they are way ahead, as works of art and beauty, of early Greek and, I am inclined to think, also of all late Greek potteries. These vases are really a form of sculpture and are pretty works of art. Some Cretan specimens, snake women, bulls, flying fish, etc., of the Middle Minoan,* are made of unmis- takable glazed pottery, faience or majolica. I have not seen any such specimens from Mykenean art. There is nothing hke them in Greek art. Possibly this material is an importation from Egyptian or West Asiatic art. If so, it is a proof that however original and local an art may be, yet there is always some gradation into neighboring arts. Two of these small figures of women from Crete, of the Middle Minoan, are modelled in glazed pottery or faience and are really most remarkable sculptures. They are dressed in skirts, resembling exactly modern European skirts, and waists or tight fitting jackets, cut in a very decollete square in front: one of these figures has snakes entwined around her.f There is no doubt that these are genuine specimens of Cretan art and they prove that colored faience pottery and Watteau ball dresses date back to many centuries B. C. I have seen nothing of the kind in Greek art. The snakes, however, are Oriental, not European, and are one of the few touches showing kinship between Crete and Western Asia or North Africa. One admirable httle statue of a woman is assigned to the Late Minoan. J She is made of ivory, is not col- ored, has some gold bands round her dress, and holds two golden vipers, one in each hand. She is a real woman, not imaginative, with great realistic character- istics and quality. The head is modelled like a por- * Eeplicas: New York M. M. t Facsimiles: New York M. M. I Boston M. F. A. AETS OF THE WORLD. 47 trait, and the work is absolutely naif. This snake woman is Uke late modern European work: the sculptor was striving for a Hkeness. She has some of the char- acteristics of Pleistokene work: in certain respects she might be a descendant from it. She is quite different from Greek classical work which strives for a type. She is also quite different from Archaic Greek statu- ettes or Cypriote statuettes, some of which possibly show Assyrian influence. She looks like a White race European. And indeed none of the humans in Cretan-Mykenean art in the least resembles Egyptian, Euphratic, or Assyrian figures. Among the sculptures of Mykenean times may be mentioned the famous Lion gate of Mykenae. The lions are fairly weU done but unfortunately are a good deal weather worn. Upright Uons facing each other are also used as a decoration in Phrygia, Asia Minor, at probably about the same period, and are partial evidence that Cretan art to some degree extended along the Egean coast of Asia Minor. Some tombs in Phrygia of the same period are ornamented with geo- metric patterns one of which is curiously like the art of Mitla. There is a good deal of artistic metal work in Cretan art. Most of the specimens come from the mainland. While their dates are uncertain, some probably come from the Middle Minoan and the best from the Late Minoan-Mykenian. This metal work may have continued till about 1100 B. C, in the shape of cups, daggers, etc., of bronze or gold or silver, engraved or inlaid with various dec- orations. Many of the decorations are similar to those on the potteries. They are taken from octopusses, bees, plants, flowers, etc., and there are also many curves and circles. Some of these decorations are well drawn and well 48 CRETAN ART. observed and are most decorative.* These various motives, taken from life of the sea or from plants, on potteries and metal work, are common to both Cretan and Mykene. But these patterns, both in their matter and manner, are also purely European. And the absence of such work in Egypt or in the Euphrates Valley tends far to show that Cretan art was an independent Euro- pean art development. There is one small head of a bull, modelled in some kind of metal. It comes from Greece, is Late Mykenean, and is really a fine piece of sculpture, f One gold ring from Mykene is engraved with the figures of three women, in modern short skirts and high heeled shoes. J This ring of course may have come by trade from Crete: but it may mean that the Cretan costume was worn in Mykenean times on the mainland. Some of the Mykenean metal work also shows motives from animals, well done lions on daggers, bulls, etc., which are lacking on the potteries. Among these, some gold cups from a tomb in Laconia near Vaphio south of Sparta, have on them engravings of bullfights, and are really beautiful and deservedly famous. There are also two Mykenean daggers, on one of which there are lions hunting, and on the other lions charging or springing at men who are fighting them with swords. These lions are not very well drawn, but well enough to imply acquaintance with lions. § It is sometimes claimed that the lion motive, found in Mykenian art on the Greek mainland on these daggers, on the Lion gate of Mykene and on the gold * Specimens or electrotypes: New York M. M. — Boston M. F. A. — U. Penn. M. S. & A. t Electrotype: New York M. M. t Electrotype: Boston M. F. A. § Electrotypes: New York M. M.— Boston M. F. A. ARTS OP THE WORLD. 49 cups of Vaphio, must be an importation from Western Asia or Egypt. But this is not necessary, for some geologists believe that the lion survived in northern Greece until about 600 B. C* The drawings and sculptures certainly show that the artists had seen lions and they imply fm-ther that there were plenty of lions in Greece before 1100 B. C. All the Cretan Mykenean wall paintings so far found, except a few frescoes from Tiryns, are I believe, on the walls of the palaces of Crete. The humans are some eight or even more heads in height, that is they show already Greek heroic proportions. The few men's faces are not bearded and their waists are abnormally pinched in. The women also have extremely con- stricted waists, and wear skirts of a modern European style and close fitting short sleeved short jackets cut very open in front. The drawing is done almost entirely in curves; the hair, for instance, is in curves and there are no straight lines. Among the paintings, the one known as the "Cup Bearer "t is noteworthy, in that it is an attempt at a sort of portraiture. While it is really only a colored drawing, and evidently not a satisfactory portrait, still it is incipient portraiture and as such is probably the earliest attempt extant at portraiture in the modern European manner. Of other paintings, one from the palace of Knossos and believed to date from the Late Minoan, represents a bull and three humans, f The latter might be men or women: that is the humans, as also the bull, are not well drawn. Nevertheless there is action and motion, and a distinct attempt to make a real picture. In a couple of other wall paintings from the palaces of Knossos of the Late Minoan, a number of female * W. Boyd Dawkins: Cave Hunting. t Copy in colors: New York M. M. 50 CRETAN ART. figures are portrayed, arrayed, much like the snake woman statuettes, in regular modern skirts and with the front of their busts, above the waist, entirely bare.* These women, with small heads, tiny waists and elongated figures, resemble modern fashion plates. There is nothing of the kind in any art until somewhat similar clothing begins to appear in the art of Medieval Europe. And it is strange that Cretan skirts and decollete bodices should have vanished so completely for three thousand years, and then been reinvented by our own civilization which, therefore, as far as woman's dress is concerned, is exactly where Cretan civilization was. These wall paintings also prove that the Cretans had a European pictorial sense and had already advanced to a prehminary pictorial stage. The combined evidences of Cretan art point to its being a native European art, and the main ancestor of the later more highly developed Greek art. Granting it to be a native European art, it might be held to be a descendant of Pleistokene art. This seems improbable for three reasons. First, the length of time which must have elapsed between the end of Pleistokene art and the beginning of Cretan art. Second, the distance between the two art foci of Crete and western central Europe. Third, that altho Cretan work resembles Pleistokene work in its directness and accurate observa- tion, and a.ltho both arts are distinctly European, nevertheless the handling, technic and subjects of Pleistokene and Cretan artists are sufiiciently individual and distinct to prevent one art being nustaken for the other. Cretan art appears to be independent in its birth and in most of its evolution from West Asiatic art or Egyptian art. Owing to propinquity and commercial intercourse, however, it felt some reflex action from * Copies in colors: New York M. M. ARTS OF THE WORLD, 51 both of these and there are some evidences, especially in the glazed pottery, that it was affected in one or two minor points. From what I have seen of Cretan art I would class it as a European art, native to its own locahty, that is as an autochthonous art. It seems to me that there can be scarcely a question that it is the second great European art movement and also that Crete eventually wiD be considered the second great starting point of European art. GREEK ART. Greek art, speaking in the most general terms, may be said to extend thru the last millennium B. C, and for three or four centuries into the first millennium A. D.; that is, from about 1000 B. C. to 300-400 A. D. It may be divided into three main periods: I, the Archaic period, from about 1000 to 500 B. C; II, the great or Hellenic Greek period, from about 500 to 100 B. C; III, the Roman or Decadent period, from about 100 B. C. to 300 A. D. It began after a period when art was in a state of coma, due probably to the inroads from the north or from Asia Minor spoken of indefinitely in history as the Dorian invasion. At any rate, the art of the Mykenean period died out and art in Greece was reborn and developed into much higher forms. Archaic Greek art has certain noticeable character- istics of its. own. The most important fact, to which perhaps sufficient attention has not been paid as yet, is that there is a difference of type between Archaic Greek and Hellenic Greek art. It is in the heads of the humans, especially those of the men, that this dif- ference is so noteworthy. The Archaic face is thin, the eyes are sloping and staring, the cheek bones are high, the chin is sharp and, almost invariably, the men have a little pointed beard. This type is common in Archaic 52 GREEK ART. Greek and in Cypriote art, and it is found more rarely in early Etruscan art, extending perhaps into Sicily. Some statues of Apollo, for instance, of the sixth cen- tury B. C, from Argos, Greece, are distinctly similar to Cypriote statues.* On many of the early Greek vases also, the figures of men have pointed beards and slanting eyes and much resemble some of the statues from Cyprus. t In Attic Black figured pottery of before 500 B. C, the pointed beard is common. J In Attic Red figured pottery of later than 500 B. C, the pointed beard is almost never, perhaps never, apparent, t In Etruscan art, which was in close touch with Greek commercial art, many of the figures of men, between 800-500 B. C, have pointed beards, and some of them also wear Greek armor. After about 500 B. C, the inferior Greek commercial art still travelled to Etruria, and the pointed beard is then also lacking in Etruscan art. After about 500 B. C, the type of head in Greek art changes rather suddenly: the eyes grow horizontal and no ' longer stare, the face is broader, the forehead higher, the chin bigger and the pointed beard vanishes. There is more resemblance to Cretan heads. There are no written records about the matter. What does it all mean? In the first place, the Archaic type, which might also be called the Pointed Beard type, is locally distinctive. It is found in Greece, Cyprus and Etruria. No Egyptian sculptures nor Kaldean Gudeas are in the least like it. The only instance where something really resembling it is found outside of its own geographical habitat is the Frieze of Archers, Sousa, Persia. In this the men have a somewhat square beard trimmed to a point. I doubt their * Casts: Boston M. F. A. t Boston M. F. A. t New York M. M. ARTS OF THE WOKLD. 53 connection with the Archaic Greek type, nevertheless it is possible that there is connection. No definite explanation of the Pointed Beard type of Etruria and Greece can be offered here, nevertheless one suggestion may be launched. It is about the time that Mykenean art came to an end, that we hear dimly of some races migrating into Greece from the north, an event usually spoken of as the Dorian invasion. Sometime after this the Archaic Greek art type slowly arose, and it seems probable that these so-called Dorian invaders had something to do with it. When later the Archaic art type changed into the Hellenic art type, it seems likewise probable that by that time the old Cretan and Mykeiiean native substratum or stock had risen once more to the fore, and that their native art instinct gradually superseded the Dorian lack of art instinct and brought about the great Hellenic art. In regard to the racial stem of the Dorians we are still in a more or less conjectural stage. But taking into account the traditions of their inroads from the north, that is from the Balkans, their lack of naturalistic art sense, and the slightly Asiatic cast of features of the Pointed Beard type: it's quite on the cards to suggest that the Dorians were Slavs. In the Archaic period some West Asiatic, possibly Assyrian, and some Egyptian art influence reached Greece. This appears to have been mainly between about 800-500 B. C.; and slight survivals of these influences are traceable even in Hellenic art. The resemblances it is true are only superficial, implying no parentage; nevertheless the Assyrian or Phoenician art movement, which affected to a slight extent Cypriote art, also apparently had some little effect on Greek art. For instance, a huge terra cotta vase, said . to be Boeotian of the eighth century B. C. and to have been 54 GBEEK ART. erected as a monument over a grave, is decorated with men and bulls, both of which are distinctly Assyrian.* One early Greek vase has a frieze of httle men riding on ostriches: a reminiscence of Egypt and perhaps of the Pygmies, t In Corinthian style pottery, about 700- 600 B. C, there are many monsters, and these are somewhat Assyrian.! ^^ Attic Red figured pottery, there are also some monsters, griffins, sphinxes: possibly an Oriental touch, f Some of the friezes on Greek temples, such as those on the Temple of Athens on the Akropolis, are, in their form, very similar to Assyrian bas reliefs, t An early statue of Apollo, from Melos, is absolutely Egyptian^ as is also another Apollo from Athiki, Corinthia.l On the whole, it seems as if Greek art was mainly of native growth. But it is not autochthonous nor purely local. For Archaic Greek art may have some roots in central western Europe and it has affiliations with western Asia and with Egypt. And while the great Hellenic art appears to be a sort of renaissance of Cretan-Mykenian art, it also descends directly from Archaic Greek art. Nevertheless, altho admitting the fact that there were probably some slight extraneous forces which affected somewhat early Greek art, yet the Greek art instinct and art impulse were so strong that it is undoubtedly correct to assert that Greek art grew, budded and blossomed mainly on its own soil. Sculpture appears in Greece already early in the Archaic period. The first statuettes were made prob- ably of terra cotta and some of them may date back to the eighth century B. C. or even earlier. [| They come * Boston M. F. A. t New York M. M. X Cast: New York M. M. § Munich Glyptothek— Cast: New York M. M. 11 Boston M. F, A.— British M.— New York M, M. ARTS OP THE WORLD. 55 from all over Greece proper and similar ones come also from the Egean coast of Asia Minor, among other places from Myrina, Smyrna, and Tanagra. The earliest of these statuettes, the incipient efforts of the splendid Greek sculpture, are rough, poor and grotesque art. The later terra cotta statuettes are better, and some of them, those from Tanagra especially, are justly renowned for their grace and beauty. There are also a number of Grieek bronze statuettes, some of which must date back to the Archaic period.* These follow much the same evolution as the terra cotta statuettes, namely that the bronze statuettes of the Archaic period are rough and ill formed, while many of the later ones are beautiful works of art. Towards about 500 B. C, Greek sculpture begins to show improvement in form over earUer Greek art, and in the fourth century the marbles are very fine. Of the Greek sculpture of the great period, it is not necessary, except in regard to one or two special points, to speak of in this book. Greek statuary may probably be ranked, without exaggeration, as the best sculpture in the world. Some of the sculpture from eastern Asia, some from Medieval Europe, and sporadic specimens from other places, may possibly be ranked with it. Greek sculpture reached this high level mark owing to several causes. One is that the Greek art genius undoubtedly ran to form, and that the sculptors, thanks to chmatic environment, could observe the nude human model to a great extent in every day surround- ings. Another cause is that Greek sculpture was not directed nor controlled by any great religious body and therefore was able to develop on purely artistic lines, unhampered by religious conventions: in fact, it seems to me that Greek sculpture is one of the best examples of the fact that religion is not the artistic foundation * Boston M. F. A.— British M.— New York M. M. 56 GREEK ART. of art. Greek sculptors evidently sought types rather than individuals and aimed at idealistic rather than at reab'stic results. Their best efforts are composite statues based on many models, and this is a conven- tion of Greek sculpture. Some Greek statues and other sculptural work at least were tinted or painted, A gravestone, for instance, of the fourth century B. C. is roughly sculpted and poorly painted.* Scarcely anything, how- ever, is known about the painting on Greek statuary, because most of the paint or color has disintegrated and vanished and therefore there are no good examples left to judge by. But there is no doubt that, in certain cases at least, the marble was colored by the artist. Greek sculpture has greatly influenced Modern European sculpture and together with some Medieval European sculpture and some East Asiatic sculpture will be doubtless the foundation of the White race sculpture of the future. ' Of Greek painting proper we know but little, as unfortunately only a few examples have come down to us. It must date back to about 500 B. C. and apparently it was distinctly imitative. About all that is left of it is a small number of heads found on sarcophagi in the Fayum, Egypt, painted in what is called encaustic, and which are believed to date from about 200 B. C. and to be by Greek artists. f These are thoroly understood, they show the individual, not the type, they get away from the usual search for an idealistic type in Greek sculpture and reveal distinctly imitative realism: in fact they have the qualities of European portraits. These are probably the earliest attempts remaining of what we should consider successful * Boston M. F. A. t London National Gallery— Boston M. F. A. — U. Penn. M. S. & A. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 57 painted realistic portraiture, which may be defined as the art of placing on a flat surface an imitative reproduction in colors of a person in order to convey to an onlooker a likeness of that person. There are two points of especial artistic interest in these portraits. The first is that they show how much character study there is in Greek art: that the Greeks did not run absolutely after an ideal type. The second is that they prove that the Greeks had arrived at values. As far as my observations go, these portraits are the first paintings that show values as definite as those of modern painting. This is one of the great steps in pictorial art and the credit thereof must appar- ently be given to the Greeks. The last step of all, light, especially light thru colors, the Greeks, as far as we know, never took. It is probable that Greek portraits are the earUest which looked really Uke modern European portraits. For nothing like painted portraiture was attempted among the West Asiatics nor the Egyptians. But it must be remembered that a less developed European painting existed already in Crete about 2000 B. C. and that the Knossos "Cup Bearer" is an incipient portrait. The Cretans, therefore, must be considered as the earliest people to attempt pictorial portraiture and the Greeks as those who first brought portraiture to an "arrived" stage. And as Greek art was, in a certain sense, a renaissance of Cretan art, a renaissance which dates from about 500 B. C, Crete and Greece must be looked on as the ultimate fountain heads of European and American portraiture. Certain points about Greek painting may be inferred from the decorations on Greek vases. There is almost no landscape and but little floral ornamentation on these. Anything like a tree or flower is indicated most sum- marily. This shows that Greek pictures were mainly 58 GREEK ART. figure pictures and not landscapes, and it is also an instructive proof that Greek art and East Asiatic art are distinct. The Greeks never studied an3i;hing much but the human, especially the naked human figure: the East Asiatics studied preferentially everything else but the nude. Another pictorial point revealed thru Greek vase decorations is that Greek drawing was not always per- fect. The Greeks did not, for instance, observe the motions of animals nearly as well as did the East Asiatics. Horses with the incorrect open-scissor action are drawn on some of the Black figured pottery of between 600-500 B. C. On a large Athenian Red figured mixing bowl of about 450 B. C., representing a battle between men and Amazons, there is a biga- shaped chariot pulled by horses also having the open- scissor action.* Greek pottery, exclusive of Mykenean pottery of before 1100 B. C., may be divided, according to the decorations, into about five classes or styles: 1. Early Greek About 1000-600 B. C. 2. Ionian , " 750-550 B. C. 3. Corinthian " 700-500 B. C. 4. Attic Black figured " 6.00^50 B. C. 5. Attic Red figured " 500 and after. The Early Greek style pottery is often spoken of as "Geometric." This is a misleading name for while, like much pottery from other parts • of the world, it has many decorations in straight lines, rectangles, etc., it is not infrequently decorated with poor drawings of animals and men. A Greek amphora, for instance, "Dipilon Style," of the eighth century B. C., has some outrageous drawings of men and bulls, f * New York M. M. t Boston M. F. A. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 59 It is rather curious that the Early Greek type of pottery may have survived longer in some other countries than it did in Greece. For instance, many jars from Hadra, the Necropolis of Alexandria, of about 300-200 B. C., are strongly reminiscent of Early Greek work.* In the seventh century, pottery already begins to show improvement. For instance, two Boeotian vases of that century, with humans and animals in slight relief, are much better than earlier work.f In the Attic Black figured pottery, which begins about 600 B. C, the ground is reddish, with figures painted mostly in black, but some in white. The men, as a rule, have pointed beards. In the Attic Red figured pottery, the figures are generally a light red on a black ground. This pottery is divided by some authorities into three periods: 1. Severe Style About 520-470 B. C. 2. Fine " " 470-450 B. C. 3. Late " " 450-380 B. C. Art critics usually laud Greek pottery, especially Attic Red figured, up to the skies, some apparently holding that it is the most artistic pottery in the world. I cannot agree with this view. The earlier Greek pottery, that of say between 1000-600 B. C., is artistically certainly distinctly inferior to Cretan- Mykenean pottery. | Indeed, it hardly looks hke the same art and it suggests that Cretan-Mykenean pottery was wiped out of existence and that a big interval, perhaps several hundred years, elapsed before Greek pottery proper put out its first feeble shoots. Even in the best Greek pottery the Greek potters, * New York M. M. t Boston M. F. A. t Boston M. F. A.— British M.— New York M. M. 60 GKEEK ART. it seems to me, never arrived anywhere near the high level reached in sculpture by Greek sculptors. The forms of Greek pottery, including many of the early examples antedating 500 B. C, are frequently hand- some and show how sculptural the Greek art genius was. But one cannot, as a rule, extend such praise to the decorations and especially to the colors. The Greeks used almost entirely human figures and a few, generally domestic, animals as motives in their decora- tions. The figures are sometimes badly drawn and the decorations are often too intricate. In fact the decora- tions, altho they are never artistically vulgar, seem not infrequently to be rather attempts at friezes or at picture making than decorations proper. The Greek pottery colors also, a red or whitish terra cotta ground with decorations in black or white paint, or a ground painted black with decorations terra cotta color, do not seem to me especially harmonious or pleasing. In fact, I am inclined to think that the colors and the ugly contrast between dead red terra cotta and shining black paint is the specially weak spot in Greek pottery. In speaking thus rather adversely of Greek pottery, it is well to state that such remarks are purely opinions and that others may not agree with them; the pottery itself remains unchanged. Potteries the world over are so various and there are such innumerable examples, each differing in form and patterns and in other respects, that it is impossible to do more than generalize about them. Thus some Greek vases are very pleasing: but then so are some Cretan-Mykenian pieces, some Zuni bowls, etc. To me, Greek pottery seems in the useful- ness of its shapes, in its decorations, in its colors, inferior to East Asiatic pottery or porcelain: as an art product, therefore, I should "place it in the second rank. Greek pottery, however, is very individual. It does not exactly resemble any other pottery and has, there- ARTS OF THE WORLD. 61 fore, the merit of originality. It is a truly European product and while it has not been re-created anew, possibly because its brittleness does not conduce to usefulness, in its decorations, especially in the attempts of picture making, it is a true forerunner, one cannot say ancestor, of Meissen and Sevres porcelains. Greek art spread far and wide. It extended along the north African coast, in Roman times at least as far west as Tunis and parts of Algeria. A good deal of Greek art has been found in Egypt. From the Gyre- naica, there are several good heads which are probably Greek.* At Carthage many interesting works of art, some of which are surely by Greek artists, are dug up every year in the excavations now under way.f A seal representing a horse in motion is fine. One splendid work is the eflBgy of a woman, probably a Carthaginean priestess, which formed the lid of her sarcophagus. She is clothed in a most original manner, in a dress, probably religious robes, which envelops her with two great bird wings. This sculpture is in the best style of Greek art and is one of the finest I know of. When we saw it at Carthage in 1905, it had only recently been excavated. There were still traces of bright color on it, which added greatly to the expression of the face and to the beauty of the whole. Greek art also spread to Sicily and southern Italy. Old Sicilian art is mainly of Greek extraction. In its earlier stages there is, I think, some Egyptian or Phoenician art influence, probably brought in thru Phoenician traders. There are, for instance, two or three sphinxes with wings, somewhat Egyptian or AssjTian in style, which may come from the Phoenicians, t * Louvre. t Carthage M. Lavigerie. J Palermo M. Naz. 62 GREEK ART. A number of bronze implements from Selinunte show that some Graeco-SiciUan towns were in a Bronze stage.* There are also many art remains from Selinunte and these have early Greek characteristics. There are some figures resembling Tanagra figurines and some of these show a tendency to the oblique eye. On some stone metopes from the temple of Sehnunte there are several early heads of Medusa putting out her tongue; the humans have thick arms and legs and rather staring eyes; the horses are better and more Athenian in style altho when they show motion, and there is almost no motion in Sicilian art, it is the erroneous open-scissor motion.* The most notable works of Greek art in Sicily are the Greek buildings at Syracuse and especially the Greek temples at Girgenti. It is impressive to the visitor to the temples of Hera and of Concord, to feel how three or four centuries B. C. Girgenti must have been in an advanced stage of culture. But to-day the sight of the better dressed natives carrying, in lieu of a parasol or a cane, a double barrel shot gun or a 44-40-200 Winchester carbine, makes one realize that Sicily has reverted to semi-barbarism. From Saluntum there are some paintings, in which a number of colors are used and whose tone is dark from age.* They are decorative panels with well drawn and painted theatrical masks and garlands of fruit, the details of which are well carried out. Marble is imitated in some places and light falls from the upper left hand corner as in modern architectural drawings. These panels are almost surely by Greek artists and they suggest in every way modern European technic. Greek art also left in southern Italy beautiful architectural relics such as the temples of Paestum. * Palermo M. Naz, ARTS OF THE WORLD. 63 It is needless to dwell on its connection with Roman art and its effect on modern European art. Together with its younger sister Roman art, Greek art advanced a certain distance into Asia. Besides Greek potteries, there is also some Greek statuary from the coasts of Asia Minor. Some graceful Nereids from Lycia, for instance, are surely Greek.* Graeco-Roman art also abode for awhile in Syria and traveled to the Euphrates valley and to some points in Chinese Turkestan and Afghanistan, notably Gandhara. Some archeologists claim that Greek art wandered to India and even that it affected East Asiatic art. I am inclined to think the latter claim exaggerated and that Greek art influence filtered across the Indus and the Pamirs only in homoeopathic doses. CYPRIOTE ART. From Cyprus, a big island in the eastern Mediter- ranean, a good many art specimens have been obtained. The early art of Cyprus includes architectural remains, sculptures and potteries, and was revealed to the world by General Di Cesnola who was violently abused at first because he discovered something unexpected. Many of the Cypriote sculptures are terra cotta statuettes, t Some of these have much action and motion, but none of them rises into first class work. In fact, all Cypriote terra cotta statuettes I have seen are poor. Some primitive terra cotta statuettes from Cyprus, horrible and hideous, are supposed to date back to about 2000 B. C. in the Bronze Age. These seem the earliest art attempts known in Cyprus. Some Cypriote statuettes, of perhaps 800-700 B. C, are exactly like early Greek, especially Boeotian statuettes. There are several of men riding in wheeled * Casts: New York M. M. t New York M. M.; Cesnola Collection— Boston M. F. A. 64 CYPBIOTE ART. carts, a hint at possible relationship with the Etruscans. My impression, however, is that Cypriote statuette work is principally related to Greek statuette work and that at an early period the statuette work of Greece and Cyprus was nearly similar; but that later, Greek work ran away from Cypriote work. ApQong the sculptures are many statues, generally made of a calcareous stone or of sandstone.* The biggest were dug from the Temple of Golgoi. Cypriote statues as a rule are rigid in action and there is no attempt at motion. Most of them resemble closely the Pointed Beard or Archaic type of Greek statues, but some of the older ones betray also some Assyrian influ- ence and others a Uttle Egyptian influence. The later and better ones show Hellenic influence, proving thereby that there was some evolution in Cypriote sculpture. The heads of the archaic statues from Cyprus resemble in some cases the heads from the Frieze of the Archers at Sousa. They are not Uke Mongol heads, altho the eyes usually are sloping, something hke Mongol eyes: but the eyes also are big and thereby they differentiate entirely from Chinese eyes. Neither are the heads like Egyptian heads, which do not have sloping eyes and which have thicker lips, that is more the African type. Cypriote noses are big and straight, differentiating them from Assyrian noses which are a trifle hooked. The cheek bones are prominent and the faces rather sunk in round the mouth. The Ups are usually thin; often they are prominent and the comers turn up, which gives the faces a sly expression. The feet are perfectly shaped and not distorted. There are a number of sculpted objects from Cyprus, which are probably funerary.* A sepulchral stele from the necropolis at Golgoi, has on it two * New York M. M. ; Cesnola collection. ARTS OF THE WORLD, 65 sphinxes, with lions' bodies, eagles' wings and women's heads. A sarcophagus of calcareous stone from Amathus is ornamented with sphinxes and figures, those of women having disproportionately short bodies and long legs: on the sides men are driving two wheeled carts and there are traces of blue and green paint in places. These mortuary objects therefore reveal relationship to Egyptian and Etruscan art. There is much pottery from Cyprus, some of which is decidedly handsome.* Some of it is a hght, rather whitish, color; some of it is red and some of this is glazed. Cypriote pottery resembles most nearly Archaic Greek pottery: it has no resemblance to African, East Asiatic or Amerind pottery. A good deal of Cypriote pottery is decorated and these decorations are patterns, not pictures. While some of the patterns are painted, many are incised. Some of the decorations resemble late Mykenian or early Greek decorations without being identical: some giraffe-like horses, for instance, show a bond of union. Many of the decorations, however, are distinctly local and amongst these are some tiny pat- terns which are different, I think, from anything east of Hindustan. There is some pottery from Rhodes, which is very similar to Cypriote pottery, especially one jar, which might have come from Cyprus, f The art of Cyprus, as might be expected from the geographical location of the island, is related to the arts of all the surrounding mainlands. It is not autoch- thonous. Some of it, the roughest possible pottery statuettes, apparently date back to the Bronze age. Most of it, however, appears to coincide in time with Archaic Greek art. Many of the statues belong to the Pointed Beard type also found in Greece and Etruria, * New York M. M. ; Cesnola collection, t New York M. M. 66 ROMAN ART. and may therefore be assigned roughly to the first half of the first millennium B. C. Their most prominent characteristic is a broad grin. Many of the Cypriote pottery figurines are almost identical with early Greek figurines. Cypriote art also shows some relationship to Assyrian art and likewise received some nourishment from Egyptian art. In the main, however, it is a European art, and its close relationship to certain phases of Egean art apparently warrants its inclusion in Egean art. Nev- ertheless, it is differentiated from all affiliated arts, even Greek, and it has a distinct, locally individual, flavor of its own. It never developed beyond a semi-archaic stage and died out without coming to fruition. In the two millenniums A. D., various invading nations have held the island in turn, Romans, Vene- tians, Turks and others, and left some traces of their various arts, but these are of no great importance from a comparative standpoint. ROMAN ART. Roman art, as we call the main art of southern Europe from between about 400 B. C. to 400 A. D., is a descendant of several other arts. Its parent source is Etruscan art and on to this the art of Greece in its great period was grafted and soon superseded Etruscan art. In its later stages, as the Roman empire expanded, Roman art also received some influences from Egypt and western Asia. Roman art can therefore in no wise be called one of the original arts of the words. What originality there was in the art of the Romans is found principally in their architecture, which evolved in answer to their needs. The arena, of which the Colosseum and the arenas at Verona, Nimes, Aries, and El Djem in Tunis are probably the finest examples, was an almost purely Roman institution. Aqueducts, among which may be men- ARTS OF THE WORLD. 67 tioned those in the Campagna, the one from Zaghouan to Carthage where the Roman cisterns are still in use, the one in the Val Tournanche and above all the stupendous Pont du Gard, are another branch of architecture developed to completeness by the Romans. Among other essentially Roman architectural remains are the long lines of fortifications, in Germany, in Britain, in the Balkans, and the great walled camps erected along them and also in North Africa. Only the Chinese, in their great wall north and west of Pekin, ever built anything Uke them. One of these lines of fortifications may be worth describing more particularly. Called now in Germany the Pfahlgraben or Limes Imperii Romani, it stretches five hundred and forty kilometers from Honnigen on the Rhine to Hienheim on the Danube. It consisted of an earthwork, palisaded on top, and a ditch. Every ten to fifteen kilometers there was behind this rampart an armed camp where soldiers were garrisoned. The best known of these camps, the Saalburg near Hom- burg, has been rebuilt within the last forty years as nearly as possible Kke the original. It was a rectangle of 221.45 meters by 147.18 meters, surrounded by a crenelated wall about 2.50 meters in height and a double dry ditch. On each side was a gateway and within were numerous buildings for troops. Many relics, pottery, weapons, leather coats, etc., have been found at the Saalburg. Roman coins were numerous and prove that the camp was occupied for parts of the first three centuries A. D., after which it was destroyed by invading Teutons.* * Edwin Swift Balch: Roman and Prehistoric Remains in Central Germany: "The Journal of the Frankhn Institute," Vol. CLV., 1903 — Repubhshed as The Roman Camp Saalburg near Hamburg vor der Hoehe for the Saint Louis Exhibition; and as The Saalburg near Hamburg as a guide book for the Saalburg: both printed by J. G, Steinhausser, Homburg vor der Hoehe. 68 ROMAN ART. Roman art included every kind of art. Metal work, pottery, sculpture, decorative painting, drawing, pictures have been found all over the Roman Empire, in Italy, Gaul, Britain, Germany, Spain, North Africa and western Asia. Roman sculpture is mainly an importation from Greece. The sculpture is not as spontaneous as Greek sculpture and partly because of its lack of naivete, it is less interesting than Greek. The verdict of the world places it below the best Greek work. The best Roman sculpture, of course, has been found in Rome itself, but there is much from other parts of the empire. There are some fair bas reliefs and statues from North Africa, for instance.* Some por- trait busts from tombs at Palmyra, tho individual, look like some old Roman and some medieval Italian art.f They are evidently portraits of European heads, but they look a little different from any other sculpted heads, that is they have their local individuality. Some little terra cotta recUning figures from Nippur, t of the Graeco-Roman period, 300 B. C.-200 A. D., resemble closely some Uttle reclining terra cotta figures from Chiusi in Etruria§ and are interesting in showing how Graeco-Roman sculpture spread. Among Roman decorative work of a rather special nature may be mentioned mosaics. Mosaic floors have been dug up in a number of places thruout the empire, for instance at Carthage. || As a rule the material is rather rough in texture. The drawings on them attempt men, animals, fishes, plants, boats, etc., but they are decidedly rough and formless. The impulse * Louvre — Carthage M. Lavigerie. t Casts: Harvard U. S. M. t Harvard U. S. M. § Palermo M. Naz. II Tunis BardoM. ABTS OF THE WORLD. 69 for these mosaics may have come from western Asia and Egypt. From the little Greek painting extant remaining, it can be said with certitude that it was the direct ancestor of Roman painting. Fortunately a good deal of this has come down to us, much of it from Pompeii.* This shows that the old Roman artists knew about as much about painting as the average painter of the Renaissance or as some of those of to-day. Many of the pictures are rather large, perhaps two meters one way. Some of them are well composed. The humans are observed much as in European art: often they are well handled and well modelled: some of them, as some tight-rope dancers, have excellent action. One or two cupids with wings are perfect forerunners of the angel heads of such painters as Raphael. Animals and birds are poorer than humans. There are a good many land- scapes and a good many seascapes, as a rule with some buildings. These out of door scenes are generally long and low in shape, and show feeling for composition and perspective. Many of the details of the pictures, such as the eyes or hair of the figures, are rather hard in texture: this is probably due to the medium, water or egg color on plaster. Among colors, the dull rouge de Pouzzoles, a bright yellow, a pale blue, a green, and black, are the most common. There is no doubt that these old Roman painters had reached already many of the qualities of ordinary Modern European painting, but without mystery or luminism. They clearly descend from Cretan and Greek painters, and show none of the traits of East Asiatic art. When the Roman Empire crumbled away, Roman art went to pieces along with it. This was due mainly to the poUtical socialism stopping art patrons from supplying the ways and means wherewith to produce * Naples M.— New York M. M. 70 BYZANTINE AET. works of art. But it was also to some extent due to the beliefs which gained ground gradually that a man's spirit was everything and his body of no importance. In other words, both political and religious conditions of the time were such that form in Roman art degen- erated into shapelessness and angularity. This final senile phase of Roman art is sometimes called Early Christian art: a most unfortunate name, for it refers only to the subjects. Indeed one might almost say of it — to paraphrase Voltaire's dictum about the Holy Roman Empire — that it was neither Early, Christian nor Art. The artists had gradually lost their ability to depict form. Their art was stiff and ill fashioned. But it was still a part, a wretched remnant, of the art which had ruled in southern Italy for a good many centuries. But the Roman Empire was in something of the same condition that the Bolsheviki have brought Russia into: it was expiring in socialism. And naturally enough art went to seed. BYZANTINE ART. Sometime in the middle of the first millennium A. D., a wave of art from western Asia brought certain exotic art quahties into European art. This wave over- spread southern Europe and amalgamated with what art remained there. It is called, rightly enough, Byzan- tine art because Byzantium was the capital of the Eastern Empire and the central point of this art move- ment. Speaking in most general terms, Byzantine art dates from about 400 A. D. The great artistic merit of Byzantine art is color and decorative quality. It is weak in form. The two chief factors of European painting, drawing and light and shade, are either poor or lacking in Byzantine art. The redeeming feature of Byzantine art is the color which is frequently glowing and sometimes gorgeous. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 71 And the color almost certainly is due to influence from western Asia and possibly Egypt which became grafted on the incompetent drawing and angular forms of the tip end of Roman art. Byzantine artists were occupied principally in building and decorating churches. Sculpture they neglected. Naturalistic painting they did not reach. In archi- tecture they accomphshed some fine work. Hagia Sophia is considered by some authorities the finest example of Byzantine architecture. Some of the later buildings with Byzantine decor- ations are usually spoken of as Romanesque archi- tecture. But whatever the name given to the archi- tecture, San Marco in Venice and various buildings at Ravenna owe their splendor to Byzantine decor- ations. The same is true of the Capella Palatina at Palermo and the Duomo at Monreale near Palermo which are sometimes spoken of as Gothic Romanesque because of the pointed arches, but whose decoration is decidedly Byzantine. The interior of the Duomo at Monreale, with the walls covered with mosaics repre- senting biblical scenes, is one of the grandest I have visited. There is so much gold on these mosaics, however, that the whole color note is perhaps too purely yellow. The windows fortunately are not made of colored glass, a Gothic architectural blemish, as the function of a window is to admit hght. Byzantine art spread over a wide extent of terri- tory. Specimens of it come from a good many places round the eastern Mediterranean, from Egypt, Syria, etc., and it travelled south as far as Abyssinia.* Northward it went with the Greek church to Russia, where it still survives, and it even crossed Bering Straits into Alaska. The churches of the Russian people are to-day the * J. Theodore Bent: The Sacred City of the Ethiopians. 72 BYZANTINE ART. one good living phase of Byzantine art. It is not for their forms, but for their color that Russian churches are noteworthy. The Russians constantly use pure the most brilliant pigments, French ultramarine blue, emerald green, vermilion, and gold leaf, and it seems to me they sometimes carry out beautiful an4 striking decorative color effects. The churches of the Savior and of Saint Basil in Moscow, the first colored brilliantly and the second in subdued tones, are about the most remarkable specimens of this archi- tecture and, when fresh from their beauties, Gothic cathedrals, with their cold gray stone walls and pillars, seem built of mud. A curious phase of Russian art are the ikons which were still being painted in Petrograd, Moscow and Nijni Novgorod up to the end of the Romanoff dynasty: ikons out of drawing and in heavy brown colors which the tourist was told, mirahile dictu, were copies of the old ikons painted in oils by Saint Luke more than a thousand years before European oil painting was invented. These are not Byzantine art in truth, except their highly gilded frames. They are merely weak specimens of Modern European paintings of heads which the Russians have adapted to their own purposes. The last outpost of the eastward movement of Byzantine art was Alaska and the best remaining example there is the Russian church at Sitka. I thought at one time* that Byzantine art had had some iafluence on native Alaskan art and was led to this conclusion from the bright coloring of the big totem pole at Seattle. This, however, is a purely sporadic case. Most of the Alaskan totem poles are of plain wood and the rest of West North Amerind art is colored differently from Byzantine art. It does * Comparative Art. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 73 not seem therefore as if Byzantine art had produced any real effect in Alaska. Byzantine art is now to some extent on the wane even in Eussia, but it might be a good thing if its decorative quality could be revived and restored to architecture. For there is often a grandeur and a blaze of color in it which strongly arouses esthetic emotion, and this after all is the highest function of art. MEDIEVAL AND MODERN EUROPEAN ART. From about the year 400 A. D. until about the year 1000 A. D., naturalistic art in Europe was in a state of coma. But somewhere near the latter date the racial art bent of the White race began to reassert itself in central western Europe. Form in sculpture and painting started in once more as the basis of European art. This rebirth of naturalistic art was of native origin. Art sprang up amid the western European peoples in answer to their needs much as art sprang up among the Cretan-Mykeneans or the Egyp- tians or the Chinese. Europeans felt the longing for naturalistic art and they proceeded to make it in their own way. In this fresh start they did not get their inspiration from former arts, for the simple reason that they knew very little about former arts. Naturalistic art in Europe during the second millen- nium A. D., really went thru a continuous evolution varying more or less in different countries. Up to about 1200 A. D. it was in a formative stage; sculpture arrived at fruition about 1250 A. D.; painting did the same about 1450 A. D.; and after this they continued with ups and downs to the present time. While no hard and fast lines of classification can be drawn about European art, three main divisions may be recognized 1, Gothic art, from about 1100 to 1600 A. D. 2, Renaissance art, from about 1400 to 1800 A. D. 74 MEDIEVAL AND MODERN EUROPEAN ART. 3, Modern European and American art, springing from both the others and still continuing. In Byzantine art the subjects of the decorative paintings were almost entirely religious subjects and likewise in Gothic and Renaissance art at first the sub- jects were generally religious. This continued in the main to be the case until about 1500 A. D., that is to say, the church was the one real art patron for about one thousand years. Beginning about 1200 A. D., how- ever, a movement towards secular subjects sets in, for we find statues which are evidently portrait statues in Gothic cathedrals. After about 1500 A. D. painted portraiture comes to the fore thru lay patronage. And in the succeeding centuries lay patronage for all kinds of art increases and rehgious subjects slowly diminish in number. It is almost unnecessary to point out that Gothic architecture was of purely native growth in western central Europe: for there is nothing like it anywhere else in the world. But one should notice that it rose to its highest in the valleys of the Seine and the Somme. The cathedrals of Paris, Reims, Amiens, Beauvais and Chartres are generally recognized as the finest expressions of the so-called Gothic: a name given, it is said, in derision by its opponents. There is also splendid Gothic work in England, in Spain, in Italy, in Belgium, and a little in Germany. That is to say the location of the best Gothic is almost where Pleis- tokene art reigned millenniums before. And this tends to show that the inventors of Gothic art were the same European White race whose ancestors probably were the makers of Pleistokene art. The sculpture that came at the same time as the Gothic cathedrals and was employed to ornament them, also differs greatly from all earlier sculpture and therefore equally must be of native growth. Rather ARTS OF THE WORLD, 75 curiously, some of the best of this sculpture is found in German speaking lands, for instance the portrait statue of Kaiser Heinrich VI. of 1245 A. D. at Bam- berg and the King Arthur and Theodoric of Peter Vischer of the sixteenth century in the Hofkirche at Innsbruck. The start and early evolution of Medieval and Modem European naturalistic pictorial art can best be traced thru a study of missals, that is illuminated manuscripts usually on religious topics. When a number of these, dating from about the tenth to the fifteenth centuries A. D. are brought together, as was done in an exhibition held at Bruges, Belgium, in 1902, the rise and development of early European painting, especially that of the northern countries, becomes easy to follow.* Beginning about the tenth century, the earliest illuminations consist of blobs of colors, Byzantine in quality but formless. As the centuries roll on, the illuminations improve: first drawing creeps in; then light and shade arises; finally gUmpses of landscape appear as backgrounds; until by the end of the fifteenth century some fine water colors are produced. At first, the illuminations are purely decorative: some are pretty, some ugly: but as time passes, they become more and more naturalistic. After the lapse of several centuries, it occurred to some one in Europe to use oils and varnishes as mediums for painting. This was not a purely Modern European discovery, as the Pleistokenes, the Bushmen, and some other races, mixed fats and grease with their colors. At any rate when pictures done with an oil or varnish medium first obtained a foothold in Europe, they resembled in almost all respects the * Edwin Swift Balch: Letter in The Nation,' New York, July 24, 1902, and The Evening Post, New York, July 26, 1902. 76 MEDIEVAL AND MODERN EUROPEAN ART. latest and best water colors in the missals; indeed they were merely enlarged prayerbook illustrations carried out more thoroly. The aims and the methods of the painters were the same in both, the most notable difference being that the oils were larger and more elaborate than the water colors. The painters themselves may have used both methods and it seems not impossible that some of the best missal water colors are by such men as the Van Eycks and Memling. The earliest Modern European painting shows that art was at a low ebb. It has none of the obser- vation of nature of Pleistokene or Bushman art and it lacks most of the decorative quality of African, Australasian or Amerind art. Observation of nature, beauty, motive, are largely absent. The painters thought evidently of only one thing, the subject. Their work is religious genre; they tried to represent some saint or some sacred scene, some personage or event connected with the church. Their work is pure idealism without a particle of realism and as a result, except sometimes in the colors, it is hopelessly bad. As time went on and the artists slowly learned something of the aspect of the real world, drawing, form, perspective, values, light and shade, that is the leading qualities beside color of naturalistic pictorial art, were gradually apprehended and little by little introduced and elaborated. Naturalistic art at first was occupied with religious subjects. This lasted until the early Renaissance, when painting gradually became more secular and finally grew altogether away from the church. Both in the Netherlands and in Italy natural- istic pictorial art — except the colors which were based on Byzantine decorations — was wholly of native growth: for the Greek and Roman paintings we now have were then buried in the Fayum or at Pompeii. That ARTS OF THE WORLD. 77 Medieval and Modern European painting in some respects resembles Greek or Roman painting is there- fore due to the ancestry of race rather than to that of art. It was the regrowth of a younger generation. The digging up in Italy of Greek and Roman art remains, however, brought new influences to- bear on European art, especially on sculpture and architecture, and ushered in the so called Renaissance. When the Renaissance really begins or ends is very uncertain. For letters and the so-called "humanities" the date of 1453 A. D. may be afiixed, because 'Constantinople was captured by the Turks in that year and the Greek scholars dwelling there were driven away and many of them came to Italy. In art the Renaissance probably begins earlier. It is claimed by some that Niccolo Pisano, of Pisa, who was born about 1206, some twenty years before Cimabue, was impressed by an old Roman sarcophagus and attempted to copy its motive and workmanship, and thus revived classic art and originated the Renaissance. Usually the Renaissance is supposed to begin about 1400 A. D. and to last until about 1800 A. D. Sometimes the name appears to be attached only to the later more florid period of Itahan painting between 1600 A. D. to 1800 A. D. Whatever the correct dates may be, however, there can be no doubt that the unearthing of Greek and Roman statuary and the study of Greek and Roman architectural monuments, had an immense effect on the art of western Europe, an effect which keeps up to some extent to this very day. Does the early Modern European painting of religious subjects resemble or differ much from other arts? On the whole, except as it reveals its ancestry by showing traits of its ancestral arts, it differs in the main from all other arts. Of arts outside of Europe, it resembles most closely some Hindu and Tibetan 78 MEDIEVAL AND MODERN EUROPEAN ART. work. There are a certain number of early kakemonos of Buddhist subjects and a certain number of Italian primitive pictures of religious subjects which show strange resemblances, altho the technic and the types of the humans in Italian work and in Tibetan work are quite different. For instance, a triptych by Bartolo Fredi* of the Sienese school of the fourteenth century A. D., in green, light blue and much gold, of the Burial of the Virgin, with the Virgin and Saints below and a living Virgin in a blue oval cartouche above, is strikingly similar to some Tibetan kakemonos of the death of the Buddha which have cartouches above also.* It does not fall within the province of this work to touch on the more recent art of Europe. All of it, the splendid arts of Holland, Venice and central Italy, the arts of Belgium and Spain, the arts of Great Britain and Germany, and the very living arts of France and America, is a continuation of the art which grew up in Europe in the beginning of the second millennium A. D. It is slowly spreading everywhere, even a little in eastern Asia and unfortunately it is crowding out many of the other arts thruout the world. But fine as it is, let us hope it will not entirely do so, for variety in endless varieties is one of the greatest charms in art to an art lover. * Boston M. F. A. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 79 Part II. AFRICA. BUSHMAN, LIBYAN AND PYGMY ART. The African continent is the home of several native arts, and the dwelhng place of several intrusive arts. The native arts of Africa fall into three chief classes: Bushman, Libyan and Pygmy art; Negro art; and Egyptian art. The intrusive arts of Africa are Phoeni- cian art, Greek art, Roman art, Arab art, European art. Zimbabwe art may be native or may be intrusive. Madagascar art, which must be included under Africa, is probably intrusive. The specimens extant of Bushman art and Negro art as a rule are of later date than those of Egyptian art. Nevertheless it is highly probable that the beginnings of Bushman art and Negro art antedate those of Egyptian art. And therefore it seems most philosophical to speak first of Bushman art, then of Negro art and then of Egyptian art, according to the probable ethnological sequence, rather than according to the historical date of the actual specimens. The Bushman, Libyan, and Pygmy arts belong to the family of naturalistic art. They are very similar, at least in kind. So similar indeed that it is possible they are closely related. The earUest specimens extant of these arts are from North Africa, the old Libya, and the Sahara, and for convenience might be spoken of as Libyan art. The remnants of Libyan art consist of a certain number of drawings and engravings on rocks. They are most numerous in western Algeria, in the south of the Province of Oran. Whether there are 80 BUSHMAN, LIBYAN AND PYGMY AKT. any in Morocco is still unknown. The Arabs call them hadjrat mektoubat, that is written stones. There seem to be two periods, antedating Arabic times, in these drawings. The first set is entirely prehistoric, the second is perhaps Berber. The earlier drawings are deeply engraved in the rocks. They are mostly of animals, notably of African animals now found only south of the Sdhara. Elephants and rhinoceroses are common. The most interesting animal, however, is the huhalus antiquus, a buffalo with great horns. This is now extinct, but when it became extinct is unknown, except that its remains have been found in the late Algerian Quaternary. One of the drawings shows a human holding a poHshed stone ax. It is argued from this that these drawings are Neolithic. Whilst this is possible, if not probable, there is no means of dating these drawings in years.* The second set of these drawings is carried out with a sort of spotty outline. They represent animals still inhabiting North Africa and there are also inscriptions on the same rocks with them. They are therefore later in time than the first as well as artistically inferior. They are attributed to the Berber races inhabiting North Africa before and at the time of the Arab invasion, f None of this Libyan art in anywise resembles Negro art. But there is a decided resemblance, especially in the earlier Libyan work, to the Pleistokene wall paintings of French and Spanish caverns, and altho the Libyan drawings are inferior to these as art they might be descended from them. The art of the Pygmies is possibly related to * Illustration: Joseph D^chelette: Manuel d' Archiologie. t Illustrations: Heinrich Barth: Rdsen und Entdeckungen in Nord und Central Afrika, Vol. I. pp. 210 and 216. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 81 Libyan art. There is no doubt that the Pygmies have been inhabitants of Central Africa for thousands of years, for they are mentioned by Herodotus. I have seen no specimens of their art. But it is said that they have a good idea of drawing, and that with a sharpened stick they can dehneate in the sand and mud the beasts and some of the birds with which they are familiar.* This certainly sounds as if the Pygmies were artistically related to the Bushmen. Possibly Pygmy art is the hyphenating art between the old Libyan art and the modern Bushman art. During the past two decades, a few art fragments, much of the same character as Bushman art, and some skulls, resembling Mediterranean race skulls, have been discovered in caves in South Africa. I have not seen any of these remains, but some authorities assign them to an iurbad of Mediterranean Whites whom they speak of as the "Strandloopers. "f To classify this art, if it is a separate art from Bushman art, must be a task for the future. Bushman art is by long odds the most important branch of the African Bushman, Libyan and Pygmy art family. Racially the Bushmen may be akin to the Pygmies and like them they have certainly lived for millenniimis in Africa. Perhaps the Bushmen are an autochthonous native race; perhaps they are an intrusive race: not impossibly they are the earUest African race. Since the Dutch occupation of South Africa, however, the Bushmen were warred upon by the white settlers who, after grabbing the Bushmen hunting grounds, treated the Bushmen like pariahs and, with Bible in one hand and rifle in the other, after killing the game shot the poor natives who wanted to fill their stomachs with the white man's * Sir Harry Johnston: The Uganda Protectorate. t The Geographical Journal, 1920, Vol. LV. p. 145. 82 BUSHMAN, LIBYAN AND PYGMY ART. cattle. And as a result, now the Bushmen are on the verge of extinction. Of the history or parentage of the Bushmen we know but little. Statements by divers travellers are to the effect that they have negroid features and yellowish skin, which would seem to mean that at least they are not pure negroes; that they have some Mongolian characteristics; that they have been in South Africa at least several thousand years; that they probably came from the north; that they were gradually hemmed in and crushed, first by an invasion of black races from the north, and then by a white invasion from the south.* In all probability the Central African Pygmies are survivors of the Bushmen migration and remained in the Congo-Semliki forest, instead of pushing on to the plains of South Africa. Some of the best evidence we have for clearing up these points are fragmentary art remains. Bushman art has been found in a certain number of localities in Africa south of the Zambesi, principally in the form of drawings or paintings or sculpted bas reliefs on boulders, on cliffs and in caves. But few specimens of this art have been transplanted. I have myself seen only two or three little original specimens of it.f A number of examples of Bushman art are reproduced as illustrations in various booksj and of these the best are the colored illustrations in Mr. Stow's book. Of the latter, the plates representing "Ostrich hunting," "Hippopotamus and gnu," "Elands * George W. Stow: The Native races of South Africa. t British M. t J. Theodore Bent: The Ruined Cities of Mashonaland, 1892. F. C. Selous: Travels and Adventures in South-east Africa, 1893. Sir Charles Warren: On the Veldt in the Seventies, 1902. George W. Stow: , The Native Races of South Africa, 1905. Fehx von Luschau: ijber Buschmann Malereien in den Drakensberg: "Zeitschrift fiir Ethno- logic," Berlin, 1908, 40 Jahrgang, Heft V. p. 665. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 83 hunted by lions," are the most remarkable. The ostriches, from a cave in the Herschel district, and also the picture of elands, strongly suggest an elementary pictorial faculty, and they both have a distinct simi- larity to some Japanese work. The Bushman art works of South Africa represent some humans, various wild animals, such as elephants, buffaloes, antelopes, antbears, apes, ostriches; and in some cases domestic cattle captured from the Boers. In the reproductions, Bushman art works look like outline drawings or flat wash drawings. Some of the drawing is really good and there is a Uttle modehng. Bushman work shows observation of form and of local color, and it also shows memory. There is a strong feeling for action and a good deal of motion. Above all there is a distinct sense of picture making and an embryo feeUng of pictorial composition. Bushman paintings are distinctly impressions, attempts to record from memory the appearance of animals and scenes by which the artists have been impressed. Bushman drawings give decidedly the character of the humans and of the animals. The animals, however, are better drawn than the men. The legs of the animals, as in Pleistokene work, are apt to be only partly drawn and this may be due to the legs being concealed by the herbage when the animals were in sight of the artist. In the humans, the proportions are fairly accurate. The heads are noticeably of about their proper relative size and the hips, buttocks and calves, which are accentuated in the Bushmen, are also accentuated in their drawings. Bushmen pictures often represent hunters wearing disguises of the skins and horns of animals, like antelope or zebras, or the heads and wings and feathers of birds, such as vultures and ostriches. These were representations of facts, as the Bushmen depended 84 BUSHMAN, LIBYAN. AND PYGMY ART. largely upon disguises and cautious approach to stalk their game, which they killed with poisoned arrows. As many as five distinct series of paintings, one over the other, were found at a rock shelter on the banks of the Imvani river in South Africa. Old Bushmen asserted that the productions of an artist were always respected as long as any recollection of him was preserved in his tribe; but that when his memory was forgotten, another painter appropriated the limited rock surface of the shelter for. his own efforts. This would allow perhaps five hundred years to the underlying paintings in the Imvani rock shelter.* The Bushmen engraved bas reliefs, much resembling their drawings, on the face of rocks. Some of these sculpted bas reliefs are certainly old and from sundry cracks and evidences of wearing from the weather, the sculptures may be estimated as dating from several thousand years ago. The Bushmen do not appear to have destroyed sculpted rocks, as they did paintings, by placing other sculptures on the same spot.f I know nothing of any pottery or decorative art from the Bushmen. In tracing resemblances and differences between Bushmen art and other arts, one turns naturally first to Negro art. With this Bushman art has scarcely any resemblances but many differences. The fundamental difference is that the Bushmen have and the Negroes have not a pictorial faculty. This shows an essential underlying different conception and attitude in the way of seeing things, and this implies difference of race. The Bushmen also get the proportions of their humans almost correctly and never indulge . in the large head, small body, and short legs of Negro art humans. My opinion is that these two points in themselves are * George W. Stow: The Native Races of South Africa, p. 26. t George W. Stow : The Natim Races of South Africa. ARTS OF THE WOBLD. 85 enough to show that the Bushmen and the Negroes are different families of the human race. Bushman art is almost wholly different from Egyptian art. Still there are a couple of noteworthy resemblances. Some very early prehistoric drawings from Egypt somewhat resemble some Bushmen draw- ings.* Humans with animal heads and ariim9,ls with human heads, are common in Egyptian art in which they undoubtedly represent deities. But artistically they are almost certainly descended from the hunting disguises of the race who made the earliest prehistoric drawings in the lower Nile Valley. And since some of the earliest art of Egypt resembles Bushman art, and since the animal and human headed Egyptian figures point to a descent from possibly Bushmen hunting disguises, therefore it must be accepted as possible that the Bushman-Pygmies may have inhabited at one time North Africa and the lower Nile Valley thousands of years ago and been exterminated there thru the invasions of later races. Bushman art has no resemblances to Amerind art nor to Australasian art, except that there are certain faint superficial resemblances to a few drawings from AustraUa. It belongs to the same art family as Arctic art and Pleistokene artj in that all three arts are naturaUstic and not decorative, and that the humans and animals represented are drawn in fair proportions and action with an underlying feeling for picture making. Nevertheless Bushman drawings do not resemble in the least Eskimo drawings, and I question entirely any common parentage. Bushman paintings on the contrary very much resemble Pleis- tokene paintings, &t any rate the few original specimens I have seen of Bushman workf have a Pleistokene flavor. * Illustrations: S. Reinach: ApoUo. t British M. 86 BUSHMAN, LIBYAN AND PYGMY ART. We are here confronted with one of the most knotty questions in the reahn of comparative art. On the one hand, it may be that either Bushman art or Eskimo art is descended from Pleistokene art, or that they both are. It is possible that the Bushman- Pygmies are a remnant of a race which left the lands of France and which wandered south, just as it is possible that the Eskimo are a remnant of the same race which was driven north and followed the edge of the northern ice sheet. But it is equally possible that these three races, living by hunting in savagedom and to that extent at least under similar conditions in the struggle for existence, may have developed independ- ently and autochthonously decidedly similar art. In other words, it may be that Pleistokene art, Bushman art and Eskimo art are distinct and unrelated. Considering this problem from the geographical standpoint, the great distances and the barriers of mountains, deserts and oceans between South Africa, Central Europe and North America would point to these three arts being autochthonous to their different localities and to Bushman art being independent of Pleistokene art. Considering this problem from the artistic standpoint however, the absolutely different character of drawing and technic in Bushman art and in Eskimo art would point to their being wholly unrelated. But in the case of Bushman art and Pleistokene art the matter stands on quite a different footing. Bushman paintings have many of the characteristics of Pleistokene paintings; especially in good realistic drawing with lots of spirit and motion, and implying a strong artistic memory. Moreover Bushmen humans have a strong resemblance to.Cretan- Minoan humans. They are tall, thin and usually in violent motion; just as are the victims of the Minotaur in Crete. That is to say, Bushman paint- ARTS OF THE WORLD. 87 ings have a distinctly Pleistokene-Cretan flavor. And this is equivalent to saying that Bushman art probably is an offshoot from European art; an opinion I formerly did not hold, but to which I am now considerably inclined. NEGRO ART. All over Africa, south of the Sdhara, an art is found which everywhere has much the same characteristics and evidently is one art. This is the art of the African Black or Negro races. To-day this art dOes not exist anywhere along the Mediterranean shores of Africa, in Egypt, Tripoli, Tunis, Algeria or Morocco. Whether it was there formerly I am uncertain, but from certain specimens found at Carthage and from others found in Egypt I should be inclined to think some of it must have crept in. In Comparative Art I spoke of this art as African art, a name I will change now to Negro art, because Bushman art and Egyptian art must also be included within African art. Negro art all over Africa south of the Sdhara has in common certain generic characteristics. But it varies considerably in different localities and among different tribes. In this respect it is much hke Australasian art. It is harder to trace the different varieties of African art, however, because there is not the ocean barrier there is between the island groups of the Pacific. There is also some art from the African continent, of which the best known example is the ruins at Zimbabwe in Mashona- land, which may not be pure Negro art at all. Negro art takes principally the form of wooden sculptures and of decorations on basketry and pottery. There are no pictures and even almost no drawing, proving that the Negroes lack a pictorial sense. There is little imagination displayed in Negro art. It might 88 NEGRO ART. be described, perhaps, as a realistic sculptural and diecorative art. Sculpture, in the form of wooden figures, is the most prolific of the arts in Africa. It is found almost everywhere. There is a good deal of observation revealed in many of these figures: but observation usually of a limited kind and restricted to details, the whole not being understood. As a rule, Negro figures show a lack of the sense of proportion. Big heads, small bodies and tiny legs are common. Many of the figures are barely more than a sort of rough suggestion of human beings. Some of the humans are fairly accurate in proportions of length, but as rigid as any straight bar of wood can be. Some of the figures look siniply silly or idiotic. Some of the rough figures are symboUcal and stand for devils or fetishes. From the reports of certain travelers, like Du Chaillu in the Gabun, and from some of the so-called punitive expeditions, like that of the British to Ashantee, it would seem as tho the tribal sorcerers placed these shapeless grotesques in magic houses in connection with some kind of witchcraft or other. There is therefore a certain amount of Negro- art which in a dim way is connected with religion. Much Negro sculpture has little of what one can call charm about it: it is ugly, in fact some of it is artistically lacking. Nevertheless it has, to me, none of the hatefulness of much Maya or Hindu-Brahman- istic sculpture and I would rather Uve with specimens of Negro sculpture than with specimens of Maya or Hindu-Brahmanistic sculpture. Some Negro sculpture, however, shows good tho limited powers of observation and fair sculptural ability. Many of their humans are bits of genuine semi-developed artistic observation which fall into the class of portrait sculpture. In many of them, the ARTS OP THE WORLD, 89 Negro sculptors have brought out in a remarkable way the character of their models: they are Negroes and nothing but Negroes. And some of the sculptures, as at Benin City for instance, are really handsome. In other words there are artistic and inartistic Africans. There is a good deal of decorative work among some of the Negro tribes. Some of it is on basketries and potteries, and some of it shows a decided love for color. Negro decorative work on basketry and pottery is mainly in straight lines and rectangles. What I have seen of it leads me to think that patterns suggested by the weaving of grasses are as a rule the basis of Negro pottery decorations; and that only seldom are motives taken from plants or animals. Altho African decorative patterns usually are in straight lines and rectangles, yet all those I have seen are totally distinct from Australasian or Amerind decora- tions. As I have said before, Negro art has much the same characteristics all over Africa south of the Sdhara. Nevertheless it varies in different locaUties. In these respects it is much like say Melanesian art or Poly- nesian art each of which is more or less similar thruout and yet varies in every archipelago or even island of the Pacific, There are only two important exceptions: the art of Benin City, which was certainly affected by White race influence, and the art of Zim- babwe, which may or may not have received some foreign influence. « It seems therefore perhaps the most philosophical way to take up Negro art locality by locality. From Abyssinia, I have seen only a little decor- ative Negro art,* Other arts, however, have wandered there. There are some remains, principally megaliths, evidently in touch with Zimbabwe art; there is a little * British M. 90 NEGEO ART. Byzantine art; and one carving of a lioness on a boulder might be the work of a Greek or Eg3rptian sculptor.* From Uganda, I have seen pottery with a few decorative hnes.f The Baganda and the Hima, how- ever, make some rather elaborate pottery. J From the Lake Mwem district there are curious, rather grotesque stools, in which a woman with a big head supports the seat.f From Mashonaland come some instruments marked with patterns.! From the Orange Free State there is a wooden figure, tinted red and black, with a large head and a small body, but less disproportionate than some Negro humans, § From the Zulus there are a few poorly done wooden figures t and some recent bead work in rectangular patterns with many bright colors: these patterns are totally distinct from Australasian or Amerind patterns. || There are also some head rests, closely resembling old Egyptian and Japanese head stools, some of which come from Swaziland.il Many quaint, distinctly original art conceptions come from Africa. For instance a long drum, from Loango, and a carved stick, also from West Africa, are ornamented with a big snake swallowing a small man, whose head is in the snake's mouth. I have seen nothing like this from any other country. ][ An- other curious piece, from some African locaUty, is a thin wooden figure of a man in fair proportions, with an iron knife or ax blade sticking right thru his body: * Illustration : J. Theodore Bent : The Sacred City of the Ethiopians. t British M. {Illustrations: Sir Henry Johnston: The Uganda Protectorate. § Pittsburgh Carnegie M. II Harvard U. P. M. ^ Salem P. M. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 91 the head is pretty good, but instead of nose or mouth, there is an enormous pelele. Whether the figure is intended as a haft for the ax I am uncertain, but the art conception is original.* A wooden figure from Loango of a seated dressed Portuguese with a drum on top of his head, has a big head and small body and legs. Nevertheless the head represents well the head of a white man and reveals good observing and sculptural ability.* From the upper Congo come some rough wooden figures from about twenty centimeters to one meter high.f Usually the head is disproportionately large and the legs too short. The eyes are sometimes set in or painted. From the lower Congo come elephants' tusks, with animals, birds and humans carved on them.f Buttons on a waistcoat show these ivories are modern. The bodies of the humans are much too small for the heads. Some wooden figures from the same district have the same dwarfed figures and white eyes with black pupils. Among artistically infantile and repulsive but ethnologically interesting Negro sculptures are some small wooden figures from the Congo region. Several of these figures have a hole cut into the abdomen and into this hole a piece of glass is inserted. One of these figures, instead of a piece of glass, has a square wooden cubical protruding abdomen. § Of three similar figures of women from the west coast, one has a cubical protruding abdomen with a glass window, but tho all three have big heads, small bodies and tiny legs, nevertheless the heads are typical negresses.* * Salem P. M. t British M. t Pittsburgh Carnegie M. § Harvard U. P. M. 92 NEGRO ART. A few wooden figures from the West North Amerinds also have a hole cut into the abdomen and some Pleistokene statuettes likewise have a cubical protub- erant abdomen, but as far as I know at present, the use of a piece of glass as an inset is unique to West Central Africa. From the Congo there is a little basketry and pottery with some decorations in rectangular patterns which are totally distinct from Amerind or Australasian patterns.* There are also some head stools almost identical in shape with Japanese and old Egyptian head stools.* From Yoruba and from North Nigeria there are some wooden posts or sticks on which several figures are carved one oyer the other, f Altho the idea of the superposed figures on one piece of wood is thus proved to exist in Africa, the technic and humans of these poles are totally unlike Alaska totem poles. These African poles may be door posts. From Sobo Yakaba and other places in South Nigeria come some wooden humans, with large heads and short legs: they are black, with white and red eyes and mouths, f From Benin City comes some unique and notable art.f It consists of bronze castings, usually in the shape of plaques, from about thirty to seventy-five centimeters long. On each plaque there are usually from one to seven figures, in almost all cases modelled full-face in high relief. They wear helmets, generally with a chin piece, and also a sort of skirt. The features are Negro, except in a few plaques repre- senting Europeans in costumes of the sixteenth century. The proportions of these figures are better than in most Negro art, nevertheless the bodies and legs are * Harvard U. P. M. t British M. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 93 undersized in relation to the heads. Some of the plaques have high relief castings of animals, such as leopards, crocodiles, snakes and fishes. There are several cast bronze sculptures, two or three of which are really fine; a large chicken especially is well observed and modelled. There are also some nicely carved elephants' tusks. Undoubtedly this art was started by Europeans, probably by the Portuguese who were on this coast as early as the fifteenth century. This art is sui generis and in many ways unlike other Negro art, yet it has some purely Negro characteristics and it is interesting in showing what Negroes can do when trained in an art which is not instinctive to them. From the Gold Coast a woman's figure of light colored wood shows how well an untrained Negro sculptor sometimes analyses details without feehng the figure synthetically.* This statue is dwarfed as usual. The head is large, with glass eyes and a drum on top, the bosoms are large, body and legs short, feet big and the arm reaches to the ankle. The head, shoulders and bosoms are fairly proportioned to one another, whilst eveiything else is entirely out of proportion. Nevertheless every bit is nicely observed and modelled and the sculptor, tho unable to grasp the whole, observed and rendered well every detail and every part. From Ashantee come some wooden figures which are rather different from most Negro art.f They are from about thirty centimeters to one meter in height. They are dead black, thin and perfectly straight. The proportions are all wrong, but not in the usual dwarfed Negro way, the necks, for instance, being immensely long. Some of the heads render forcibly features and expression. ♦Salem P.M. t British M. 94 NEGBO. ABT. From Dahomey, Lagos and other places on the northwest coast of Africa there are some wooden humans from about twenty to seventy-five centimeters high.* They are painted and some hats and clothes show they date since the advent of Europeans. Nevertheless they have the chief characteristics of Negro art, big heads and dwarfed bodies and legs, with the prominent parts of the anatomy exaggerated. They do not resemble the art of Great Benin and it is curious that at Benin City some semi-European art characteristics should be found, while in the surround- ing parts of Africa, even where Europeans have traded, Negro characteristics kept to the fore. How far back African art dates to is at present impossible to determine. Almost all the specimens are modern. At the same time we know from pictures and inscriptions found, in Egypt that the Negro race must have extended all over Central Africa long before the earliest Egyptian historical period. And certain art evidences, such as some Egyptian figures with big heads and dwarfed bodies and hmbs, go to show that Negro art must be one of the original sources of Egyptian art. Whether the Negroes were an autochthonous African race or whether they were an intrusive race cannot be decided from the evidences of art. Negro art itself is almost surely a native African product. But its resemblances to and its differences from other arts point to certain ethnological facts. Negro art has no resemblance to European art nor to Asiatic art. It is distinctly less advanced than these. It is more nearly in the same stage of development as Amerind art and Austra- lasian art. It has a few general resemblances to Amerind art and a good many more to Australasian art. And in this its main resemblances are to Melanesian art. * British M, ARTS OF THE WORLD. 95 Some African sculptures, it seems to me, are artistically inferior to any Melanesian carvings, whilst some of them, on th6 contrary, are superior to any Australasian sculpture. It is perhaps not going too far to say that African sculptures are, underneath, radically different from Amerind or Australasian sculp- tures. When we consider that Negro art is almost wholly different from Australasian or Amerind art and wholly so from European or Asiatic, the conclusion is irresistible that Negro art is practically autochthonous and grew up from the needs and according to the intelligence of its makers. ZIMBABWE ART. In southeast Africa are the remains of fortified towns, among whioh are found megaliths and art works. In Abyssinia also rather similar remains are found, principally megaliths. It is still a problem whether the artists and architects of these remains were some Negro tribe or tribes who had advanced into an unusual stage of social organization and later retrograded therefrom: or whether they were of Mediterranean, Egyptian, Phoenician or Arab stock. The biggest of these ruins is Zimbabwe, which was reported by Portuguese already in the sixteenth cen- tury.* There are massive walls, monoliths or mega- lithic stones, and a good deal of a rough kind of art. The best reUcs of this are big birds, generally eagles or vultures, about a meter and a half high, which are carved sitting on the tops of soapstone beams and which are decidedly conventional in design and poor representations of nature. * Dr. 0. Dapper: Beschreibung von Africa, "Map," Amsterdam, Jacob van Meurs, MDCLXX. — J. Theodore Bent: The Ruined Cities of Mashonaland, 1892. — F. C. Selous:. Travels and A-dventures in South- east Africa, 1893. — R. M. Hall : Great Zimbabwe, Mashonaland, Rhodesia, 1905. — D. R. Maclver: Medieval Rhodesia, 1906. 96 ZIMBABWE ART. A post-Muhammed Arab origin for the big birds caii be eliminated at once, as the Muhammedans did not model animals, A Phoenician origin also seems doubtful, as the Phoenicians were not an artistic people and their commerce lay principally along the shores of the Mediterranean. There would be more probability of an Egyptian parentage as some Egyp- tians must have traded to some extent at least as far as the regions of the Blue Nile and the White Nile. The difficulty of the latter hypothesis is that none of the hieroglyphs or figures of Egyptian art is found at Zimbabwe. The megaliths are certainly a proof in favor of Zimbabwe art not being Negro for, as far as I know, no tribe of Negroes has ever set up any megaUths. They tend, on the other hand, to show a Mediter- ranean-Neolithic race origin. And that this is possible is proved by the fact that many of the Abyssinians and also of the Gallas are not pure Negroes, but have certain traits indicating an infusion of Mediterranean or Semitic blood. It is therefore quite within the bounds of probabiUty that some early migration of some Mediterranean stock into Africa may have brought an art influence, different from Negro art, as far south as Zimbabwe, MADAGASCAR ART. The island of Madagascar is singularly destitute of art, at least from nowhere in the world are there so few art specimens in museums. Geographically Mada- gascar belongs to Africa. Artistically it belongs to the African, Australasian and Amerind art family, with its strongest leaning towards Australasian. There is so httle art to be seen from Madagascar, however, that this opinion is stated only provisionally with reluctance and subject to revision. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 97 EGYPTIAN ART. Egyptian art is one of the oldest arts in the world and one of those which lasted the longest. It dates back as far as there are any historic records. Egyp- tian history has been worked out fairly accurately into a number of periods as to the chronology of which various Egyptologists differ greatly. And therefore it is that we can only say that the art of the lower Nile begins somewhere between 6000 B. C. and 4000 B. C. and extends down to about the beginning of the Christian era. It went thru several waves, rising and falling coincidently with the advances and retrogres- sions of the civilization of Egypt. For the purposes of art criticism, without falUng into minutiae and possibly inaccuracy, these waves or periods may be divided into six as follows: I. Prehistoric. II. Early Egyptian (Old Empire) culminating in the IVth and Vth dynasties. III. Early Middle Egyptian (Middle Empire) cuhni- nating in the Xllth dynasty. IV. Late Middle Egyptian (New Empire) culminat- ing in the XVIIIth and XlXth dynasties. V. Late Egyptian (Saitic, Ptolemaic, Graeco-Roman) culminating in the XXVIth dynasty. IV. Arab. Egyptian art is extremely individual and local and is probably largely autochthonous, an outcome of the environment and the habits of its people. Very Ukely there is some Negro and a little Libyan or Bushman origin to it. It was doubtless related in its later phase to West Asiatic art, but I much question whether there was any direct descent from this. Towards the last, the art of Egypt was influenced in some degree by the arts of Persia and of Greece. Gradually 98 EGYPTIAN ART. Eg3T)tian art came to an end and was superseded first by Graeco-Roman art and later by Arab art. Egyptian art had but little influence outside of Egypt, altho it penetrated to a certain extent into Syria and Cyprus and possibly had some little effect on Medi- terranean-European art. It developed especially in architecture, pottery, sculpture, bas reliefs and decora- tive painting. The earliest known remains in Egypt are flint chipped stone implements of the Chell^en type. Many of these are fine and well formed.* How far back they date is unknown. But there are certain indica- tions which point to the Egyptian Chell^en coming down to later times than the European Chelleen. More advanced flint implements, many of them chipped, still continue down to about A. D.* From later Prehistoric times there are some beautiful flint knives and some stone palettes not necessarily used for paints but used for mixing medicines, etc.* In the Early Egyptian comes the first use of metal, copper, in Egypt.* And as the Prehistoric flint implements are nearly all, if not all, chipped, it seems as tho 'Egypt, like probably most of Africa, did not have a Polished stone or Neolithic period. The Iron Age in Egypt is claimed by . some writers to begin before it does in Europe: well before 1000 B. C, altho the date is uncertain. Some of the earliest specimens of art from Egypt are little figurines, said to be made of Nile mud, with bird heads: one of them, a woman, has a small waist. f There is nothing Pleistokene or Negro about these figurines. There are also some Egyptian clay statuettes which apparently were done from negro models.* They do not seem like pure Negro art, but they suggest it. * New York M. M. t Boston M. F. A. ARTS OF THE WOELD. 99 The arms of one or more of these figures are raised upward and some figures drawn on a pottery pot of probably the same period have the arms in the same position. The exact date of these Httle figures is uncertain, but probably they are Prehistoric, Judging from these two classes of figures it seems probable that the earhest art in Egypt was an art which falls into the category of Primitive art; and also that Egyptian art proper, the art of the dynasties of Egyptian Kings, grew directly from this earliest art of the Nile Valley. There is a great deal of sculpture from Egypt. Most of it is monumental, dignified and reposeful, rather than graceful. Form reaches its highest expres- sion in Egypt only in a few cases and that curiously enough in the very beginning. The sculptors were hindered by two causes, first because they were ordered to follow conventional models, and second because the material they mainly used, granite, a hard brittle stone, was difiicult to work without chipping it. The sculpture from the latest dynasties, especially after Greek influence began to be felt, as a rule has more grace than the sculpture from the intermediate dynas- ties and has often a decided sense of beauty.* The sculpture which most closely resembles nature, strange to say, is found in the Early Egyptian. Some fife size sculpted heads found at Gizeh of granite, alabaster and limestone, from the IVth and Vth dynasties, are splendid portrait sculptures. It is said that they did not belong to figures, but that they were sculpted as heads alone and put into tombs. As naturalistic realistic art, my impression is that these are the top notch of Egyptian art. There is no convention about them: they are direct, sincere, well observed portraits, f * Louvre — ^British M. t Boston[^M.lF.[A. 100 EGYPTIAN ART. From the Early Egyptian also, there is a large statue in alabaster of Mycerinus, IVth dynasty, of which only fragments remain and which is splendidly modelled in parts, especially round the knees. Its greatest fault is that the head is entirely too small: perhaps one tenth of the figure.* Two full length figures of Mycerinus and his wife, also have real character in the heads: the rest of the figures is good, altho not so good as the heads. Traces of red paint on the man show they were painted.* It is beUeved now indeed that, as a rule if not always, men and women in Egyptian sculpture and has relief were painted: the men red, perhaps with Ught red; the women yellow, perhaps with yellow ochre; and this practice evidently dates from the beginning of Egyptian art.* Another example of what excellent sculpture the Egyptians could do when they observed nature and did not obey conventions is a figure dating back to the Vth dynasty and known a& the Egyptian Scribe, which piece is a really admirable piece of colored realistic sculpture, t The Egyptians, however, did not always stick to good proportions. There are certain little figures in some jade like stones, green or blue, perhaps colored by the Egyptians themselves, which are short and squat, with big heads, small bodies and diminutive legs. It is possible that these are due to Negro influence. Some of them have feather headdresses and look thoroly Mexican: for instance, a little figure of the god "Bes."t In another anatomical point also, the Egyptians sometimes distorted nature. The small waist for * Boston M. F. A. t Louvre. t New York M.M. ARTS OP THE WORLD. 101 women crops up spasmodically in Egypt. For besides the probably prehistoric statuettes with this peculiarity there are also some female statuettes, of later dynastic times, which have pinched waists.* The hair or perhaps the wigs of the statues is generally conventionaUzed : in some statuettes the hair or wig is similar to that in the Babylonean Gudea tHes h turban* Some of these headdresses are rather quaint. One stone head has a tall headdress, the double crown of lower and upper Egypt, which resembles the tiara the Popes of Rome wear when in full regalia, f The pottery of the Egyptians does not amount to much from an art standpoint. As a rule it is fashioned, out of plain terra cotta and there are scarcely any decorations. It was evidently made for mundane use and therefore perhaps did not receive much attention from the religious patron art forces of Egypt. It goes back to Prehistoric times and the Egyptians kept on making common rough reddish or grayish-reddish pot- tery of the same type until Graeco-Roman times.* From Prehistoric times there comes rough red and black pottery, some of it plain, some with crude painted decorations of boats, ostriches, Unear patterns, etc. There are also a number of stone vasesj some of which are decidedly pretty. In the Early Egyptian, the same kind of pottery, only somewhat better, and the same type of stone ware, with the addition of some platters, continues. J This early Egyptian pottery looks like certain Cretan, Cypriote and early Greek pottery: and possibly the early pottery all around the eastern Mediterranean is more or less related, altho, as a rule, Egyptian pottery resembles neither Kaldean, Assyrian nor Greek pottery. * Boston M. F, A. t New York M. M. { New York M. M.— Boston M. F. A. 102 EGYPTIAN AET. From the Early Egyptian and the Early Middle Egjrptian there is much rough and some higher grade pottery. From the Early Middle Egyptian there are many Canopic jars. These are upright small jars or pots, in rough and common red or white pottery, in which mummied viscera were kept, with covers shaped like the heads of mummy cases. The jars themselves look somewhat Peruvian but the heads do not in the least. They are, however, technically unlike Peruvian work: hence any resemblances are surely accidental.* From the Hyksos, XVth and XVIth dynasties, there is some thin, pretty and deUcate black and red pottery. It is certainly not of Negro origin. So if the Hyksos invasion was one of Soudan Negroes, this pottery can scarcely be credited to them: there must have been some other influence.! From the late Middle Egyptian there is much rough red pottery and some pottery painted white. There are also some tiles and some pottery painted with crude light cobalt and cerulean blue decorations: these tiles are the earliest I have seen. J From the Late Egyptian, about 600 B. C, there is some pottery prettily decorated with bunches of grapes. It is entirely different from ordinary Egyptian decora- tion and is possibly due to the Persian invasion, f Egyptian bas relief and painting may perhaps best be spoken of together, for the painting, such as it is, in general is practically colored bas reUef. It is decora- tive, it tells a story, and the animals and some parts of the humans are often well done. But there is no light and shade, there is no perspective, and there is only the most rudimentary notion, as a rule, of trying to render the appearance of things. There is no pic- * Boston M. F. A.— New York M. M. t Boston M. F. A. t New York M. M. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 103 torial effect: the figures are in rows. In truth Egyp- tian bas relief and paintings are not pictures: they are rather picture writings with humans and animals aligned one after the other to portray some event or belief. The Egyptians sometimes dug out their bas re- liefs below the surface of the stone. For instance, in a granite column and on a granite slab, the figures are cut out from the granite and the outline stands out as a deep shadow.* This is an unusual mode of work except in Egypt and may be called "sunk relief." Bas reliefs are found thruout Egyptian art from start to finish. In my judgment, the earliest bas reliefs and paintings, that is those from the IVth and Vth dynasties, hke the earliest sculptures, are perhaps the best. For instance, three panels from the tomb of Hosi dating from the Hid or IVth dynasty, show art abihty: a man on each of them much resembles an Amerind, t From the IVth and Vth dynasties, some of the figures, either in bas reliefs or perhaps merely painted, have very fair motion: in some cases one of the feet rests on the toes, with the heel raised.* One bas reUef figure from the IVth dynasty, is throwing a lasso in true cowboy style: he has plenty of motion.* From the Vth dynasty some wall reliefs from the tomb of Prince Ra-em-ka at Sakhara, show well modelled figures in true Egyptian style, with profile face and feet, and full-face eye and shoulders. In these reliefs there are also some excellent side views of ibex, Grant's gazelle, oryx, cranes, etc., but some bulls which have been sacrificed are very inferior. J From the tomb of Ti, Vth dynasty, there are reUefs with figures of humans which are rather stiff, and with * Boston M. F. A. t Casts; Boston M. F. A. t New York M. M. 104 EGYPTIAN ART. oxen, donkeys, gazelle, oryx, geese, cranes, which are well drawn and full of spirit and action.* Bas reliefs continue to be produced, but, in my opinion, they gradually deteriorate as art. For instance, some bas reliefs of Seti I. and Ramses I., of the Late Middle Egyptian, have some good drawing, but I am inclined to think they are inferior to the bas reliefs of the Vth dynasty, t The deterioration of bas reliefs is well shown in a wall relief in intagUo of Seti I., XlXth dynasty, at Thebes, shooting arrows at Asiatics in Palestine. This is somewhat Assyrian, with a huge king and little soldiers, and not only is the general effect more pretentious, but the drawing is far poorer than the drawing of the Early Egyptian. J Coming down thru the centuries, towards the Ptolemaic period, the bas relief art seems to me less accurate or impressive than the early reliefs, as is shown, for instance, in a stone reUef of King Nec- tanebo I., XXXth dynasty, 382-364 B. C, in low relief intagUo. It is still Egyptian, but less formal or stiff, with more rounded and flowing lines, f True Egyptian art dies out shortly after this. Animals were certainly the strong point in Egyptian bas reliefs and paintings, and in a few cases these got beyond decorative and approached pictorial work. Some of the animals in them are distinctly well observed, offer the best drawing in Egypt and next to the early IVth dynasty Gizeh portrait heads are per- haps the most reaUstic art in Egypt. For instance, a goose, painted on plaster, found at Medum and attributed to the IVth dynasty, is a distinctly good piece of colored animal drawing. § Indeed some of the ... ■ — * Casts; Boston M. F. A. t New York M. M. t Cast; New York M. M. § Gizeh M. Copy by R. Gauley, Boston M. F. A. 1908. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 105 animals in early Egyptian paintings are really very good: better than many Greek animals. Egyptian animals are usually in repose or quiet motion: a difference from Assyrian art, where the animals are often in violent motion.* Some of the zoology of the has reliefs also, oryx, Grant's gazelle, ibex, tetel, the latter from a doorway into the tomb of Ra-Shepses, reveal intercourse with Abyssinia and with northern Arabia. Some of the bas rehefs were probably brightly colored. A "bas relief from a doorway into the tomb of Ra-Shepses "t colored with madders, light blues, etc., would seem to show that brilliant colors were used in Egyptian art, altho it is most improbable that "color" was ever reached. The colors are local, brilliant and decorative rather than pictorial. In this bas relief the humans show lack of observation and comprehension. They are in fair proportion, but two of the men have their feet in profile pointing forward, while their heads are in profile pointing backward: a pose impossible for the human frame, as it would twist the head off the shoulders. This mention of impossible poses points directly to the greatest weakness of Egyptian drawings, namely, the lack of observation of nature. From the beginning to the end of Egyptian art, the drawings exhibit certain exceedingly curious conventions, which are usually pecuhar to the art of Egypt. The first of these conventions is that while Egyptian statues are modelled in the round, almost all, perhaps all, Egyptian bas reliefs of humans are in partial profile. I say partial profile, because whilst the heads and feet are in profile, the shoulders are modelled facing full the spectator. It is an unintelligent artistic conception and shows that Egyptian art crystaUized in immaturity. * Boston M. F. A. t Copy by J. L. Smith, Boston M. F. A. 106 EGYPTIAN ART. The Egyptian bas relief or painted figure has a profile head, full-face eye, full-face shoulders, profile lower bust, profile legs and feet. This exceedingly curious mixture of profile and full-face begins with the Early Egyptian and comes down to about the begin- ning of the Ptolemaic period, 332 B. C. For three thousand years or more the Egyptians never seem to have looked at a man or woman so as to draw them accurately. Almost all Egyptian art had crystalUzed and conventionalized before the time of Ramses. But the bas relief figure seems to have been a conven- tion from the beginning and this seems very strange when one considers the splendid sculpted portrait heads of the IVth dynasty. Thruout the entire dynastic period also, there was fashioned another strange art freak. Some of the figures of women are drawn, so to speak, lop sided: they are single breasted. A small stone slab of the Ptolemaic period "is a good example of this peculiar apparent lack of observation. It is a woman's figure, nude, with the profile face beautifully finished.* The woman is looking to the left, and her left side and left bosom, and her figure to about the middle line is thoroly well sculpted. The profile of her right arm and leg, tho carefully outhned, are inaccurate. But the curious thing is, that the part of the body facing the spectator, except where the headdress falls over it, is a complete blank. The right bosom, which would be vitally prominent, is not even indicated. The pose is not one a model could take; and if she did take something approximating it, the sculptor would have seen much which he entirely omits. The work is in some ways that of an expert: the lack of apparent observation surpasses that of any tyro: altogether the performance is eccentric and probably must be the * New York M. M. ARTS OP THE WORLD. 107 result of convention. And it is exceedingly strange that this convention should flourish already in the IVth dynasty, coincident with the splendid portrait heads from Gizeh. Possible it is also that this profile convention was the origin of the Greek legend about the Amazons mutilating themselves in order to draw their bows better. Despite their several sculptural errors, however, the Egyptians must rank higher as sculptors than as painters. Another curiosity of Egyptian painting and relief work is that the eye is always drawn facing the spectator in full, whilst the face is in profile. I do not know the cause of this artistic freak. It might be due to its being easier, perhaps, to sculpt in granite the. eye full-face than in profile; or it might be due to lack of observation and knowledge in the earlier artists causing them to commit this blunder and the blunder becoming conventionalized: or it might be that the full-face eye had a religious significance. It is not possible, however, that some Egyptian artists did not observe how the eye in profile appears in a face in profile. Among the more advanced artistic races, the Egyptians and to some extent the West Asiatics stand on a separate pedestal in regard to this strange artistic error. Coffins for mummies were among the objects on which the Egyptians lavished painting. From the Early Middle Egyptian there are many coffins entirely painted over with hieroglyphs or decorative patterns; some of them are highly colored.* From the Late Middle Egyptian also there are many highly colored coffins.* In the latter part of the Late Egyptian, Greek and Roman influence superseded Egyptian art. Many mummy cases were still made, but these have Greek decorations, with much gold. Greek faces were * New York M. M. 108 EGYPTIAN ART. painted on some of these coffins: in certain cases a regular half or whole length approximately Ufe size portrait was painted on some material like linen and fixed on the coffins. These Greek portraits, from the Fayum, generally, perhaps always, are wholly different from Egyptian work: they are European. They are far more advanced than any Cretan pictures.* Among the latest pictographic art coming from Egypt may perhaps be included some tapestry. At least a small, roughly done, tapestry head of a woman is said to be Egyptian tapestry of the second or third century A. D.* This may be Egyptian but it looks more like Roman or Byzantine work and at any rate must have been due to their influence. If the date is correct, however, it shows that tapestry was invented rather early. Figures with animal and bird heads are num- erous both in sculpture and in painting in Egyptian art. Doubtless^ they had a mystical significance and personified deities. All sorts of different heads are represented. The head of the okapi, used for the god Set, is interesting because it proves that the Egyptians penetrated probably up to the forests of the SemUki river, t Animal figures with human heads, Hke the Sphinx, are a natural outgrowth from the same source, which was almost surely the disguises of animal and bird skins and heads used by hunters in stalking their prey. The Bushmen and some tribes of East African Negroes use such disguises even in our own times. Their ancestors probably did so in prehistoric Egyptian times and it seems more than likely that it was from them that the Egyptians took their idea of their sculpted or engraved monsters. Egyptian art is remarkable for the vastness and * New York M. M. t La Nature, 6 June, 1903. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 109 African Abts. no EGYPTIAN AHT. bigness of many of its works: monumental grandeur was sought by its patrons. The huge pyramids, the enormous temples and the colossal statues convey their art impression as much by their size as by their beauty. Perhaps the most obvious attribute of Egyptian art is its repose. It makes but little attempt to represent motion and, from the comparative side, no great art is more tranquil. Egyptian art is extremely conventional. This is doubtless due to the reUgion and the politics of Egypt. There is, it seems to me, remarkably Uttle art for art's sake to be found in Egypt, where art was mainly a servant to carry out the conceptions of the priestly class or to perpetuate the acts of the governing class. The artists followed and repeated conventional- ized patterns and figures, probably because they were required to do so. The art reached a certain point almost at once and then it deteriorated and then it rose again in successive waves during several thousand years. Within certain limits, nevertheless, the Egyp- tians observed nature carefully and had they not been hampered by conventions it may be that they would have evolved and improved their art by keener search- ing and observing. Egyptian art has no resemblances to many of the arts of the Old World. For instance it is absolutely different from the arts of eastern Asia or of southern Asia. There are, however, certain resemblances between Egyptian art and some other arts. There was a little infiltration of late Egyptian art into southern Europe and a certain amount of Greek and Roman infiltration into the latest Egyptian art, when it went into decad- ence and died out. Egyptian art is most nearly related to the arts of Babylonia and Assyria and there may have been some, but not much, borrowing on either side. For instance, monsters with human heads ARTS OF THE WORLD. Ill are found in Assyrian art and the dignified seated Ramses remind one of the Babylonean Gudeas. There are also odd resemblances with far away corners of the world as in some headrests from Egypt which look just like Japanese or Zulu headrests.* The most interesting resemblances between Egyptian art and any other art, however, are those with old Amerind art. Certain large heads in Mexico remind one of Egj^t; some of the figurines of Egypt, Mexico and Peru are extremely similar; in Egypt and Peru we find mummies and the small Egyptian jars for holding munomied viscera resemble vaguely some Peruvian jars. But a number of Egyptian sculptures f placed just alongside of some Mexican sculptures J do not resemble them in the least; nor is there in Egypt any of the kind of ornamentation so prevalent in Mexico. And when we consider that there could have been no con- nection across the Atlantic; the tremendous overland journey without traces of Egypt, across Asia; and especially the fact that the enormous mass of the art of Egypt is sui generis: surely the resemblances between it and Mexican art must be accidental. On the whole, I think it may be held that Egyp- tian art was born and bred in the valley of the Nile. It never matured to the highest type of art, being held in the iron grip of religion and convention. Nevertheless it is one of the great autochthonous arts of the world. * Boston M. F. A. t Casts: United States N. M. t United States N. M 112 ASIATIC ARTS. Part III. ASIA. ASIATIC ARTS. Asia is the home of several great arts. These arts are probably autochthonous to Asia, and were pro- foundly affected by the physical configuration of the continent. The vast desert region of Persia, Beluchistan and Turkestan, and the tremendous mountain masses of the Pamirs, Hindu Kush, Himalaya and Altai, cut Asia into four great separate land expanses, western Asia, southern Asia, eastern Asia and northern Asia, and each of these became a great art center and starting point. The boundaries of desert and snowy alp sur- rounding them, however, were not absolute barriers to art. They blocked the spread of some art, not of all art. The miniature painting of Hindustan and of Persia clasp hands across the stony wastes of Beluchis- tan; the kakemonos of China rise nearly to the roof of the world in Tibet; the dignified Buddhas of Hindustan meditate in silence in Japan. Unquestionably there is some give and take among Asiatic arts. West Asiatic art gradates into East Asiatic art and South Asiatic art; South Asiatic art gradates into East Asiatic art; East Asiatic art gradates into North Asiatic art. The art of western Asia is most nearly akin to Egyptian and European art; the arts of southeastern and of northern Asia are respectively most nearly akin to Australasian and Amerind art. But with all the inter- change arid resemblances among Asiatic arts, there can be no doubt that there are at least four great var- ieties of art on the Asiatic continent, and that these ARTS OF THE WORLD. 113 different arts or varieties of art started in the four great stretches of more level land of the Asiatic continent. Nevertheless there is also some intrusive African and European art in Asia. Some remains from Syria are true Egyptian. And this is natural enough, since about 1500 B. C, Egyptian invasions, probably under the Ramses, overran parts of western Asia for a rather long period. The Romans also left many art remains in western Asia. Notably is this the case at Palmyra, where portrait statues of a debased Graeco-Roman type are rather plentiful. Likewise, in the valleys of eastern Afghanistan, the former Gandhara, many sculptures of an inferior Greek type were found and these point to commercial Greek artists having worked in Gand- hara not long before the beginning of the Christian era. May be these sculptors came in the train of Alexander of Macedon, but this is uncertain. At the most, however, there was only a rather local inroad of Greek art into central Asia and this could not have had any important influence on Asiatic art. It is necessary to lay stress on this matter, because certain writers assert that Asiatic art is descended from Greek art. But how impossible this is is easily demonstrated from the fact that in the Euphrates valley great sculpture was fashioned a couple of thousand of years earher than Greek art and in China the excellent Han sculpture flourished almost contemporaneously with Greek art. Greek sculpture is a wonderful art, perhaps the highest development of sculpture in the world, but the priority of Asiatic art over it in time is absolute. WEST ASIATIC ART. West Asiatic art probably started in the plains of Mesopotamia along the southern reaches of the Euph- rates and the Tigris, possibly as far back as 5000 114 WEST ASIATIC ART. B. C. It has almost no resemblances to the art of the Pleistokenes and for a long time after its birth it has none to Egj^jtian art. There is no apparent reason to think that it was brought to the Euphrates valley from elsewhere, but the indications are that it sprang up there, probably among the people now spoken of as the Sumerians. It must, therefore, be looked on as one of the autochthonous arts. From the Sumerians, West Asiatic art descended directly to the Babylonians and to the Kaldeans in the Euphrates valley. Further north Hittite art sprang up as an independent branch and from this and Baby- lonian art came Assyrian art. To the southeast Old Persian art also was a descendant of Babylonian art. To the west a httle West Asiatic art went to Cyprus, and Phoenician art and Jewish art also came from the West Asiatic art foundation. In later times Arab art and Byzantine art showed quaUties of color which to some extent is due to the western Asiatic love of color. West Asiatic art may be looked on as the art of the Semitic races, with its cradle and main dwelling place in the plains of the Euphrates where it afterwards also degenerated and died out. In later times there are some resemblances between West Asiatic art and Egyptian art. For instance the Gudeas have certain resemblances to some Egyptian statues; slab bas reliefs are common to both arts and so are great temples and palaces. It seems probable that there was sufficient intercourse in later times between the valleys of the Euphrates and the Nile for the carrying of some art influence in the wake of commerce and of war, but that the interchange of art ideas was not great. And therefore it is probably correct to assume that West Asiatic art and Egyptian art not only started independently, but that they grew up largely independently of each other. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 115 West Asiatic art apparently did not have much influence on East Asiatic art nor on South Asiatic art. It certainly did not in painting. Assyrian slabs and bas reUefs may have given faint suggestions to some of the early Chinese slabs. There are some slight resemblances between the Babylonian Gudeas and the South Asiatic Buddhas: but not in technic, merely in the seated pose: and this is not enough to warrant any claim to connection between the two. The most probable art influence proceeding from western to eastern Asia must have come from the tiles and colored friezes of Assyria and Persia. These may have been a factor in starting the tiles and glazed pottery of China: and possibly they were. But it is also pos- sible that Chinese glazed pottery was an independent Chinese discovery. SUMERIAN, BABYLONIAN AND KALDEAN ART. Little is known of early West Asiatic art, but one or two fragments, possibly dating from the fifth millennium B. C.,* rather hint that there was a sort of picture writing at that time. From perhaps the fourth millennium B. C, there are remains of slabs with bas reliefs, f which are probably Siunerian. They show but limited observation and knowledge, and the drawing is stiff and rigid. There are a number of these early b^s reliefs and in some the face is drawn full or nearly full, and these are probably among the earliest attempts in art to draw the full-face. In one circular bas reUef antedating King Our-Nina, the humans have shaved heads and big noses. The best of these early bas rehefs perhaps are the fragments known as the "Stele of Vultures" of the time of King Eannadou, representing the cele- * U. Penn. M. S. & A. t Louvre. 116 SUMERIAN, BABYLONIAN AND KALDEAN ART. bration of some victory. The warriors wear helmets, apparently with nose-pieces or perhaps the artist merely intended to represent enormous noses; the figures are stiff and rigid; and the artistic conception resembles the later Assyrian work. There are some fine examples of engraving on metal, which are also probably Sumerian. The best is a splendid silver vase attributed to the reign of King Entemena, which is assigned to the fourth millennium B. C* On this are engraved deer, decorative Uons and ibexes, and four eagles with full-face lion heads. From the standpoint of comparative art, the import- ant thing about Sumerian art is that it does not resemble Pleistokene, East Asiatic, South Asiatic or Greek art at all and Egyptian art scarcely at all; but it does resemble in some ways the later art of Nineveh. Perhaps a thousand years later, in the third millen- nium B. C, West Asiatic art, which may then be desig- nated Babylonian art, rose to its highest realistic level. From possibly the beginning of the third millennium B. C, come some black diorite or dolerite statues, f They were dug up at Tello and are said to be one a portrait of Our Baou and nine portraits of Gudea, both of whom, it is said, were patesis or rulers of Sirpoula. Most of these statues are life size. They are all in repose. The figures are rather squat and not suffici- ently slender to make certain that the proportions are perfectly accurate. But they are evidently observed from nature and certain parts, the heads, hands and feet especially, are carefully studied. The fingers are long and slim. The skin around the base of the toe nails is indicated and these are cut square across, as some surgeons contend they should be, but it is hard to understand how the originals of these statues could * Louvre. t Nine in the Louvre. One in the British M. ARTS OP THE WORLD. 117 have kept their nails in this condition unless they had scissors. Most of these statues have had the head broken off. Fortunately several of the heads have been found and one small sitting statue now has its original head restored to it. The eyebrows meet and rise to a ridge. The top of some of these heads is covered with a sort of superstructure, which is supposed by some arche- ologists to be a cap or turban: in fact one of the heads is known as the Grande tete a turban de Goudea. It seems possible, however, that these heads are not wearing a turban at all, but that it is the hair, tight, crisp and curly, which is dressed into what looks Uke a turban. But whether a turban or natural hair is intended, this is sculpted in precisely the same manner as the hair is sculpted on the sides of some of the Assyrian bulls.* These statues are really fine and show marked observation and sculptural ability. There is nothing stiff nor immature about them, except that possibly they are a little too short. They are different and superior to Assyrian sculptures of humans; they are superior to many Egyptian figures and, in my opinion, they are on an artistic equality with some realistic Greek portrait sculpture. There is certainly a striking resemblance in the quiet seated pose of the Gudeas to many Egyptian statues and a sUght resemblance to some of the South and East Asiatic Buddhas. I thought at one timef there might be artistic kinship between the Gudeas and the Buddhas, but I believe now this was an erroneous judgment. For the Buddhas undoubtedly spring from the pose of sitting Hindu Yogis, and the artistic handling of both these sets of statues moreover is * Louvre. t Comparative Art. 118 SUMERIAN, BABYLONIAN AND KA.LDEAN ART. sufficiently distinct to show that in each case it was individual with its makers. From probably the third millennium B. C. also, there are numerous statuettes of stone, of copper, and of terra cotta. Many of them are stiff and rather shapeless, and a number of the terra cotta nude females from Nuffar* have exceedingly, exaggeratedly, small waists. The heads are shaved sometimes and when there is a nose it is always a big one. Some of the copper figurines are not bad and have a lot of swing and action: several, who are hanging on to posts, look much Uke German gnomes: some are greenish and are all eaten away with verdigris. There are some small, ill- done statuettes of bulls with human heads and a few good animals, notably a cast copper bull's head. A small vase or bowl of green steatite, with seven small figures round it, is most original. There are numerous quaint specimens of decorative art. One vase with two fantastic animals, one on each side of a pair of en- twined snakes is^ as far as I know, rather unlike any other art. There are also some engravings on shells, certain ones of which, notably one of an ibex, are good.f The big noses in Sumerian bas reliefs and in Baby- lonian statuettes are ethnologically noteworthy. They certainly resemble Assyrian noses and somewhat Old Persian noses. They also resemble, as do likewise Assyrian noses, the noses of many Aztec bas reliefs. The entire heads resemble Assyrian heads, somewhat Persian heads, not much Egyptian heads and not at all. Mexican or Peruvian heads. This evidence, therefore, tends to show that there was relationship between the old Euphratic races, the Assyrians, and the old Per- sians; little or none with the Egyptians; and absolutely none with the Amerinds. * U. Perm. M. S. & A. t Most of these specimens are in the Louvre. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 119 The noses on the black diorite statues from Tello, however, are not specially big: they do not attract attention. And this is a difficult point to explain. Why should the noses in the best specimens of West Asiatic art be different from those of most of the rest of the art from the same locality? It seems, however, as if this were only one point of many which show that the art of the Gudeas is, in many ways, distinct from Nineveh art. From Nippur or Nuff ar there are a number of terra cotta figurines.* Their workmanship is of an inferior kind. They are mostly female figures, many of which are nude and have an exaggeratedly small waist. Of their date I am uncertain, but it may be that it is a late one and that they belong to the Kaldean period. Some of them have certain characteristics of poor Greek terra cottas. Some of these nude female figures are lying on the left side, recUning on the left arm with the right arm resting on the right hip, almost exactly like some terra cotta figurines from Chiusi in Etruria.f Whether there was any underlying racial cause is uncertain, but there may have been some migration east or west from Greece, for certainly there is some resemblance between some of the art of Kaldea and some of the art of Etruria. About the ninth and eighth centuries B. C. the Kaldeans made some commemorative slabs. A marble tablet of King Nabu-Apal-Iddina, of about 850 B. C.,J represents a king approached by three men. The figures are stiff, ill drawn and quite unlike the art of the Gudeas; exactly resembling, on the contrary, early Assyrian art. From the latest edifices at Nuffar come some terra * Louvre — Harvard U. S. M. t Palermo M. Naz. J British M. 120 HITTITE ART. cottas, with faces and figures on them, of a rather Greek style.* Apparently there seems to have been some Greek and Roman influence in the last centuries B. C. in the lower Euphrates valley, after which civilization and art died out there. HITTITE ART. A number of art remains with a certain individuality of their own have been found of late years in Asia Minor and northern Syria. These come from the almost forgotten Hittites or Hatti, whose kingdom or empire appears to have flourished in probably the second millennium B. C. and who were rediscovered, so to speak, in our own generation. Professor Hermann V. Hilprecht once told me he thought the Hittites might turn out to be an Indo-European people. He based his opinion on their having a double headed eagle similar to the Russian eagle and also on the word Hatti or Khati probably being the same as Goth. Certain other archeologists also incline to the belief that the Hittites were an Indo-European people; that they overran Asia Minor probably from the north; that they captured Babylon about 1800 B. C; that they fought apparently successfully the Egyptians under Ramses the Great; and that possibly they were the ancestors of the Armenians. There is but little Hittite art remaining and most of this is inaccessible. I have not myself seen any original specimens of Hittite art but only some casts of Hittite slabs and some photographs. Some Hittite art has a certain individuality of its own. Some slabs show heads which are shaved and are shaped into a somewhat conical rounded point, almost as if they had been compressed, f The face of these heads is beard- * U. Penn. M. S. & A. t Photographs. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 121 less and the nose is large and curved into a beak. These heads, which are supposed to be among the oldest Hittite remains, are not in the least Assyrian nor are they in any way like the Pointed Beard type. They look more like Aztec heads from San Salvador but, on 'the whole, they are a very original type of art head, different from any I know. Some details or characteristics of Hatti figures are distinctly original. The boots are usually large and the points turn up in front. The tunic reaches to about the knees and ends in a point in front. Some of the humans stand on animals, such as lions, bulls, etc., and these figures may represent deities. There is at least one goddess of great importance in the Hittite religion and later she may have become Artemis of Ephesus. Some figures of this goddess and her prob- able son also seem like forerunners of the Christian Madonna and Child.* A sculpture of a lion is a primitive conventionalized bit of art, square and some- what unique.* Some Hittite art looks like Assyrian art gone to seed. Some of the slabs look overripe: they are weak and mushy: they have none of the vitality usually accompanying a rising art. For these reasons I was inclined formerly to consider Hittite art a rough branch of Assyrian art.f But it is known now that the Hatti kingdom was much older than the Assyrian: hence it is evident that it was the Assyrians who derived some of their art from the Hittites. The weakness and mushiness of many of the slabs also undoubtedly must be attributed to weathering, for Hittite art, when overground, is terribly weather worn. But slabs, with Assyrian characteristics, which have been recently dug up, seem to be as good in many * Photographs. t Comparative Art. 122 ASSYEIAN ART. ways as Assyrian slabs, except that they are rougher and more shapeless. Some of the humans have enor- mous noses. A hunting scene of two men in a chariot and one on foot is very Assyrian, but altogether inferior. There are several slabs of winged fabulous lion like animals; one or two of men with "Assyrian beards: the best is a large slab of a bull.* Several sphinxes recently dug up, show possible relationship between Hittite and Egyptian art. They are not bad at all and are in no wise Assyrian, f An exceedingly interesting Hittite bas relief, of which there is more than one example, is a double headed eagle. It is almost the same as the double headed eagle of Russia, Germany and Austria. It may perchance be their prototype and is well worth further elucidation. f Hittite art apparently did not spread much outside of Asia Minor. It may perhaps be considered as a northern branch of West Asiatic art, which grew up somewhat independently in the mountains near the sources of the Euphrates and the Tigris and which descended to the Assyrians in the beginning of the first millennium B. C. ASSYRIAN ART. The warlike Assyrian nation, which flourished between about 1000-600 B. C. in the plains and valleys of northern Mesopotamia, left but few traces of its existence except the art remains dug up at Nimrud and Kouyounjik. Most Assyrian art comes to us in the form of high relief slabs and of smaller sculptures in the round. J The earlier Assyrian art is stiffer and more rigid than ♦Casts: United States N. M. — Harvard U. S. M. Originals in Berlin M. t Photographs. t Louvre.— British M.— Boston M. F. A.— United States N. M.— Harvard U. S. M. AETS OF THE WORLD. 123 the later. It rises to its height about the eighth and seventh centuries B. C. and then suddenly dies out. Humans or animals, or both together, are almost invariably represented on Assyrian slabs. Almost all the subjects are of war or the chase. Attacks on fortified cities are a favorite theme; hunting, especially lion hunting, incidents are common. Scenes of peace are rare. Killing was what appealed most to the Assyrians: in fact, the inference from their art is that the Assyrians were a militant and sporting nation. There is a little pictorial quality in some Assyrian slabs, that is there is the rudimentary idea of a picture in certain bas reliefs. This is perhaps best shown in some of the slabs of animals. Perspective is not under- stood, indeed it is undreamed of in Assyrian art. The only way the Assyrians could think of to give artistic importance to their gods or their kings, was to make them much larger than ordinary mortals. Many of the slabs, however, are not even rudimentarily pictorial but are merely rows of figures standing side by side, as for instance in some bronze panels of Shalmanezer II., about 860-825 B. C, representing events in the life of that king.* In a few slabs there is an attempt at incipient landscape and this is rudimentarily pictorial. For instance, a slab from the palace of Assur-bani-pal* shows two men and three trees with birds flying between them. Another slabf represents a lion and honess among trees and flowers. Whilst much more conventional, the motive is not unlike some of the flower screens of some Japanese painters: there is an evident similarity of artistic thought. In Assyrian art, the humans generally have good pro- portions. They also, as a rule, are in motion, often violent motion. Nevertheless their action is decidedly wooden. * British M. t Cast: Harvard U. S. M. 124 ASSYRIAN ART. Most of the Assyrian faces are of a strongly Semitic type, with enormous noses. The faces on the slabs are generally, but not always, in profile, doubt- less because a profile is easier to draw than a full-face. At one time, I was under the impression that the eye was always drawn full-face as in Egyptian art.* Further observation, however, shows this is an error. The eye is not well drawn, not sufficiently in profile, as a rule, for the rest of the face; but in many cases the attempt to draw the eye correctly in profile is evident. But it was beyond the skill of the artist to do so. The feet on Assyrian slabs are also generally, perhaps always, in profile, even when the figure is full- face : some of the feet are excellent, but most of them are bad. Two enormous figures in high reUef, holding big cats, possibly cheetahs, in their arms, show this peculiarity most forcibly, f A good example of Assyrian slab sculpture is a fine, over life-size portrait of King Assur-nazir-pal, about 889-859 B. C, showing his side face, with square beard and earrings. The hands are pudgy and shape- less, but the figure as a whole is decidedly impressive. The head is in profile, the eye somewhat in profile, the shoulders decidedly in profile and the feet in pure profile. This therefore implies better observation than that of the bas relief figures in Egyptian art. J Animals are much represented in Assyrian art. Lions, wild asses, camels, oxen, horses, goats, sheep, dogs, are numerous. They have some of the character- istics of the figures and in certain cases are rather stiff and wooden. This occurs, for instance, in a slab from Nimrud§ of the ninth century, "warrior killing * Comparaiive Art. t Louvre. t Boston M. F. A. § British M. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 125 a lion;" and in two slabs from Kouyounjik* from the reign of Assur-bani-pal, about 668-626 B. C, "lion hunt" and "sacrifice at a return from a lion hunt." Many of the animals, however, show splendid draw- ing, action, and in the main correct animal movements. This is the case, for instance, in some slabs or friezes from the palace of Assur-bani-pal, representing the hunting of wild asses, f The weakest point is that the legs of the galloping horses and asses have the incorrect open scissor action. Taking all in all, the animals are the best thing in Assyrian art: the men are too much conventionalized . The Assyrians, in one respect at least, were not wholly barbarians; they did not dock their horses tails. The tails of the horses are almost always long, down to the hocks, and about the height of the knee the tail is tied tight by a sort of encircling band which goes round it four or five times. The lines of the hair of the tails are conventionalized, but they are always lengthwise in waves. The finest example of pure art which I have seen from Assyria comes from Kouyounjik from about the seventh century B. C. This is the famous bas relief of a wounded lioness.* She is half raised from the ground on which her paralyzed hind quarters are dragging. Her mouth is wide open and there are three arrows in her, one of which has gone clean thru and is protruding on both sides. This is fine drawing, composition, expression, action, in fact it is master's work, worthy of any sculptor. There is no doubt that some Assyrian art animals must rank with the best animal representations. The Assyrians also modelled fabulous creatures, ani- mals with human heads and humans with animal heads. * British M. t Casts: Harvard U. S. M. 1910. 126 ASSYBIAN ART. Among the best examples of the first are the great winged bulls from the palace of Sargon at Korsabad of the eighth century B. C* and the enormous hiunan headed winged lions from Nimrud.t There are cunei- form inscriptions on these and they all have pro- nounced Semitic type heads. In the case of the bulls, the horns come in as part of the headdress, the ribs show under the skin, and in places there is curly conventionalized hair. Among the second kind, a big Assyrian slab of a man with an eagle's head is interesting.! The Assyrian animal headed humans find a counter- part in South Asiatic art in the animal headed statues of Vishnu, Ganesh, etc. But the technic of the two arts is so absolutely different that no connection in this line seems probable altho, of course, it is possible. South Asiatic monsters may be descended from West Asiatic monsters, but it is quite as likely that they are an independent growth. With Assjnrian and Egyptian monsters the case is somewhat different. The sphinx is found in Hittite as well as in Egyptian art and this particular monster at least was common property. And it may be thus that the idea of fabulous creatures came to Assyria partly from the Hittites, partly from the Egyptians. A comparative study of Assyrian art reveals its main characteristics as descending directly from Babylo- nian art and from Hittite art. Many of the Assyrian slabs resemble certain Babylonian slabs, but they are more spirited and pictorial. Assyrian animals are incomparably finer than any Babylonian or Hittite animals. Assyrian humans resemble some Babylonian humans and most Hittite humans; but with an indi- * Louvre. t British M. I Casts: Harvard U. S. M. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 127 viduality of their own. But no Assyrian humans approach the Babylonian Gudeas as art; in fact, they are so different, it is impossible to call them descend- ants. The Gudeas were probably buried and forgotten long before the rise of Assyrian art. Assyrian art shows a little relationship with Egyptian art which it must have encountered and which its predecessor Hittite art certainly encountered thru com- merce and wars. Assyrian humans are stiffer and less well drawn than Egyptian humans: except the eye which the Assyrians at least tried, altho they rarely succeeded, to draw correctly in profile. In their animal work the Assyrians, especially in the freedom, ease, action and motion of the animals, were usually superior to the Egyptians. In other words, the technics of the two arts show strong differentiation between them and it is not possible that either much affected the other. Assyrian art shows some resembla,nces to East Asiatic art. But it also shows some radical differences. The himaans are absolutely different. The animals are more nearly akin in artistic merit and technic, altho in certain points, such as the scissor action of gallop- ing horses, the Assyrians reveal inferiority of observa- tion. It is especially in bas rehef slabs in which there are humans or animals together with trees and flowers, that Assyrian art resembles certain phases of East Asiatic art. On the whole, Assyrian art is just about what might be expected from its geographical and historical position. It shows in the main descent from the arts preceding it in its own immediate locaUty. It did not leave much imprint on other arts. It grew up mainly in its own way, in answer to its own environment. And the type of its faces is so much like the present Jewish type, that Assyrian art must be considered as one of the most important manifestations of Semitic art. 128 PHOENICIAN AND JEWISH ART. PHOENICIAN ART. In Syria and Palestine, as far as I know, no locally native art was developed. This part of western Asia was a meeting ground of arts from the east, north, west and south, rather than an art center, for Babylo- nian, Hittite, Assyrian, Egyptian, Roman, and Arab arts, all contributed to the art there. During the last two millenniums B. C, between perhaps 1500 B. C. and 500 B. C, the people known as the Phoenicians seems to have dwelt in Syrian lands. Commercial and non-artistic, apparently they did not bring forth any special art of their own. Such art as they had probably came mainly from the Hittites or the Assyrians and in lesser degree from the Egyptians. From somewhere in Syria, for instance, comes the sarcophagus believed to be that of Emunazar, King of Sidon, Phoenicia,* and this is absolutely Egyptian. The Phoenicians wandered a good deal, notably to Carthage and probably to Sicily. Phoenician or Semitic Carthage unfortunately was almost whoUy destroyed by Romans. Still a few art specimens remaining there have a certain Egyptian flavor, f None of these resemble any Negro art, altho some implements dug up at Carthage are similar to some implements recently found among the tribes near Lake Tanganika. Two steles also from Carthage apparently are Phoenician.! C)ne of these has reliefs, among which is a bad figure in full- face, and it has also a late Punic inscription. The other stele has a bull with the body in profile and the face full front, a Trinacria on top, and likewise a late Punic inscription. They are both badly sculpted and are unlike Greek work and it seems as if they must be Phoenician. * Louvre. t Carthage M. Lavigerie. j Casts: Harvard U. S. M. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 129 From Selinunte in Sicily there are one or two sphinxes with wiags* whose style is Egyptian or Assyrian: a style of art the Phoenicians probably brought to Sicily. Another connecting link is the Trinacria, which is found not only in Sicily but also in Phoenician Carthage. JEWISH ART. The Jewish tribes inhabiting Palestine had but little art, but what they did have was probably due to West Asiatic and possibly to a little Egyptian influence. Some terra cotta bowls found at Nuffar by Professor HUprechtf are said to be Jewish incantation bowls and to date from the ninth and eight centuries B. C. Some figures, drawn on them in black lines, are shape- less and grotesque. Doubtless the reason the Jews left so little art may be found in the commandment of Moses: "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in the heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow thyself down to them, nor serve them. "J This stopped the making of idols, but it also blocked the artistic impulse and probably did away with the making of works of art. PERSIAN ART. Persian art falls into two distinct categories: Old Persian art and Modem Persian art. Old Persian art includes architecture, pottery, tiles, sculptures and bas rehefs, but apparently it does not reach a pictorial stage. It was in existence for several hundred years in the last millennium B. C, but it flourished principally * Palermo M. Naz. t U. Penn. M. S. & A. t Exodus XX. 130 PERSIAN ART. between 500 and 300 B. C. It is distinctly a descend- ant of Babylonian and Assyrian art. Of this art there are remains of some decidedly grand architecture, very Assyrian but also somewhat Egyptian in type. The palace or temple of Darius at Sousa, about 404 B. C.,* was a large building with great columns and more nearly resembUng an Egyptian than a Greek temple. On some of the columns were enormous bulls' heads. The broken pieces of the top of one of these columns, taken from the throne room of Artaxerxes Mnemon, have been put together and it is a most impressive piece of sculpture with splendid plastic qualities. Above the columns was a frieze, known as the "Procession of the Lions, "f representing fierce lions following one another. They are made of enameled tUes or bricks, a bit of the animal on each brick, which are so neatly joined that the artistic effect of each animal is fine. The old Persians evidently had a well founded respect for the lion, for their artistic coun- terfeits are anything but meek. The whole color of the frieze is greenish. There was also a second frieze, the "Frieze of the Archers. "f This is also in colored low relief and is made likewise of separate enameled tiles or bricks with a bit of each figure cast or moulded on each brick. The bricks were then joined together with capital artistic results. The predominant colors are greens, yellows and blues. The figures represent archers, sculpted in profile and with a strongly Assyrian appearance. These two friezes show that a colored brick or rather a colored tile was in use in Persia. It undoubtedly descended from Babylonia and Assyria. Possibly glazed and colored tiles were made in the * Louvre: model and some remains, t Louvre. ABTS OF THE WORLD. 131 valley of the Euphrates earlier than in Egypt. If so it makes western Asia the birthplace of this important industry, which may have gone from there to China and later may have gone to Europe both from western Asia and from China. The heads of the archers in the "Frieze of the Archers" are interesting. They have pointed beards and in this one item they resemble Cypriote, Greek and Etruscan pointed beard heads. It might therefore be inferred that there was some connection with those heads. I doubt this, however, because everything else, pose, dress, armament, is different. It seems most probable that the "Frieze of the Archers" and the "Procession of the Lions" are an independent develop- ment from Assyrian art, with the archers better done than Assyrian humans. Old Persian art shows few resemblances to East Asiatic art or to South Asiatic art either in architec- ture, sculpture or painting. And this is extremely significant. For Old Persian art is the last true out- crop of West Asiatic art. Any West Asiatic art influence which went to China or Hindustan must have gone thru Persia. But there is so httle resemblance between Old Persian art and East and South Asiatic arts that it points strongly to those two arts springing from the art instinct of their own makers almost independently of the art instinct of the makers of West Asiatic art. Of the first millennium A. D., I have seen no art from Persia. Modem Persian art comes in the second millennium A. D., principally in the shape of decorated pottery, tiles, pictures and rugs. It is a good deal of a mixture. There is probably some survival from Old Persian art, for some pottery, of between about the twelfth to fifteenth centuries A. D., has something of the flavor 132 PEKSIAN AET. of Old Persian tiles from the Palace of Darius at Sousa. This pottery is glazed and is beautifully decorated in dull greens and blues, with fruits, flowers, trees and some animals, such as ibexes, geese, etc.* In some of this pottery also there are touches which indicate Arab influence and others which indicate Chinese influence.* Some tiles from Persia f have almost the same colors as the tiles at the Bardo at Tunis, blue, green, yellow and black. This hints strongly at Arab influence in Persia. Three panels also formed of 112 enameled brick tiles, of humans with landscapes, made at Ispahan by Chinese artists under Shah Abbas I., 1586-1628 A. D., prove there was some Chinese influence in Modern Persian art. The colors are white, yellow, green, blue; the figures are Persian with some Chinese characteristics, that is they are artistic hybrids. J Modern Persian pictures belong as much, perhaps more, to Hindustan than to Persia and are treated of further on under the heading of Indo-Persian painting. § Modern Persian art, on the whole, appears to be simply a mixture of several art streams: Old Persian, Hindu, Chinese, Arab, and a little European, with, nevertheless, a certain local flavor of its own. Art in western Asia has survived in one major form only, namely rugs. The geographical habitat of the so-caUed Oriental rugs is centered in Persia and extends thru Asia Minor to Constantinople; to the Caucasus and Daghestan; to Samarkand and Turkestan; to Beluchistan and northwestern Hindustan. Its territory therefore in a general way is that of West Asiatic art. Rugs have been woven for many centuries past in * Boston M. F. A. t Louvre. t New York M. ^. § Post, p. 164. ARTS OP THE WORLD. 133 western Asia and while it would be hard to say when the industry began, it is claimed that rugs were made long ago in the Euphrates valley, in Assyrian and even Kaldean times. And in the last two or three hundred years, they are the one distinctly important art output of Asia Minor, Turkestan and Persia. Rugs are of endless shapes, sizes, patterns, designs and colors. Most of the designs are botanical, from flowers or trees; some are zoological, from men or animals; a few appear to be from architectural motives. Designs from basketry seem lacking. The Unes are both curvilinear and rectilinear. The colors, originally vegetable dyes, cover the entire register of colors. In my judgment, none of the patterns suggest in the least Australasian patterns and that implies that there is no relationship between the rugs of western Asia and the early patterns of southern and eastern Asia. On the appearance of Oriental rugs it is unnecessary to dwell, but certainly many of them conform to the first canon of a work of art and are beautiful. ARAB AET. Arab art, spoken of also as Moorish art, Saracenic art, and Muhammedan art or the art of El Islam, is certainly not an autochthonous art. There is undoubtedly much racial feeling in Arab art. But the artistic feelings of the Arab races were curbed by over- powering religious influences. The artists could not extend their work beyond the bounds laid down by their reUgious commanders. The most important factor in Arab art perhaps is the negative one that humans and animals were tabu as motives, a tabu which may have been suggested by the Jewish commandment. The artists were forbidden by their religion from using human or animal figures in their art, a prohibition of profound artistic import as it made their art narrow 134 ARAB ART. and limited. But, driven from the motives which appeal most to artists, Arab artists concentrated their efforts in other directions, on architecture, on decora- tion and on dress. And, having unquestionably a love and feeling for line and color, they produced some excellent art. So fine and original indeed is Arab art in one special point, namely decorative patterns, that it has engendered the word "arabesque." Arab art originated on the boundaries of Asia and Africa. Tho it extended thruout North Africa, it is not a native African art, and tho it spread over India, it is not a native South Asiatic art. It has not the faintest resemblance to Chinese art. It started in Arabia and immediately thereafter in Egypt, in about the seventh century A. D. At first it was mainly an adaptation of already existing architecture and decora- tion to Muhammedan reUgious ordinances. It is to some extent an evolution from the architecture and art extant in Arabia, Syria and Egypt about the seventh century A. D.; and like Byzantine art it certainly is partly of West Asiatic ancestry. In Arabia itself, there are some traces of an art which probably antedates Muhammedanism, since the human motive is apparent. There is one stele of four humans and two camels, with rehefs and inscriptions, said to come from southern Arabia,* which is individual and somewhat different from any other art I know. This might be due to some foreign influence, Roman or Greek perhaps. But it might also be a remnant of some earUer phase of art among the natives of Arabia, before Arab art was restricted by the tenets of the Koran. Our knowledge of Arabia, however, is still so limited, that definite statements about the early art of Arabia must be held in abeyance until further exploration. *Cast: Harvard U. S. M. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 135 Arab art spread far and wide from its starting point. Probably no art, before the advent of steam, extended over as large a territory: certainly none crossed as many degrees of longitude. To the west, it has ruled, since its start, in Tripoli, Tunis, Algeria and Morocco; in Spain, it left the splendid Alhambra and the great mosque at Cordova. Northward it went to Turkey and a little into Russia, as far at least as Nijni Novgorod, where there is an interesting, if plain, mosque. It spread eastward into Persia; into Turk- estan, to Khiva, Bokhara and Samarkand; and into Hindustan, whose Taj Mahal and Pearl Mosque of Agra are ranked among the architectural marvels of the world. Arab art is great in architecture and in decoration. One of its strong points is that it is not mechanically symmetrical: each piece as a rule is distinct. In some mosques, for instance, each column is different from any of the others; that is each one is a separate artistic creation. There is also a lack of repetition of exactly similar color effects, which is most attractive. It is perhaps on account of these various factors, absence of synunetry and mechanical reduplication, and presence of beautiful decorations in glowing, harmonious color, that some mosques are more beautiful than many gray Gothic churches which depend for artistic beauty almost wholly on form. Arab mosques evidently began by the Arabs merely taking the buildings already existing in Arabia, Syria and northern Egypt and adapting them to Muham- medan religious purposes. As Muhammedanism grew more powerful, Arab architects gradually evolved a style of their own, suited to climatic needs and decorated in the only way permitted to them. That humanity generally finds the best way of meeting local conditions is well illustrated in the 136 ARAB ART. dwellings developed by the Arabs. They are admirably suited to hot climates and to enter one on a warm day is almost like going into a cellar. They have thick walls, massive doors, few windows and, as a rule, an opening at the top over a sort of court. The result is that the cold air of night sinks down into the rooms and, as there are few draughts, the hot air of day floats above and does not displace the cold air which remains in the house because of its greater weight. Doubtless unconsciously on the part of the builders, the same mechanical or physical principle as that which causes and preserves ice in natural glaci^res the world over acts in Arab dwellings.* While Arab architecture began by assimilating the forms of Byzantine, Syriac and Coptic architecture, later it, in turn, influenced some European work. For some of the Arab mosques, with their different colored stones built together and their minarets, are closely alUed to some Italian churches, such as the Baltistero at Florence. And to-day, in Mexico and New York and Florida and Paris and London, there are structures and rooms whose architecture or whose decorations are taken directly from the art devised by the Arabs as a result of the restrictions of Muhammed. The most beautiful specimen of Arab architecture I have myself seen is the palace of the Bey, the Bardo in Tunis. With its Moorish arches, its deUcate traceries and its cool and airy rooms, one could scarcely imagine a more ideal retreat on a hot day. Arab decorations grew up largely thru the limita- tions impressed on the artists. As they were not allowed to mimic the forms of humans, they began by applying colors in broad masses and gradually developed a form of interior carving or plaster work with curiously interwoven designs and patterns, which often * Edwin Swift Balch : Glacikres or Freezing Caverns. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 137 are most artistic. The patterns are almost all taken from flowers, altho there are some which are so con- ventionahzed as decorations that it is impossible to tell the original motives. The Arabs made many decorated tiles. The best I have seen are at the Museum of the Bardo in Tunis. They are decorated in black, blue, green and yellow, with almost no red. There are a few attempts at suggesting panthers and lions, but these are almost formless and show utter lack of drawing and observa- tion. Still these attempts show that Moslems did not always altogether obey their prophet, but that they sometimes tried to limn animals in defiance of his prohibition. When the Arab tribes invaded Palestine, they also brought with them the Muhammedan reUgious ordi- nances against figures in art. Probably partly on that account, there is little later art from Syria. The best is some pottery, usually highly colored in bluish tones.* One Rakka jar, of the ninth century A. D., is a dull purple: another, of the thirteenth century A. D., is a wonderful turquoise blue lightening into white, f Much of this Syrian pottery, between the advent of the Arabs and modern times, is beautiful in colors. The Arabs certainly brought , tiles and the art of tile making to Spain, and at one, time I thought that it was from Spain that the Dutch obtained their start in tile decorating, J an art in which they excelled. Whilst this may be so, it is more probable that the Dutch learnt tile making from the Chinese, as they traded extensively with the far East as early as the seventeenth century A. D. The Arabs did not turn to the human form as an * New York M. M. t Boston M. F. A. J Comparative Art, 138 NOBTH ASIATIC ART AND EARLY ASIATIC ART. art motive as most races did, simply because they were forbidden to do so. They certainly have the sense of color and in nothing is this more apparent than in their dress. In the thousands of native cos- tumes one sees in Tunis and Algeria the colors, tho high in key, are usually soft and almost never glaring. The men drape themselves in their burnooses as beau- tifully as Greek statues. This cannot be said of the women's clothes, however, which seem to be made purposely with ugly lines. _ One special development of Arab art is the single hand known as the hand of Fatma. It is merely a flat conventionalized decorative symbol, without any attempt at realistic imitation, and is used as an amulet or charm. On the whole, Arab art seems to me singularly beautiful, on narrow, restricted hnes. The Arabs evidently have a strong artistic bent. It seems a pity that they were so curtailed in their use of natural motives, but possibly for that reason their art genius expanded so highly in their own permitted field. Arab art is not an autochthonous art, but it is extremely individual and, thru the art genius of its makers and their peculiar religious limitations, it became one of most distinctive, narrow and charming arts of the world. NORTH ASIATIC ART AND EARLY ASIATIC ART. In the northern reaches of the Eur-Asiatic continent, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Amur River and Sea of Okhotsk unto about the 160th degree of East longi- tide, the arts of the Lapps of Norway, of the Yakuts and Tungusses of central Siberia, of the Yakaghirs on the Arctic Ocean, of the native tribes north of the Amur River, and of the Ainu in Yezo, are of the same general character. These arts, which collectively may ABTS OF THE WOBLD. 139 best be termed North Asiatic art, are primitive and mainly decorative. In some places they have resem- blances to Australasian art and in others they are closely in touch with Amerind art. But not only in northern Asia do we find to-day art resemblances to Australasian and Amerind art, but also in Hindustan, in the Malay peninsula, in Burma, in China, in Japan and in Korea certain art fragments still crop up sporadically which hkewise rouse Australa- sian or Amerind reminiscences. Among the specimens I have seen I would instance the following. In Hindustan there is to-day still a little art in the shape of a few Hindu popular religious pictures of Juggernaut and Kali which have a Melanesian art quality.* In the Malay peninsula there are forest tribes whose rudi- mentary art closely resembles Australasian art. In Burma some musical instruments modelled somewhat as crocodiles and other bits of decorative art are strongly Papuan, f From China proper a modern paper kite is decorated with patterns which are extremely MelanesianJ and on some of the old Chinese bronzes are patterns much Uke the frigate bird patterns from Papua. In Japan there are many evidences of connec- tion with Australasia: grotesque figurines with an Australasian quality; old Japanese armor resembling Gilbert Island reed armor; Melanesian frigate bird pat- terns on some Japanese bronzes; and above all the art of the Ainu who inhabited Nippon before the Japanese and whose art to this day is Australasian. From Korea come grotesque guide posts reminiscent of Hawaii and Easter Island. Already in 1906 I called attention to the fact that in Japan and Korea there are remnants of art closely resembUng Australasian art,§ and as far * Illustrations: Illustrated London News, 5 October 1912, p. 499. t New York M. M. j American M. N. H. § Comparative Art. 140 NORTH ASIATIC ART AND EARLY ASIATIC ART. as I am aware this matter was not noted before then by any writer. From western Asia, Persia, Beluchistan and Afghan- istan on the other hand I have not seen any specimens in museums which suggest that West Asiatic art resembles in the least Australasian or Amerind art. And this lack of traces seems to me of considerable significance, because it implies a completely different origin of the art of western Asia from the origins of the arts of northern, southern and eastern Asia. For, judging from the various evidences just men- tioned, there is reason to think that North Asiatic art and also the somewhat similar specimens from eastern and southern Asia are survivals of a very early native art which in remote times extended in Asia, at least in spots, in longitudes east of the sandy and stony wastes of Turkestan and Beluchistan. This art, for convenience, might be called Early Asiatic art. Never- theless Early Asiatic art is puzzling and difficult to speak of specifically, because there are only a few examples, such as some old Chinese bronzes, of it left. Barring these, the art must be reasoned out backwards, so to speak, from modern art specimens. We can only assume, that in northern Asia, the art of long ago was identical with the North Asiatic art of to-day and therefore closely in touch with Amerind art; and that in southern and eastern Asia, some of the art of long ago was similar in kind to North Asiatic art, but with strong resemblances to Australasian art. I say some of the art, because it seems impossible that Early Asiatic art could be the ancestor of East Asiatic art or South Asiatic art, since both of these arts are strongly nat- uralistic, too much so apparently to have sprung directly from a decorative art. The explanation is perhaps that these three arts, altho all Asiatic, originated among different tribes or races of Asiatics. It looks as ARTS OF THE WORLD. 141 if Early Asiatic art survived in the north as North Asiatic art, and was blotted out in the south and east by the two great and very different South Asiatic and East Asiatic arts. What little native art there is among the Lapps of northern Norway and Sweden, the former Lapland, belongs to North Asiatic art. The Lapps seem to be ethnologically part of the North Asiatic races. When they came to Lapland is, I believe, unknown, but some writers seem to think they were there before the Europeans. I have seen only a little of this glyptic Lapp art, the decorations which adorned the clothing of some Lapps I inspected, at a respectful distance, near Tromsoe some years ago. The patterns certainly had North Asiatic art characteristics. The Yakuts of Central Siberia are related in their art to the Yakaghir and Tungusses. In their decora- tions on clothes and basketry, however, they betray Russian influence. They make silver ornaments, which they mount on leather, on belts especially,* and in this they are in touch not only with modern Russian art, but also with Norwegian art. The Yakaghir, a tribe living along the Arctic Ocean, south of the De Long and Bennett Islands, and the Tungusses, a tribe living south of the Yakuts, make rough drawings on wood; they cut silhouettes of ani- mals such as elk and bear out of birchbark; they incise on birchbark figures and patterns in lines, some- thing hke those on East North Amerind skin blankets; and they also make some decorative art, mainly bead- work, which is almost all rectangular and not in the least Melanesian.* Their art is inferior to Korak or Chukchee art. It has -few resemblances to Chinese art or to Eskimo art and none at all to Australasian art; but it has many resemblances to Northern Amerind * American M. N. H. 142 NORTH ASIATIC ART AND EARLY ASIATIC ART. art. In my opinion, it is the art of these tribes which, via the Aleutian Islands, is, of all Asiatic arts, the most closely in touch with Amerind art. Along the Amur River, the art of the native tribes belongs to North Asiatic art, but it has certain differ- ences from the art of the tribes to its northward. There is some rough and elementary glyptic art from the Amur tribes in the form of many primitive, light colored wooden figures.* They are certainly not related to either Chinese or Eskimo sculpture but they do closely resemble poor Australasian figures. Some birch- bark baskets from the Amur* are decorated principally in white, black and red patterns which, barring the fact that there are a good many curves, are of a decidedly Melanesian suggestion. Some decorative art on the clothing of the Amur tribes, on the contrary^ reveals Chinese influence. The dress of the native tribes of eastern Siberia is transitional between Chinese and Eskimo clothing; it gradates between the Amur River and Bering Strait. Among the Amur tribes the clothes resemble Chinese garments; among the Chukchees they resemble Eskimo garments. Along the Amur are found cloth coats. Often these are cut from two pieces, front and back, with half the sleeve cut from each, a method doubtless learnt from the Chinese. The winter coats of Siberian tribes are made of fur; those from the Amur have no hood, but a separate cap shaped Uke a hood. This, of course, is different from the Eskimo. Almost all the cloth coats are ornamented with pretty, artistic patterns, and on some of the fur coats from the Amur, decorations are sewn on. These patterns and decor- ations are Chinese and, unlike Japanese patterns, are symmetrical; there is nothing about them which suggests Australasian art.* * American M. N. H. ARTS OP THE WORLD. 143 Thus part of the art of the Amur tribes resembles Australasian art; some of it is due to contact with the Chinese : while but little, if any of it, is related to Amerind or Eskimo art. The art of the Ainu, a people now found only on the island of Yezo, may be included in North Asiatic art or it can be held to be the most northerly exten- sion of Australasian art. The Ainu have some little ivory art and this they mark with bitumen in the engraved hnes just as the Alaska Eskimo do.* Most Ainu art, however, is found in their woven textile fabrics, which are decorated with patterns usually in straight hnes and rectangles. These have distinctly a Papuan-Malayan or West North Amerind character and appearance. They are unlike Luzon patterns; they are more like New Guinea patterns; but they are stiU more like Haida and Chilcat patterns. In fact they resemble these latter so closely that there must be connection between Yezo and Alaska via the Aleutian Islands. Some Ainu gowns are decorated with wavy, rather unusual lines. Some of the patterns are perhaps suggested by human faces and humans. I do not think these patterns resemble modern Japanese patterns, but some Ainu weapons, principally knives, undoubtedly are imitated from Japanese weapons. All the art specimens I have seen are recent, and seem to me a survival of the North Asiatic or Australasian art which evidently extended over Japan before Chinese art overpowered it and which has relations to the north as well as to the south, f North Asiatic art is all primitive in type. In its western habitat it has been influenced or superseded by Norwegian art and Russian art. In its most southern habitat it has resemblances to Australasian * Harvard U. P. M. t Harvard U. P. M.-Salem P. M.— United States N. M. 144 SOUTH ASIATIC ART. art and has evidently been influenced by Chinese art. In its northern and eastern habitat it has strong resemblances to Amerind art. Its spirit is entirely in accord with Australasian art and Amerind art for, when unadulterated, it is primarily decorative and only secondarily naturalistic. It is therefore also, except where some of it has been affected by the invading Chinese or Byzantine-Russian arts, largely distinct in character from Chinese and Japanese art and still more distinct from Pleistokene art. It is impossible to more than guess when North Asiatic art started, for almost all the specimens are recent, but it might date back to many millenniums B. C, when some art similar in kind and degree was in all probabiUty contemporaneous with it in India and China. As said earUer in this chapter, it should not be assumed that South Asiatic art and East Asiatic art evolved wholly from this primitive decor- ative art. For in all Ukelihood, while the art instinct of certain Asiatic tribes was decorative, the art instinct of other East and South Asiatic races was naturalistic. And it was the art instinct of these races that brought forth the sculptures of Hindustan and the paintings of China. SOUTH ASIATIC ART. South of the Himalaya and the Hindu-Kush there is much art, sometimes great art, which, while some- thing of a medley and much tangled up, generically is more or less the same art. The center of this art is Hindustan and Ceylon; and it extends in certain phases to the west to Beluchistan, Afghanistan, and Persia; to the north to Tibet, China and Japan; and to the east to Burma, Siam, Java, Bali and one or two more islands. As a whole and considered comparatively with the arts of western Asia and of eastern Asia, the art of southern Asia is sufficiently individual and sufficiently ARTS OP THE WORLD. 145 original in its habitat to deserve the collective name of South Asiatic art. South Asiatic art is a naturalistic art and varies in different localities. Its origin almost certainly is mul- tiple. In my opinion, most of it is native and the balance is intrusive. It is difficult, however, if not impossible, to determine exactly about the beginnings of South Asiatic art because, as arts go, none of the specimens extant are really old : a few only are prob- ably more than two thousand years of age. But South Asiatic art almost surely is much older than that. There does not appear to be much generic relation- ship between the art of southern Asia and that of western Asia. At least there is nothing I have seen which strikes my eye as artistically similar. I thought at one time* that the sitting Buddhas might descend from the Babylonian Gudeas, but I am inclined now to discount Babylonian or Egyptian art influences. The artistic feeling of the Buddhas is different from the Ramses or the Gudeas: the technic is inferior: there is only a certain resemblance in the seated pose and the repose. The art of southern Asia also seems to me to be originally distinct, especially technically, from the art of eastern Asia. The art forms, such as kakemonos, original to eastern Asia are not found in southern Asia. There has been, of course, some infiltration of East Asiatic art to the south, mainly into Burma and Tibet. South Asiatic art on the other hand has carried some of its subjects and their conventions into eastern Asia, principally in the shape of sitting Buddhas and Buddhistic subjects. Buddhism went from India to China and Japan, and Buddhist subjects certainly went along with it. While each of these arts * Comparative Art. 146 SOUTH ASIATIC ART. thus undoubtedly affected the other to a certain extent, it seems ahnost certain that this took place only after each art was already established in its own autoch- thonous locality. South Asiatic art is also, it seems to me, originally distinct from European art. There are a certain number of resemblances, but these appear to spring rather from the similarity of inherent race character- istics, than from descent. There have been several invasions of India, it is true, and these of necessity have brought some foreign art influences into India, which have become grafted on South Asiatic art. But their sum total has not changed materially the real South Asiatic art. Some writers apparently assume that all the art of Hindustan sprang from Greek art. This bringing of Greek art into Asia — a big load — ^is usually credited to Alexander of Macedon: a warrior, not an artist, who reached northwestern India where he stayed a few months and found native kings and kingdoms. There were many inroads from the East into Europe, the Huns, the Turks, the Finns, and others: but no one assumes these brought Asian art into Europe. And it seems equally far fetched to assume that one miUtary raid started a great art in such an immense country as Hindustan. The inroad of Alexander into Hindustan doubtless brought some Greek influence into Afghanistan and northwestern India, as evidenced by sculptures from Gandhara,* but it did not originate South Asiatic art. Muhammedan art influences are visible in some of the architecture and the decorations of buildings. In the Middle Ages also, Byzantine and Venetian commerce doubtless like- wise brought some European art influence in their wake. Five relief sculptures, for instance, from the Gandhara valleys, eastern Afghanistan, are distinctly reminiscent * Illustrations: E. B. Havell: Indian Sculpture and Painting. ABTS OF THE WORLD. 147 of some Middle Age European work.* But whether these are due to a Hellenic influence, or to a Medieval European influence, or indeed whether they descend from either of these, is difficult to say. A Uttle of the living art of southern Asia is akin to North Asiatic and Australasian art and probably has roots extending far back into what I have ventured to speak of as Early Asiatic art. But this Early Asiatic art was probably trifling in quantity as well as primitive and decorative. It therefore could not have been the sole original ancestor of naturalistic South Asiatic art. And the starting point of South Asiatic art thus becomes obvious. For when one thinks of the teeming milUons of Hindustan, Ceylon and Indo- China, it is impossible that among them all some art did not arise to meet their needs: and since most of the various forms of art, architecture, sculpture, paint- ing, and many kinds of decoration, are found in southern Asia, there can be no doubt that much of this art sprang up autochthonously south of the Himalaya. Some of the grandest examples of South Asiatic art are found in Java. But since the island itself is in Malaya, and the original art of Java was probably Australasian, the Javanese South Asiatic art will be spoken of in its geographical connection under "Australasia."! HINDU ART. Among the Hindus the art which developed furthest is sculpture. For altho there is some painting among the Hindus this did not arrive at anything hke the prominence that sculpture did. Sculpture reached already a high development under King Asoka, 263-221 B. C, and therefore it is equally certain that the * Boston M. F. A. t Post p. 224. 148 HINDU ART. beginnings of Hindu sculpture must antedate Asoka by many centuries. Most of this early art, however, has perished: possibly because it was of wood. Perhaps the earhest important relic of Hindu art which has come down to us is the so called "rail" at Bharhut, which is reported to have been built at the desire of King Asoka, 263-221 B. C. A bas relief of this rail, a woman, the Sudar-Sana-Yaksini, is distinctly fine.* She is partly nude, full-face. The anatomy is not perfect, the thumbs, for instance, being exaggerated in size. As a whole, nevertheless, the proportions are good, as is Ukewise the action. The treatment is distinctly realistic, except that it is rather soft. This figure is quite unlike Egyptian or Assyrian work. Moreover from its date it implies that the Hindus were good sculptors already earlier than Asoka's time and therefore that they could not have got their start from Greece. Personally, barring the fact that the subject is a partially undraped female figure, a common enough motive in hot climates, I fail to see any real resemblance in the Bharhut figure to Greek art. The motive is the same in both arts; otherwise the Bharhut figure is Hindu, just as Greek sculptures of semi-draped female figures are Greek. Another figure of a woman from the eastern gate- way, Sanchi,* probably dates from a little later than the Bharhut sculptures. This figure is almost nude, and is full of swing and grace, tho the modelling is rather soft. The proportions are good, except that the bosoms are exaggerated. This figure is entirely unUke Egyptian or Assyrian art, and I fail to see any resem- blance to Greek art. Both these figures, however, point to the fact that these earUer Hindu sculptors were observers of nature, * Illustration: E. B. Havell: Indian Sculpture and Painting. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 149 and that they studied the nude humans, who : must have been round them in thousands, much as did the Greeks. It is that and the resemblance of theit models to Europeans, which causes any similarity between this early Hindu art and Greek art, and when we consider the date, there is no way of avoiding the conclusion that Hindu art must have been autoch- thonous in Hindustan. A stone fagade, also from the eastern gateway, Sanchi,* is covered with well done high relief sculp- tures. The elephants and camels are particularly noticeable for their action. Whilst this facade is covered with carvings, these are totally unhke any Maya art: a proof that Hindu art and Central Amerind art are absolutely independent from each other. A high relief from the later so called "rail" at Amaravati, circa 170 A. D., four nude figures and a horse,* shows this early indigenous naturalistic Hindu art continuing as a productive fine art. It is apparently after this that statues of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas became main subjects in Hindu art. The sitting pose doubtless was taken from Yogis, i. e. Hindu reMgious fanatics.* These devotees sat cross legged in silent contemplation, supposed to be occupied with holy thoughts, but probably thinking of nothing in particular. Gradually the pose became accepted as a holy one, and when sculptors began to produce Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to order, the pose became conventionaUzed. This pose as a convention is found only in South Asiatic art and its extensions. It places these statues among original art forms and it goes to show that they are in no wise descendants from Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek or Chinese statues. They must have sprung up independently south of the Himalaya. * Illustration: E. B. Havell: Indian Sculpture and: Paiviing.. 150 HINDU ART. Buddha statues vary in size. Some are tiny but some are colossal. At Bamian, Afghanistan, half way between Balkh and Kabul, are five great Buddhas, the biggest of which is said to be sixty meters high; and if this be true this is probably the biggest statue in the world. Another enormous Buddha is in southern India. There is a huge reclining Buddha at Bangkok* which is entirely covered with gold leaf, and in Japan there are several well known immense Daibutsu or great Buddhas. A noteworthy feature of the Buddhas and Bod- hisattvas is that the lobes of the ears are always lengthened, in some cases half way to the shoulder. Various suggestions have been made to account for this. It is, however, almost surely due to the habit of some South Asiatic tribes of distending and lengthen- ing their ear lobes. Some of the Malay races still do it, in the Malay peninsula and Borneo for instance, and it is probable that the custom formerly extended over most of southern Asia. These great elongated ears are also found in some of the statues from Rapa- Nui. The technic of Hindu sculpted figures differentiates them from all other sculptures: they are probably the most curvilinear in the world. The Hindu sculptor eschews straight lines: he loves curved hues. As a result of this there is a lack of accent and a good deal of sameness in Hindu figure sculptures. Even in the earliest and more naturaUstic sculptures the tendency to round plump forms is noticeable. As sculpture develops, the tendency to somewhat dumpy figures increases. One can not call them obese, but certainly they are unnaturally round and flabby. The muscles are barely indicated; that is, there is not much anatomy. The waist is often attenuated, whilst other * Illustration: Comte de Beauvoir: Voyage autour du Monde. ARTS OP THE WORLD. 151 parts are often exaggerated; that is the proportions frequently are poor. Hindu figures make up in other ways for their weak spots. No errors of observation are made as in Egyp- tian and Assyrian rehefs. A full-face eye does not stare at you from a face in profile: if a figure faces the spectator, the feet are not sculpted in profile. The positions in fact are natural and the action is almost always good. There is plenty of motion and expression. In the sculptures of Buddhist figures, almost always there is calm and quiet grace. Altogether the Hindu sculptures of Buddhist themes appeal to me personally more strongly the more I study them. Besides Buddhism, Brahmanism has also been one of the great patron art forces of southern Asia. How far back this acted, is at present unknown to us, but probably few of the specimens extant antedate 500 A. D. When Hindu artists began to invent Brahmanistic gods they got further away from realism than they did with Buddhistic deities and they produced their ugliest sculptures. The subjects change from the placidity of the Buddhas to the unpleasantnesses of many, not all, of the Vishnus and Sivas. The technic, however, remains purely Hindu. The proportions are fairly accu- rate, but the art is too conventional. There is action, there is motion, there is expression, there is power, but the weak spot of Hindu Brahmanistic art is the lack of beauty. There is no charm, no love, no beauty. The highest attributes of art are neglected. Many of the Brahmanistic gods from Siam and Java as well as from India, moreover, instead of inspiring terror merely run to the grotesque.* Some not very old painted clay Hindu divinities, Durgas with four and six arms, baby Ganesh dining from Durga, a female with a cobra for a necklace and others, seem to me hideous, debased and * Boston M. F. A. 152 HINDU AET. repulsive.* Some of the older Brahmanistic attempts are nevertheless rather fine, as for instance, a dancing Sivaf where there is action, motion, proportion and modeUing, only that unfortunately the charm of the figure is destroyed by a couple of extra arms which may. be symbolical but which are not artistic, - Por it was a little habit of Hindu sculptors to add 4: few extra parts to their deities, much as one carries Si. couple of spare rubber tires on an automobile. It niay be claimed that these figures are allegorical or symbolical and therefore within the limits of art. The fact of the matter is that they are monsters, concep- tions lacking any real sense of beauty. There is no imagination in making a man with three noses: it is a mere deformity: something hopelessly abnormal aiid hideous. Hindu art, in my opinion, was rendered sadly inartistic by the Brahmanistic religion, and in certain ways and in many cases, it gives me none of the artistic thrill that some of the art of some primitive peoples does, for instance the Melanesian art of New Ireland or that of the West North Amerinds. Some fairly recent Hindu Brahmanistic statuettes, principally of porcelain, represent various incarnations of Vishnu. The proportions are fair. Some have a man's head, of a White race type; the eye is the European eye; earrings are worn, but the lobes of the ears are not specially big. One of the incarnations, Narasimha Avatar, has a lion's head; another, Ganesh or Ganesa, god of wisdom, an elephant's head. Some of these figures have the Buddha pose, with the soles of the feet turned up. J These lion and elephant headed figures remind one, thru the subject, of Assyrian and Persian human * Salem P. M. t Photographs . E. .B-. Havell; Indian Sculpture and Painting. t United States N. M. ARTS OP THE WORLD. 153 headed animals and still more of Egyptian animal headed figures. The teehnic, however, is so radically different, apparently there can be no art connection. It seems most probable that these animal headed figures sprang from the hunting disguises of skins of animals and birds that early Hindu hunters wore, as did the Bushmen, when stalking their game. There are certain superficial resemblances between Brahmanistic art and Mexican ^rt. Ganesh with his elephant's trunk, sitting on skulls, for instance, reminds one of certain Maya sculptures. As it is probable, however, that Brahmanistic sculpture flourished prin- cipally since about 800 A. D., it is evident that there is no artistic connection with Mexico, where Maya sculpture was in bloom almost surely long before that time. Some of the later and more realistic Hindu sculp- ture is distinctly good. One quaint piece, for instance, is a monument erected to the memory of the dead by the Hindus and is called a "Burso."* It is a sort of totem pole about two meters twenty-five centi- meters high. At the bottom are four figures, two painted black and two red, acting as caryatides. Above these are a man's head and hands painted black, with an elephant on each side. Superimposed on these come four small birds, above which is a cow in a shrine, above which again come three superposed shrines. There is nothing African, Australasian, or East Asiatic about this Burso. The various details perhaps look rather European, but the combination is absolutely un-European. This Burso seems to be pure Hindu art and is distinctly artistic and original. The latest modern Hindu sculpture has little artistic character, that is the sense of beauty is lacking. Some * Salem P. M. Presented to the East India Marine Society, before A. D. 1821. 154 INDO-PERSIAN ART. of it has a decidedly realistic, imitative quality. Some large day colored figures, for instance,* are probably accurate portraits. At least Mr. John R. Lee, of Boston, told me that one of these figures was a portrait statue of his Hindu Calcutta banker for three years in about A. D. 1848, and that the hkeness was excellent. Many small clay painted figures, represent- ing various castes, are also realistic and fairly well done, with good proportions and plenty of action.* There is a good deal of painting from Hindustan. The earliest Hindu painting, of which fragments exist, is supposed to date from about the first century B. C. and continues down till towards the seventh century A. D. This work is in a sort of fresco, and remnants to-day are found mainly in the cave temples at Ajanta. These fragments would seem to show that this painting was purely Hindu, and therefore almost surely indig- enous, f It is said that there are many references to painting in early Hindu hterature and this would hint also strongly at its being a native product. INDO-PERSIAN ART. From perhaps 1400 A. D. to 1700 A. D., there come from Hindustan and Persia numerous specimens of pictorial art. This art has a flavor, sometimes a charming one, of its own. It is both original and individual, so much so in fact that it seems as if Indo-Persian pictorial art would be the proper name for it. These Indo-Persian pictures are usually small: 10 X 15 inches are average dimensions for them. They are painted usually in gouache, that is in water colors solidified with white, but sometimes in transparent water colors. They are on substances like paper or vellum. Many of them appear to be * Salem P. M. t Illustration: E. B. Havell: Indian Sculpture and Painting. ARTS OF THE WOBLD. 155 taken from books and probably were hand painted illustrations of books. Some of the later work is in the form of miniatures. The seventeenth century A. D. is perhaps the best period of Indo-Persian painting. All sorts of subjects, figures, animals, landscapes, interiors, etc., are attempted. There are a number of these pictures in the museums in Boston and New York. One picture, which hails from Persia, and is stamped with the seal of "Shah Allam, son of Shah Jehan" represents a "Battle of Elephants," and the subject therefore is Hindu. It is fairly well done, with good visual perspective, showing possibly European influence. The border, however, is blue and gold, showing a transition to the kakemono borders of brocade.* The most curious of these paint- ings I have seen are four of animals, a horse, a camel, and two elephants; and these animals are all painted over with miniature heads and figures of humans. The hocks of the horse and the camel are each a human head. These four pictures are, to me so far, unique in art.* Some of these small pictures are much like those in the illuminated medieval manuscript of the travels of Marco Polo in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris. Indo-Persian painting reaches only an incipient pictorial stage. It is rather colored drawing than full fledged painting. It is neither pattern art nor chiaros- cui'o art. It attempts some imitation of nature. The drawing hangs much on outline and some of it, especially the outlines, is really good. But it goes all the way from that to very bad. The drawing is not decorative drawing but much of the figure drawing might be termed pseudo-realistic. Perspective is but little understood. Still there is an elementary feeling for perspective and sometimes * Boston M. F. A. 156 INDO-PERSIAN ART. there is some knowledge of it. Atmosphere is not understood at all. There are no cast shadows. In many examples representing subjects in daylight, altho there are lights and darks, light and shade are lacking. On the other hand, the light and shade in certain attempts at representing night scenes is remarkably strong, even tho it is carried out without proper gradations. In fact there are no carefully observed effects of any kind: there is no real luminarism. The colored work is perhaps inferior to the drawing. There are many colors, sometimes vivid colors, and much gold. With a great love of colors and a great feeling for them, however, usually the Indo-Persians do not achieve artistic color. Indo-Persian paintings have scarcely any blank spots. The spaces are usually all filled. In certain respects they resemble Persian and Hindu rugs. The humans in most of these pictures look like Hindus, or Semites, or Europeans: scarcely ever like Chinese. Curiously enough they are usually better done than the animals. Among quite recent Hindu paintings are some representing horses galloping with their legs spread out Uke a pair of open scissors.* This is a dis- tinct resemblance to European art, but it may be that the Hindu artist got his idea from European models. No Hindu painting seems to me to be descended from West Asiatic, including Old Persian, art. Barring this, however, the affihations of Hindu painting are as much with art to the west as to the north. That is Hindu painting has many points of resemblance to European painting. For instance, some miniatures, looted in India during the Sepoy rebellion, might be European, except for a strong modern Persian touch, f * U. Penn. M. S. & A. t Salem Essex I. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 157 Nevertheless there is some plainly visible evidence that Indo-Persian painting was in touch with Chinese paint- ing and decoration, as for instance in the lack of shadows. The resemblances to Chinese painting are probably due to the intercourse between the two countries. Some of the resemblances to European painting in Indo-Persian painting are also doubtless due to commercial intercourse. But the strong resem- blance to European painting in the early Hindu painting at Ajantd, and Sigiri probably must be attributed to racial characteristics. Hindu painting resembles European painting, not because it comes from European art but because the Europeans and the Hindus are racially akin. That is, it is the White race traits cropping out, not the copying of European art, which causes the similarities. CEYLOJST ART. The art of Ceylon, whilst closely in touch with Hindu art, differs from it in certain respects. The most remarkable art from Ceylon is the series of paintings in the caves of the Sigiri Rock.* They are in a sort of fresco and are supposed to date from the fifth century A. D. They are portraits of women, hip length. They are almost nude; the waists are small, the bosoms enormous, the earlobes distended with huge earrings. The eyes and features are notably correct in drawing and there is much expression in the faces. There is life, action and fair anatomy. These paintings reveal great originality. They are utterly Unlike any Eg3T)tian, Assyrian, Greek or Chinese art; and they are also unUke Tibetan or Nepalese kakemonos, a fact which leads to the inference that the art technic of these latter came from China while the Buddhistic * Illustrations: E. B. Havell: Indian Spulpture and Painting. Vincent A. Smith : A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, 158 CEYLON ART. subjects came from Hindustan. These Ceylon paintings are possibly related to the old paintings from Ajantd, Hindustan, but they are finer than any Hindu paintings I know of. It may be that the start of this work came from Hindustan, but it seems also possible that this art originated among the natives of Ceylon. At any rate, I should, at present, rank the Sigiri or Sigiriya pictures as the most advanced and most artistic early paintings in southern Asia. Buddhist patronage developed some art in Ceylon. One seated Buddha statue,* some two meters high, is unusual : the feet are twisted into a seemingly impossible position with the soles upwards, and the soles and even the under part of the toes have small paintings on them. Brahmanist patronage is responsible for some of the art of Ceylon. One statue of Vishnu * about two meters high, with a head of the White race type, long ears with big earrings, and a head dress resembhng a pagoda, is disfigured with four forearms and hands. Just as in Hindustan therefore, in Ceylon art ran down from its earUer naturaUstic and more beautiful conceptions into most unpleasant Hindu deities. There are also some hideous masks from Ceylon f which are said to be Singhalese, I have not seen any like these from Hindustan, but they strongly resemble some Javanese work. INDO-CHINESE ART. The art of Indo-China is a good deal of a medley and is compounded out of a modicum of Early Asiatic or Australasian and a good deal of Hindu and Chinese art. It is not as advanced as Hindu or Chinese art proper. It may be art is quite old in Indo-China for * United States N. M. t British M. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 159 man has certainly dwelt in Indo-China for thousands of years. This is shown by the results of digging in some shell heaps near Lake Ton-le-Sap, Cambodia, where three sets of implements were found superposed.* The upper set are of bronze, the middle set of bronze and stone, the lower set of polished stone. This would possibly imply that there was a native primitive early art. In Burma, the Early Asiatic or Australasian art parentage is extremely pronounced. The crocodile is used prominently as a decoration on some Burmese musical instruments,! and here is a distinct artistic resemblance in the motive to some drums from Papua. It is surely a survival from an early stage of Burmese art and there is a decided hint that this art may have been in touch with Melanesia. The Burmese art of to-day, however, is most nearly allied to Hindu art. For instance, some late Burmese metal bowls of perhaps 1600 or 1700 A. D., are decorated with South Asiatic patterns, which are quite different from those on early Chinese bronzes. | But Burmese art also has a strong tinge of Chinese art. This is visible in some carved figures and musical instruments.! Some Buddhas from Burma* have both Hindu characteristics and Chinese characteristics. Doubtless Chinese art comes more into Burma than into India because the intervening moun- tains are lower. It is evident that Burma is not one of the great art centers. There was probably, two or three thousand years ago, an indigenous native art, a branch of Early Asiatic art, in Burma; and on this Hindu art from the west and Chinese art from the north became grafted, and the result is the somewhat fantastic Burmese art of to-day. * United States N. M. t New York M. M. j Boston M. F. A. 160 INDO-CHINESE ART. From Siam proper I have seen so far nothing which resembles any Australasian art. Siamese art to-day seems to be most closely akin to Hindu art. It is more so than is Burmese art. There is some Chinese influence in Siam, but less than in Burma. Two large bowls or jars of dark brown plain pottery* from Cochin China, which are said to be old, might be indigenous or Chinese. Some Siamese theatrical masksf are painted emerald green and gilt, indian red and gilt, and these resemble the face of a wooden statue of a guardian demon holding a gong which was placed at the entrance of a Japanese temple, f These masks are distinctly local and individual, but altho sui generis, they betray both Chinese and Hindu influence. This is also the case with several sculpted heads from Cambodia which are South Asiatic, with a touch of Chinese, t The majority of Siamese specimens I have seen, however, are small and unimportant, but distinctly South Asiatic. Such is the case with some Siamese metal bowls, which are decorated with purely South Asiatic patterns not resembling those on early Chinese bronzes.* Siamese art evidently is formed by the meeting of two art streams, the chief one from Hindustan, the secondary one from China, an amalgam altered and moulded by the genius of the Siamese people. And clearly therefore, Siamese art is not an autochthonous art. The most renowned art remains in Cambodia are the temples of Angkor-Vat and Angkor-Thom. These are Brahmanistic and were constructed, it is said, about A. D. 1000, by a Brahman inroad from India. In the thirteenth century, they were partly destroyed in some revolution or other. § The art at the temples of Angkor * Boston M. F. A. t United States N. M. I Salem P. M. §Duc de Montpensier: La Ville au Bois dormant: De Saigon d, Angkor en automobile, Paris, 1910. ARTS OP THE WORLD. 161 is mainly Hindu: it is a fine example of South Asiatic art, but with local peculiarities.* The architecture suggests somewhat certain forms of Chinese pagodas: and therefore there is gradation north. These temples with their flights of steps also resemble Mexican temples and mounds; some of the bas reUefs likewise are extremely Mexican,! and some big heads on towers look Mayan. And it is passing strange, not to say significant, to find a gradation, a transition at Angkor between Hindu temples and Mexican temples. It certainly looks like relationship around the Pacific. EAST ASIATIC ART. There has been much art produced in eastern Asia. Some of it is wonderful, some is commonplace; some is beautiful, some is ugly; some is interesting, some is uninteresting. Its vital characteristics extend thruout China, Japan and Korea; and to some extent into Tibet, Indo-China and several islands in the Pacific Ocean. There are differences, of course, due to indi- viduals, to epochs, to local environments and to racial peculiarities. That the peoples of China, of Japan and of Korea are different is scarcely to be doubted. But their arts are certainly closely akin. So closely akin are they indeed, that it seems as if they should be classified as one art. For this art, the best generic name appears to be East Asiatic art, a name which I already used in 1906 in Comparative Art. East Asiatic art is extremely individual. It reached its highest expression in China and Japan. As a rule, it is so different from European art, that it is often thought by Europeans to be all more or less alike. It is supposed to be impersonal and conventional, and ♦Illustrations: P. Dieulefis: Indo-Chine, pittoresque et monu- mentale, Ruines d' Angkor, Canibodge. t Illustrations: National Geographic Magazine, March 1912. 162 , EAST ASIATIC ART, partly from want of knowledge, partly from lack of appreciation, its many varieties are not always recognized. The East Asiatics evolved many different arts: architecture, drawing, painting, color printing, sculpture, carving, lacquer, pottery, porcelain, bronze and other metal work, embroidery, tapestry, weaving. The East Asiatics are masters in the application of the esthetic arts to articles of daily use. Their architecture, their metal work, their lacquers, their pottery, their tissues, their household belongings, are all touched thruout with artistic design. Screens are perhaps the most important pieces of furniture in the temples and houses of eastern Asia, and it is precisely on screens that some of the finest paintings are found. On their porcelains, on their clothes, on {heir weapons, in fact on pretty much everything the East Asiatics employed constantly, they appHed their designs and their colors, to make these objects into something esthetically pleasing as well as useful. No other races have gone so far in this direction. A comprehension of their drawing and painting, therefore, is of paramount importance for understanding all their arts, because these all depend on the faculty of design, the salient East Asiatic esthetic characteristic. . East Asiatic painting evolved into three main material forms: screens, generally six panelled, some- times with one picture covering the whole screen, some- times with a different subject on each panel; kake- monos, the things that are hung up, that is pictures for hanging on the walls; and makemonos or orihons, the things that are spread out, that is hand painted or printed picture books. Kakemonos are of many shapes, but the most usual one is that of a narrow upright, and many fine screens consist of six upright water colors pasted on the six panels. There are two methods or manners of technic in ABTS OF THE WOELD. 163 East Asiatic painting, differentiated by their lesser or greater dependence on and accentuation of outline. In many Sung and Ming landscapes, in Sesshiu's, Korin's, Okyo's and Mori Sosen's works, there is little outline. There is plenty of line, but there are mostly washes and sweeps of a full brush. Much East Asiatic painting of landscape or of animals is not imitative like some European oil painting, but it has distance, atmosphere, and vital lines and these combined make some decidedly three dimensional paintings. In many other pictures, more especially figure pictures, from the times of the T'ang painters to those of the Japanese print designers inclusive, strong, clear outline is much insisted on. This does away to some extent with distance and atmosphere, and makes the work closer to pattern decorative art and more two dimensional. Some East Asiatic art is naturalistic, some is decorative: some is realistic, some is idealistic. Some- times the East Asiatics stick closely to nature and some- times they do not. They evidently reaUze that a work of art may be a copy of nature and be good or be bad, and that a work of art may not be a copy of nature and equally be good or be bad. Again sometimes East Asiatic work is elaborate and sometimes it is simpUcity itself. Some of the work is highly finished, some of it is broad and sketchy. The work of the third rate men is often conventional, impersonal and indistinguishable from the work of a hundred others. But the work of the first rate men, just as is the case in Europe, usually has a style of its own. The personal quality of the individual artist appears in the work of the East Asiatic masters: that is, each one has his style. And to anyone who has the opportunity to study many examples, it is soon apparent that the style of each great master is distinct from that of others. Instead of saying style, however, it 164 EAST ASIATIC AET. would be more accurate, perhaps, to say styles. For many of the best East Asiatics had two styles, a sketchy suggestionist one, and a delicate highly fin- ished one, and they seemed able to produce in both styles at the same period, varying their style as the mood seems to have struck them, or possibly as their patrons required. The knowledge of the human form shown by East Asiatic artists, both in painting and sculpture, is good. Many of the realistic representations show accurate observation of the humans of eastern Asia; whilst the ideaHstic representations of divinities are often dignified, but usually less natural. The East Asiatics do not seem to have ever sought to make ideahzed representa- tions of the nude human form as did the Greeks; in fact their art shows everywhere that they were not interested in the nude. One of the most important factors in East Asiatic art is that works of art are almost always done from memory or imagination without models. Nature is faithfully studied by East Asiatic artists until their memory is stored with forms and colors. This is especially exemphfied in works of art representing motion. The East Asiatics looked at nature with keen insight, and their knowledge of gesture and accuracy in suggesting Ufe in men and animals has never been surpassed. They seem able to detect and remember the most fleeting motions of human beings; the move- ments of animals; the flight of birds; they can suggest rain and waterfalls and trees blown by the wind. It is their thoroly trained memory that enables them to give free play to their imagination and attain such realistic results in subjects where there could not be any posing of models. As painters of animals, it is safe to say that the East Asiatics are the most prolific and among the best. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 165 It almost seems as if animal art is a racial character- istic with them. When one of their great artists paints an animal, that animal is not posing in rigidity: that animal has the character and the action inherent to its own particular species. Artistic perspective, to the extent of knowing how to render the appearance of things, dates far back among the East Asiatics. We find, for instance, that Wu-Tao-tsz or Godoshi, a Chinese artist of the eighth century A. D., knew how to draw landscape as accurately as any artist of today. A waterfall by him, or an excellent copy, shows this conclusively.* In the works of Ririomin, a Japanese painter of the eleventh century A. D., there are some great feats in accurate drawing of houses and humans. f Hokusai's "Hundred Views of Fujiyama" and Hiroshige's prints of figures and buildings, may be cited as easily acces- sible examples of how accurately the Japanese can draw the appearance of things. Before the advent of European drawings in Japan, however, say before 1800 A. D., the Japanese did not know our Unear per- spective as applied in drawings of architecture or of rooms. Since that time they have made use of it to some extent and, in my opinion, without benefit to their art. Most of the East Asiatic master artists reveal an inborn love and feeling for color. Sometimes their color is in quiet tones, sometimes in gorgeous ones, but it is generally in harmony. It is taste, rather than reason, that directs. The color combinations are endless , and each colored screen or kakemono has its individual dominant note. Many of their colored motives are taken from some object in nature. A ♦British M. — Illustration: William Anderson: The Pictorial Arts of Japan. t Boston M. F. A. 166 EAST ASIATIC AET. couple of fish or a black bear, for instance, are sufficient to give them a start for a picture, all the other color touches of which will be in relation to the main note. Of late years, however, in most of the work produced for the European market, color unfor- tunately has greatly deteriorated and has become crude, raw and unfinished. The East Asiatics paint or sculpt pretty much everything in the heaven above, the earth beneath, and the water under the earth. All is grist to their artistic mill. Humans, animals, birds, fishes, flowers, land- scapes, all are utihzed for subjects and motives; Many of the pictures are of cheerful subjects, such as house scenes, tea drinking, flower festivals, street scenes. Many of the pictures are of battle, or hunting, or com- bats with legendary monsters, or of harakiri or tortures. Some of the art runs to the grotesque. In fact human and animal life in every position or occupation or action is turned to, A number of the subjects in East Asiatic art, both in sculpture and in painting, are Buddhistic. Thou- sands of specimens of these Buddhistic subjects Euro- peans can recognize — ^without resorting to some nebulous, fanciful pretense — as reUgious art, because the subjects are visibly religious. These started in India and were grafted on East Asiatic art and it is in these pictures and sculptures of Buddhistic figures that the East Asiatics are most closely in touch with the South Asiatics. Nevertheless, as a rule East Asiatic kake- monos of Buddhistic subjects have East Asiatic and not South Asiatic technical qualities and show the line and spot style to a degree South Asiatic paintings do not approach. In the development of Buddhistic subjects in eastern Asia and in that of Christian subjects in Europe there is a curious similarity. From the Sung, ARTS OP THE WORLD. 167 the Yuan and the Ming in China; from the Fujiwara, the Kamakura and the Ashikaga in Japan; and from the so called Middle Ages in Europe, reUgious subjects are innumerable in the paintings and sculptures which have come down to us. During much the same centuries, religious subjects principally held sway in Asia and Europe. This is probably due to church patronage demanding religious subjects and to monas- teries preserving their possessions more sedulously than private patrons did theirs. The time of greatest fruition of the Buddhist-subject art in East Asia, between about 700-1500 A. D., shows, however, that it is a graft upon the underlying native art of China. For there are specimens of good secular art, sculpture and pottery, which certainly date back to the Han dynasty, 206 B. C.-221 A. D., and as far as therie is any evidence at present to the contrary, this must have grown up as a native product between the Trans-Himalaya, Hindu Kush and Altai ranges, and the Pacific Ocean. It is claimed by some persons, however, that some of the kakemonos, whilst apparently representing only landscapes and animals, in reality symboUze all sorts of spiritual things. Possibly they do, but when looking at them from an artist's point of view, one must admit that any such underlying thoughts are thoroly hidden. For instance the works of Sesshiu, a Japanese painter of the fifteenth century, are con- sidered by some persons to be of this class. I have been told by students of things Japanese and Chinese, that Sesshiu 's pictures represent the divine spirit as shown in things; that to Sesshiu the world is the spirit; that to Sesshiu all of nature, landscape, humans, animals, contains something spiritual, and that it is that spiritual something he is thinking of. But one does not see any of this idealism and mysticism. 168 EAST ASIATIC AKT. When you look at one of Sesshiu's pictures, you are conscious only of a naturalistic painting in Chinese ink done in great rolls and wipes of the brush and which has every technical excellence of black and white work: drawing, form, values, harmony, action, motion, synthesis, breadth. What the eye takes in is simply an admirable sketchy rendition of nature. My own impression is that some of the East Asiatic art which is labelled mystical is merely the indig- enous Chinese and Japanese native art at its very best. The tools and materials for painting used by the East Asiatics, namely soft brushes and water colors, were invented by the Chinese. The East Asiatics did not invent hard pens or pencils, but wrote and painted with soft brushes, sometimes ending in a fine point but sometimes five or ten centimeters in breadth. They did not invent painting in oil but painted in water colors on silk or absorbent paper. These made retouching and correcting difficult and thereby the East Asiatics were driven into working d, premier coup, that is in leaving every touch, right or wrong. In fact the tools and materials of the East Asiatics had a great effect on their art and forced it into something different from European art. The East Asiatics generally paint sitting on the floor, with their silk or paper in their laps or on the floor. Usually they paint with the paper placed as the subject is to be looked at, but sometimes the picture is painted at whilst placed sideways or upside down. The hand is held over the paper with a rather straight arm, and the brush is held vertically between the first and second fingers and touches the paper perpendicularly. As much as possible the fingers and wrist are kept motionless and the strokes are put on from the shoulder or the elbow. In other words their ARTS OP THE WORLD. 169 method of painting is entirely different from that of the Europeans. In all East Asiatic drawing and painting the two main technical means of expression employed, whether in black or in color, are the line and the wash or blot. The hne is used both as outline and as lines vital to the composition. For their forms, whether of animate or inanimate nature, the East Asiatics largely, tho not always, depend on firm clear outlines. For their compositions, to give distance and depth, they, to some extent tho not invariably, depend on lines. But whether apparent or not, outline and line are one of the two basic principles of East Asiatic design and therefore of most of their art. The second great East Asiatic tiechnical pictorial mode of expression is the wash or blot or spot or patch. These patches the East Asiatic artists make of all sorts and sizes and shapes, rarely covering wholly the surface of their paper or silk or pottery or lacquer, much of which as a rule remains untouched and blank. In some of their works neither outline nor line are visible and patches alone are depended on, the patches themselves of course giving some outline and their skilful placing affording some sugges- tion at least of line. The placing of the lines and spots on the paper or silk in such a way as to form a beautiful, decorative picture is evidently one of the underlying thoughts of the East Asiatic artist. He usually tries to make, independently of the actual subject, a pleasing and well balanced picture or pattern, and his success is largely the result of his own individual inborn taste and judgment. The stronger painters generally know how to place their picture on the silk in a way to make it effective and interesting and the various lines and spots of color they set down will ahnost always be found to 170 EAST ASIATIC AKT. have some direct relation to the main composition. East Asiatic artists certainly put careful thought and real feeUng into their work. A Japanese picture dealer once said to me "Oh, we do not paint as you do. Our artists sometimes take a long time to think before they put down one stroke." The East Asiatic artist, as a rule, wants to present a design that will gratify, independently of the subject, in its Unes, spots and colors. Sometimes there is much material represented and occasionally the surface, altho not covered, is somewhat crowded. In such work more especially every detail is finished to the limit. This well filled out highly finished painting, if I am not mistaken, is more characteristic of Chinese than of Japanese art. More frequently, however, the East Asiatic artist carries out his picture with as few lines and patches as possible. He deUberately omits much that he sees or that he knows is there. Some- times he dispenses with background or fond, sometimes with foreground: always he dispenses with cast shadows and therefore with Hght and shade. A Japanese once spoke of such pictures as the "few pattern", and they seem to be those which the Japanese prefer. As an example may be mentioned a beautiful kakemono of Hoitsu, a follower of Koyetsu and Korin, which con- sists of three small rocks with a couple of turtles cUnging to them, two cranes flying above, a few lines of waves and a couple of outlines of clouds.* Two thirds of this kakemono is the bare silk. Nevertheless, the mind makes up the rest; one feels the air, the ocean, the sunshine; and the few small positive objects produce a sense of vastness and immensity of space. It is a case of making a little say a great deal. What the East Asiatics are trying for in much of their art evidently is to suggest something in as few touches as * Authors' collection. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 171 possible and trust to the mind of the onlooker to do the rest. This class of artists might appropriately be called " Suggestionists. " Omission, indeed, in certain respects is nearly as important as presentation in East Asiatic Art, And the most important omission made in it may be stated briefly: there are no cast shadows in East Asiatic art. The tremendous consequences of this on art can not be minimized. It is one of the great fundamental differences between East Asiatic art and European art. The East Asiatics have line: they have form: they have color: they have atmospheric perspective: they have some values. But they do not paint the shadows. Among the consequences of omitting shadows the most vital perhaps is the absence of chiaroscuro or light and shade in East Asiatic art. The East Asiatics paint Ught and dark patches in their pictures, but these are the Hghts and darks of local color. Black hair is painted black beside a face which is indicated by a few clean sharp outlines. That there is difference in color and in depths of color in the lights and in the darks of black hair or of the skin of the face is not set down in painting by the East Asiatics. This gives flatness instead of roundness. There is no modelling. And as a result of this flatness and lack of modelh'ng, the East Asiatics do not achieve painted portraiture of the same kind as European painted portraits. In good East Asiatic head drawings the lines often give real likeness of the same sort as the portrait drawings of Holbein. But they lack the solidity and the roundness of, for instance, the portraits of Moroni or Velasquez. The painting by lines and spots, the omission of cast shadows, and the non-covering of the surface by the East Asiatics lead to important consequences in regard to values. The East Asiatics do not try for nor 172 EAST ASIATIC AET. attain nearly as full values as do Europeans. Their art shows that they see lights and darks. But they do not attempt to carry exact relations of tone thruout their picture. They, use values in an arbitrary sort of way, for instance to bring out the main point of the picture. If they want you to look at the distance, they will paint this lightly and delicately, and put one or two vigorous splashes in the foreground, which suggest but do not carry out the values and do not detain the eye. If on the contrary they want to bring out certain objects near by, they emphasize them by merely suggesting the distance by a few touches, or by leaving it out altogether. The values are not complete in any case, but the suggestion of them is there just the same. That the East Asiatics are conscious of aerial perspective and values even if they do not carry them out, is thoroly evinced in their mountain paintings. No artists have evoked thru paper and paint more completely the idea of misty heights and deep gorges with foaming waterfalls. Almost always East Asiatic aerial perspec- tive is most pronounced in works in grisaille, and it is not obtained so much thru the blues of distance as by delicate gradations of Chinese ink. One result of not painting the shadows and of not covering the surface is a lack of imitation of nature. To imitate nature is at best more difficult in water- colors than in oils, but when the surface is not covered and when shadows are lacking, imitation is impossible. For unquestionably the eye sees lights and shadows and anyone trying to imitate nature must put them into a painting. Lights and shadows also are not as essential as Unes in suggesting the third dimension, depth, in a picture, but nevertheless, masses of lights and darks, and particularly cast shadows, are among the most effective means of making a fiat surface suggest that one is looking into a cube. Leaving out cast shadows ARTS OF THE WORLD. 173 tends to keep the picture in two dimensions and to preclude the third dimension, and thus to make the picture more decorative and less imitative. And as a result of the lacunas of no cast shadows and of non- covered spaces in East Asiatic art, if Chinese and Japanese works were framed and shown at the end of a lighted funnel or tube, they would never by any chance give the sensation of looking at nature thru a window. One would know at once that they were pictures, works of art, not a bit of nature or an imitation of nature. No East Asiatic painting is what the French call a trompe I'oeil. In leaving out shadows, the East Asiatics exclude from art what is known as effects. Take any scene in nature. Look at it in the morning with the sun in the east: then look at it again in the afternoon with the sun in the west. You are really looking at two different subjects. The lines and the forms of the natural objects are in reality the same, but they appear changed by the light and shade, which brings out different lines and different masses into prominence in the morning and the evening. The colors change in shapes and positions, bright colors taking the place of dark ones and dark colors taking the place of bright ones. The same scene shows different effects, that is different subjects at different times of the day. Now of all this East Asiatic art takes no cognizance. Why now do the East Asiatics do as they do? They certainly see shadows! Why do they omit them? I once asked a Japanese painter these questions and his reply was that it was "custom." This is doubtless true, but why did the custom originate? The answer is probably to be found in the Asiatic love of colors and of decoration. Not painting the shadows keeps the colors pure and bright. The instant you begin to mix colors to imitate shadows, you degrade 174 EAST ASIATIC AET. the brilliancy of the tones. Whether the local color is yellow or orange or red or purple or blue or green, in the lights it is more nearly itself, in the shadows it is grayer or browner. And these broken subdued or dull colors the East Asiatics do not seem to care for as much as for purer tones. It is patent that" love of color and love of decoration do not wholly explain why these close observers of nature omit in their art so many facts that any observer must see, neverthe- less they do explain their omission to some extent. Comparing East Asiatic art with other arts, it may be laid down that, as a rule, it is different from European, from Semitic, from Negro, from Egyptian, from Australasian, and from Amerind arts. It has, of course, certain resemblances to these arts, and it is noteworthy that some phases of East Asiatic art resemble rather closely Pleistokene art and Eskimo art. In the field of animal art especially, the East Asiatics are in touch with the Pleistokenes, West Asiatics, Greeks, Europeans, Bushmen and Arctic tribes. The Pleistokenes did some first class animals; the Assyrians left some good animal bas reliefs; the Greeks sculpted some well done animals; a few Europeans contributed fine animal work to art; and the Bushmen, Korak-Chukchees, and Eskimos, in a more humble way, must rank among good animal artists. East Asiatic art today, on the mainland, has almost entirely worked away from Early Asiatic art. The lay art of eastern Asia in its origin was probably almost if not wholly distinct from that of western Asia or of southern Asia. Deserts and mountains in former days must have almost cut off intercourse between the lands of the Euphrates, of the Yang-tse-Kiang and of the Ganges. Undoubtedly there is some resemblance between animals in West Asiatic art and in East Asiatic art, which possibly is more than merely ABTS OF THE WORLD. 175 accidental. Undoubtedly also, the art of southern Asia has had some influence, principally in subjects which penetrated with the Buddhist religion into China and Japan, on the art of eastern Asia. But this must have been long after lay art was developed in China. East Asiatic art, in similar fashion, has had some influence on the art of southern Asia. It waxed strong in Tibet and carried some influence into Persia. In Burma architectural forms, such as the pagoda, were certainly affected from the north. But altho there is some give and take in the arts of eastern Asia, southern Asia and western Asia, eastern Asia is unquestionably the home of one of the great arts of the world, and it is probably correct to consider Chinese lay art one of the autochthonous arts of the world. CHINESE ART. Of the beginnings of Chinese art we know but little as yet beyond the fact that the art of China is one of the oldest of the still living arts. For some extremely old pieces of metal work are still extant which show that decorative art at least dates back in China to a couple of millenniums B. C. Chinese history likewise is but little known to us as yet. It is, however, established that the Chinese were ruled by a number of dynasties, the earlier of which are semi-mythical. These dynasties and their dates are said at present to be as follows: 1. Shang dynasty 1766-1122 B. C. 2. Chou " 1122-255 B. C. 3. Ch'in " 255-206 B. C. 4. Han " 206 B. C.-221 A, D. 5. Wei " 221-265 A. D. 6. Six dynasties 265-618 A. D. 7. T'ang dynasty 618-907 A. D. 176 CHINESE AET, 8. Five dynasties 907-960 A. D. 9. Sung dynasty 960-1127 A. D. 10. Southern Sung dynasty.. . .1127-1280 A. D. 11. Yuan dynasty 1280-1368 A. D. 12. Ming " 1368-1644 A. D. 13. Ch'ing " 1644-1912 A. D. The oldest piece of art from China which I have seen is a large bronze bell,* attributed to the Shang dynasty, 1766-1122 B. C, which is decorated with rather rough knobs and linear patterns of the Early Asiatic type resembling Australasian art. There are other bronze vessels and utensils, sometimes beautiful in shape, from the early dynasties including the Shang. They are all made either with plenty of surface or with feet proper to stand on and are not shaped to a point at the base. The decorations are linear and simple. Some of them are decidedly Australasian and indicate pretty clearly that the earliest art in China was much the same as the decorative art of Australasia. Of the great naturaUstic art of China, East Asiatic art proper, we have examples dating at least from the Han dynasty, 206 B. C.-221 A. D. And some of the sculptures of the Han are so good, so naturahstic, so vivacious, that probabiUties point to their having had predecessors which have vanished in the march of centuries. I can see no reason, however, to look for these predecessors outside of China itself. The only art from which there could possibly be parentage is West Asiatic art. Chinese animals have good drawing and often violent motion much as have Assyrian animals, and this is about the only strong resemblance between the two arts. In all other respects, Chinese art is different and superior. Likewise the naturaUstic art cannot come from southern Asia. It is not only * Boston M. F. A. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 177 different from, but it is far superior to South Asiatic art. The evidence certainly points to Chinese art being a genuine outcrop of native art and therefore China must be looked on as one of the great starting points of art. Whilst the beginnings of most Chinese art, both decorative and naturaUstic, apparently must be looked for in China itself, numerous religious or mystical subjects often represented in it are extraneous and come from southern Asia. These mystical subjects are mostly Buddhist but some few are Brahmanist. These Buddhist-Brahmanist subjects came from India to China and the Buddhist ones crossed from China to Japan, it is said with apparent historical foundation, about the fifth century A. D. But Early Asiatic art and the naturahstic native art of the Han existed in China well before that and it stands to reason therefore that the Buddhist subjects are a graft on the native Chinese art. While the Buddhist subjects come from Hindustan, the humans represented in them do not, as a rule, look like Hindus or Persians: they have Chinese, Tibetan or Japanese types and faces: showing that the artists handled these exotic subjects in accordance with traditional conventions modified by the artists' personal environment, in the same way that European artists handled Christian religious subjects. The pictures of Buddhist subjects are more conventional than Chinese naturalistic art and less close to the real world. Religious subjects required certain, not necessarily artistic, conventions from artists, leaving the artists of naturalistic subjects to struggle for more purely artistic results. Some writers claim that art came to China from India, and to India in turn from Persia, Afghanistan and Greece. This view I cannot accept, except as a negligible factor. For, in the first place, Chinese art 178 CHINESE ABT. is radically different from Greek art. In the second place Chinese art is about as old as Greek art. There was probably an infiltration of Greek art thru Gandhara into China, but this did not come, from anything I have seen, before the Han. And moreover any influence of Greek art on Chinese art could have been at most a graft of trifling dimensions only. If my views are correct, if art did grow up indig- enously in China, then this must be due partly to racial and partly to geographical causes. The gigantic mountain ranges of the Himalaya, Trans-Himdlaya, Hindu Kush and Altai, the Pamir plateau, and the Gobi desert, form a vast, horseshoe shaped barrier, which even to-day is difficult for commerce to cross. In the centuries B. C, it must have been almost impassable to the fine arts and there can have been but Uttle art influence which did cross it. There is a great deal of sculpture and many varie- ties of sculpture from eastern Asia. The oldest Chinese sculptures I have seen are attributed to the Han dynasty, 206 B. C.-221 A. D. They come from Shensi province and are made of a glazed pottery with some delicate colors. Among them are some figurines, supposed to be mortuary, of a nobleman and his wife on horseback, and of four women, probably his daughters, on foot: the figures are draped, slender and graceful. There is also a capital larger sculpture in the same style of a bellowing camel. Both the camel and the horses have much action. These figurines have nothing whatever Greek or Hindu about them and, if authentic as to their date, are strong proof that Chinese naturalistic art is indigenous.* From the Six dynasties, 265-618 A. D., date, it is said, some Chinese sculptures in rough stone, of which the faces are Chinese, but the poses are Hindu and * New York M. M. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 179 perhaps Buddhistic* There must, therefore, have been a httle South Asiatic religious influence in China as early as the Six dynasties. Some other similar rough statues attributed to the succeeding T'ang dynasty, 618-917 A. D.,* and also some Chinese Buddhist or Taoist sculptures in relief, of between 500-800 A. D., however, do not look in the least Greek or Hindu.* Some mortuary figurines from graves from the T'ang dynasty, 618-907 A. D., of a colored faience ware, likewise are purely Chinese.* One of these figurines of a man on horseback and another of a horse, both from northern China, f are first rate in many ways and show that the native pottery sculpture, already started in the Han, became more developed in the T'ang. This early Chinese sculpture does not look in the least like any Hindu or Greek work, but it does have, thru its colored glazed pottery material, a vague resemblance to Minoan-Cretan work and to early Italian majolica. From the T'ang also come two sculptures said to have been taken from the mausoleum of the Emperor T'ang T'ai-tsung which was completed in 644 A. D.f They are sculpted in high reUef out of limestone and represent each a Mongol man and horse about half life size. These sculptures are fine. They are pure Chinese native indigenous art and neither West Asiatic nor Greek in any respect. Another sculpture said to come from the T'ang is an excellent nearly life size figure in faience of a Buddhist saint in meditation.} If these pieces are genuine, they prove that Chinese sculpture was in full bloom during the T'ang. Most of the Chinese sculptures which have been brought out of the Chinese empire are small. As a * Boston M. F. A. t New York M. M. t U. Penn. M. S. «fe A. 1918. 180 CHINESE AKT. rule, they are not quite similar to Japanese sculptures: that is, there are local differences, altho they have many of the same quaUties of excellent action, pro- portions, hfe and motion. Among these small sculptures, a lot of Kttle carvings in wood, stone and ivory, of humans, buffaloes,, geese, etc., are first rate.* They have much the qualities of the best Pleistokene and Arctic art. There are also many small painted clay figures from Chinat which, as a rule, have good proportions and action, lots of motion, and facial expression. Some of them date back to before 1800 A. D. : others are more recent. As a rule they are draped. Such as are nude are so because they are portraits of a nude subject: there is none of the nude as a motive in Chinese art which there is in Greek art. They are not great sculpture, they are not especially beautiful, but they are excellent realistic portraiture — ^and the color adds to the realism— of many types of men. of varied occupations in their appropriate Chinese garb. They resemble rather closely, the subjects being different, some of the modern Hindu colored clay statuary. One must recognize therefore, some resemblances between some of the smaller, commoner, modern native sculpture of China and India. Such painted clay figures do not seem to be found in Japan. Some other sculpture from China also has some resemblances to South Asiatic sculpture. Some lamaistic masks from Pekin* betray a Hindu influence, which possibly came thru Tibet. The sculptures which belong most evidently to both arts, however, are the many headed and many armed deities belonging to a common reUgion. Among these, a curious Kwannon, of the T'ang, cut in high relief inside of a stone, has eleven * American M. N. H. . t Salem P.M. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 181 heads of which the topmost is broken off.* A Tibetan kakemono of the Ming period, is called the "Thousand Arm'd Kwannon," because it has a lot of arms.* One Chinese Buddhist "God of Mercy "f about one meter high, gilded, and whose arms, bunched fan-shape, sug- gest wings, with eleven heads and forty-two arms has the record number among these centipede-like deities. A splendid work of sculptural art, is the root of a banyan tree carved before 1835 A. D. into many fanciful shapes. J It suggests, without imitating, all sorts of things. The beginnings of humans, embryo figures, spring up everywhere: all have action, some suggest motion: none of them is complete, and the eye cannot take hold of any one of them: but they seem to be in a state of growth, evolving out of the wood itself into living beings. The two or three heads that are carried far enough forward to suggest racial type, are Chinese heads. The most artistic point about this work is that the whole thing looks what it is, the root of a tree; no figure gets too far away: they are only the startings of humans, elementals or Dryads: they are always part of the tree. There is absolute freedom from conventionality and imitation in this sculp- ture, which is full of mystery and suggests the birth and growth of form, just as Greek sculpture suggests the perfection of fully developed form. The name of the carver of this banyan tree root is unfortunately unknown, for he was a Chinese master artist. In pottery, and in its development porcelain, the Chinese, in my opinion, easily stand first. The very fact that porcelain is often called "china" is an uncon- scious admission that it is a Chinese product and a hint * Boston M. F. A. t American M. N. H. J Salem P.M. 182 CHINESE ART. that it is the best of all. Chinese pottery dates from way back, certainly several thousand years, tho when it began is uncertain. From the Han, 206 B. C.-221 A. D., some of the potteries are rough and grey, but there are some rather nice jars with a sort of glaze. All Chinese pottery later than the Han appears to be glazed smooth, that is to say, it began to evolve into porcelain.* The potteries of the Six dynasties, 265-618 A. D,, and of the T'ang, 618-907 A. D., are more faience-like than earlier ones.* The potteries of the Sung, 918-1280 A. D., show improvement in the plain colors, chiefly blues and greys: there is not much decoration.* In the Yuan, 1280-1368 A. D. and the Ming, 1368-1644 A. D., the pottery shows more colors and more decorations, but deteriorates with grotesque designs of dogs, etc.* The pottery of the Ch'ing, 1644-1912 A. D., has still more colors and designs. White porcelain with blue patterns develops immensely in this period. Some Ch'ing pottery is good, but much of it is poor.* Some of the older Chinese pottery is almost plain, with little decoration. But its forms, from the begin- ing, are most artistic, and to me it appeals most of all, precisely because its forms are simple, and because its beauty depends on its forms, colors and glazes, and not, as much as do other potteries, on its decorations. Most of the best porcelain comes from the Sung to the beginning of the Ch'ing, both inclusive. Many Chinese porcelains are beautifully colored. Such is the case, for instance, with Lang Yao, or Lang porcelain, named after its inventor, a Chinese of the seventeenth century A. D., which has splendid deep madder hues. The later common Chinese porcelain, from the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with decorations in blue, seems to me inferior to some of the earlier work.* * Boston M. F. A. ARTS OF THE WOBLD. 183 Chinese pottery decoration, like Japanese pottery decoration, has, among other characteristics, the fol- lowing: 1. either no patterns or decorative patterns; 2. ahnost no basketry patterns; 3. few degenerate patterns; 4. almost no South Sea patterns. Chinese pottery, on the contrary, oftener has pictorial effects as decorations than has Japanese pottery.* In the decoration of pottery, no race, except the Japanese, has ever approached the Chinese. They are masterly in decorating as they are in fashioning beautiful and useful forms. They adapt figures, land- scapes, animals, plants, etc., to decorative purposes on their jars and plates and vases. The decoration springs from pictorial feeling and knowledge translated and adapted to decorative purposes. Personally it is in their most simple decorations, a flower stalk with two or three leaves, or the suggestion of a landscape in three or four lines or washes, that the East Asiatics, in my opinion, lead the world and are unexcelled as pottery decorators. Chinese porcelain certainly carried an immense influence westward of China, for the manufacture of European porcelain was greatly influenced by it. A more interesting question in comparative art, however, is whether Chinese pottery had any influence eastward beyond Japan. Apparently it did not, at least after the Han. For there is Uttle, if any, glazed pottery and no porcelain among the Australasians or the Amerinds. Nor does the best Amerind pottery decoration evince any of the pictorial knowledge, applied decoratively, of Chinese pottery. This, of course, does not touch the question whether Chinese pottery, in the centuries B. C, before glazing had evolved, crossed the Pacific: but it is a strong hint that the later Chinese, in the centuries A. D., did not have any intercourse with the Amerinds, * Boston M. F. A. Loan Collection, 1916. 184 CHINESE ART. Lacquers are one of the great outcrops of East Asiatic art and are found ia both China and Japan. While they are not pottery, still thru their decorations they are allied to potteries and porcelains. The colors are usually black or dark brown inlaid with gold, but there are some other colors used. For instance, from China come some brilliant red lacquers, known as Chinese cinnabar. Chinese lacquer decorations are usually florid and in many cases cover all the spaces. This gives a resemblance in spread and quantity to Maya decorations and glyphs on monoUths; with entire difference, however, in the patterns. Japanese lacquer decorations are usually simpler than Chinese and more nearly akin to Japanese pottery decorations than Chinese lacquer decorations are to Chinese pottery decorations. It is sometimes assumed that a native pictorial writing was the foundation of Chinese painting. This is surely incorrect. While Chinese writing was done with lamp black ink, known as India ink or encre de Chine, applied with a brush as in Chinese drawings, it must be remembered that the foundation of all picture writing is pictures, which gradually become conventionalized by use. Pictorial writing springs from drawing: not drawing from pictorial writing. The earliest remaining attempts at drawing which I have seen are some slabs of stone, engraved in a sort of intagUo, which are said to date from the Han, 206 B. C.-221 A. D. These were placed on tombs and apparently told something of the doings of the deceased. They give rows of figures and horses in wretched drawing and with nothing pictorial about them.* From the T'ang there are engraved mortuary slabs similar to those from the Han, but the work is much * Boston M. F. A. ARTS OP THE WORLD. 185 better. These are attempts at representing scenes, that is certain parts of these slabs show incipient pictorial art.* It is claimed that no authenticated specimens of Chinese painting antedating the Six dynasties, 265-618 A. D., have survived the vicissitudes of time. Even if this -be the case, however, it is no proof that painting did not exist before then. That there are sculptures older than paintings extant is doubtless due to the materials of sculptures being less perishable than those of paintings. The earUest paintings from China which have come down to us, whether of lay or of religious subjects, already show Chinese technical characteristics. By the time of the T'ang at least, some paintings almost lack outline, others have firm accentuated out- line. These latter are nearer to pattern art than the former, and it may be that the strong outline of some Chinese pictures is a technical remnant of Early Asiatic pattern art. There is one drawing or painting in the British Museum which is signed Ku K'ai Chih and is claimed to date from the fourth century A. D. I have not seen the original of this but only the illustration in Mr. Binyon's book.f Even if this painting perchance be only a copy of Ku K'ai Chih, it makes one fact very certain and that is that as early as the Six dynasties, painting in China had all the technical characteristics of East Asiatic naturalistic painting. The painting represents two women, one arranging the coiffure of the other. For all intents and purposes — barring certain details of dress and accessories — this might almost be by some of the Japanese print designers, Kiyonaga or Utamaro or Kuniyoshi. It shows emphatically that the characteristics of East * Boston M. F. A. ■f Laurence Binyon: Painting in the Far East, 186 CHINESE AET. Asiatic painting, which keep up for so many centuries and which differentiate it from all other painting, date back already to well before the T'ang. In my opinion, this is proof positive that Chinese naturalistic painting is an indigenous native art, springing up autoch- thonously in China from the racial art instinct of the Chinese themselves. And such excellent work as this of Ku K'ai Chih's also imphes that there must have been a foundation for it in other work now destroyed; that is Chinese naturalistic painting must long antedate the Six dynasties. From the T'ang, some splendid examples of Chinese indigenous naturalistic art have come down to us. One is the portrait of "Lu-Tong-Pin, One of the Eight Immortals, by T'eng-Tsch'ang-Yeou, Northern T'ang Dynasty, IX Century."* It is a portrait of a man, and both the head and the figure are drawn with a snap and a vigor which were never surpassed in East Asiatic naturalistic painting and which are totally lacking in West Asiatic or South Asiatic painting. Another painting or rather drawing of the T'ang is a landscape with a waterfall by Wu-Tao-tsz or Godoshi, a famous Chinese artist of the eighth century A. D.f This landscape resembles in feeling "The Shores of Wharf e" by Turner. It is a capital rendition of a bit of the natural world and shows how more than a thousand years ago the Chinese looked at landscape and tried to express it in their own racial instinctive manner. Another kakemono from the T'ang is Buddhistic in subject, but is Chinese in technicf This kakemono has less well drawn faces than many later ones from the Sung and the Ming but, curiously enough, it is already the true conventionaUzed Chinese Buddha. * New York M. M. 1917. Loaned by Mr. A. F. Jacacci. t British M. t Boston M. F. A. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 187 The Chinese painting of the Sung, Yuan, Ming and Ch'ing is distinctly East Asiatic and not Hindu at all in its technic even when the subjects are Bud- dhistic. For instance, in a landscape with mountains by Riu Shonen and in a plum branch in snow by Su Shih,* both of the Sung, all the characteristics are East Asiatic and must be of native growth. During' the Yuan dynasty, 1280-1368 A. D,, China suffered from a Mongol invasion and as a result of this art went down to some extent. Nevertheless Yuan art, as shown for instance in a hunting scene by Chan Meng-Fu,* remained purely East Asiatic. Art flourished again under the Mings, 1368-1644 A. D. With the advent of the Ch'ings, 1644-1912 A. D., once more art began to go down and it has slowly deteriorated ever since. But altho the art weakened, the East Asiatic characteristics remain intact to this day. Many paintings from the Sung and the Ming, fortunately, still remain, and some of these kakemonos are splendid work.f The painting of the Sung is perhaps rather better than that of the Ming, altho they are both fine. The Sung and Ming epochs correspond closely to the Japanese Fujiwara and Kamakura epochs, and Sung and Ming art is generally considered the fountain head of Japanese art. Among the painters of the Sung may be mentioned: Chou- Chi-Chang, Lin-T'ing-Kuei (these painted together: probably one the figures, the other the landscapes), Lu-Hsin-Chung, Ch'en Jung, Ma Yuan, Tung Yuan, Heia Kuei, Ma Kuei, Fan K'uan, Li Ch'eng, Li Wei, Riu Shonen, Su Shih. The Sung and Ming kakemonos are of both lay and Buddhistic subjects. Generally they have splendid composition and are in perfect harmony. The colors * Boston M. F. A. 1910. Loaned by Mr. I. T. Headland, t Boston M. F. A. 188 CHINESE ART. are very tender, perhaps from age. They are quite unhke anything west of Turkestan. The landscapes are usually painted broadly and strongly, but delicately and with infinite charm. In the figure and animal kakemonos there is generally more detail than in the landscapes. Altho the pictures are idealistic, usually much of the detail is reahstic and imitative. This is the case with the faces and the hands of the figures, in fact the faces are real portraits, admirably drawn. One is obliged to look at these heads close by in order to take in their many fine points, nevertheless it is often surprising how much recul is necessary, that is how far off one must get, to appreciate one of these kakemonos as a whole. But study is always required for an American or a European to fully appreciate these T'ang, Sung and Ming paintings. In my own case at least, the more I have studied them the more has my enjoyment increased and the longer I have looked at them the more have they impressed me. No race has painted animals better than the Chinese. One of their animal kakemonos painted by a Sung or an early Ming artist, is a wonderful example of combined breadth and minutiae.* It represents a half life size tiger which, semi-crouching, faces you. The eyes are touched with gold, and the detail is so minute, that you see the individual hairs of the moustache. Yet so broadly is the picture treated, so feline is the crouching motion, that it almost makes you feel afraid the beast is going to spring. I am myself inclined to rank this tiger as the most perfect animal painting I ever saw. According to Marco Polo, paper money was in use among the Chinese as far back as the Ming dynasty. I have seen one of their bank notes which was some ten by fifteen inches in dimension, in most artistic * Authors' Collection. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 189 calligraphy and apparently printed in black and white.* In these bank notes therefore we have printed designs, that is incipient printed drawings. They were followed in the sixteenth century in China by small cheapi printed drawings in black and white which in the seven- teenth century crossed to Japan and blossomed into Japanese colored prints. The technical start of these latter now highly prized works of art, therefore, I am inchned to think was the Ming paper money, a hypothesis I have never seen broached by anyone, but which I beheve is correct. There is some Chinese embroidery or tapestry which is allied to painting. One curious piece, whose origin and age is uncertain, but which is probably Chinese and several centuries old, is most unusual.* The color is a blue grey. Some of the patterns have certain resemblances to Ainu patterns. There are several figures, and round the edges are some cartouches, one with a dragon and others with figures which might be Tibetans or Chinese. The chief personage, in the middle, has a long beard, long enlarged earlobes, big earrings, holds a sort of fan of peacock feathers, and suggests an Ainu. The faces of four figures, in the lower portion, do not seem to be Chinese faces, and one of these figures looks somewhat Uke a Palenque figure. Altogether this work, of which little is known and to which I have seen nothing similar, is a puzzle. One can only say it is a rare phase of East Asiatic art. It is difficult to form an authoritative opinion about early Chinese art, because there are so few specimens of it in museums. But considering that the mortuary statuettes from the Han are distinctly Chinese natural- istic art and not South Asiatic in any of their charac- * Illustration: Edouard Charton: Voyageurs Ancients et Mod&rnes, Vol. II. p. 336. * Boston M. F. A. 190 TIBETAN, ANNAMESE AND FOKMOSAN ART. teristics; that these statuettes antedate the roughly- sculpted figures from the Six dynasties whose handling is Chinese altho the figures may be held to show influence from the south: that there is one painting or copy of a painting from the Six dynasties whose handling and technic resembles almost absolutely that of some Japanese colored prints; and that there are no Buddhistic kakemonos known from earlier than the later T'ang: the opinion may certainly be insisted on that Chinese naturalistic art grew up in China itself and is an indigenous native outcrop of the Chinese racial art instinct. TIBETAN, ANNAMESE AND FORMOSAN ART. There is some art from Tibet, and this appears to be a mixture of East Asiatic and South Asiatic art. What I have seen of it consists of kakemonos, Bud- dhistic or Brahmanistic in subject and with many Chinese technical characteristics.* They probably date back some three or four centuries. When the subjects of these Tibetan-Lamaistic kake- monos are Buddhistic, they are pleasant enough. Many of them represent Sakya Muni in various incidents of his life. Frequently they have certain similarities to some early Italian pictures and, altho the technic is entirely different from Byzantine or Itahan Renaissance wo!rk, the groupings and poses of the male and female holy people or deities are strikingly similiar to those of certain saints and madonnas. Indeed the subjects are so nearly the same in some cases as to suggest that possibly they are chips from the same religious block. When these Tibetan pictures represent Brahmanistic subjects, however, the favorite motive is hell peopled with many devils. Beauty and charm are abandoned with * Boston M. F. A. ARTS OP THE WORLD. 191 the intent of arousing fear and horror, and the result is distressing. From one point of view this art may be called successful, since hell and devils are supposed to be hateful, and pictures of such subjects should by rights be horrible or loathsome. Nevertheless, altho these sheitans are somewhat disgusting, they are not terrible, but rather grotesque and foolish. There is, for instance, none of the awfulness of Copan art. The name of one of these Tibetan goddesses, by the way, happens to be Devi: which is said to mean God, but is certainly close to Devil. These heUish and devihsh kakemonos, may perhaps be summed up as the effusions of a bad religion rather than as outcrops of art and they demonstrate forcibly what ridiculous thoughts the mind of ignorant man can evolve under insane reUgious influences. Jonathan Edwards would have adored them. These Tibetan Lamaistic kakemonos are pretty poor from any esthetic standpoint. The drawing is not good. They lack perspective. There are many bright colors but, altho the colors are, probably thru ageing, sometimes quite soft, there is no harmony of color. Some of these kakemonos have certain decided resem- blances to some Persian pictures dating from between about 1300-1700 A. D. The figures, however, do not seem European or Persian, but rather Tatar, Mongol or Hindu. Tibetan art therefore seems to be a weak branch of Chinese art with Hindu subjects grafted on it. The Buddhistic part might perhaps be called immature but not disagreeable art. The Brahmanistic part might be called debased art, and it offers many examples of the bad effects of the Hindu religion on East Asiatic art. All the art specimens from Annam, which I have seen, are modern, and are undoubtedly derived from Chinese or Japanese art.* This places the south- * Salem P. M. 192 KOREAN ART. eastern boundary of East Asiatic art beyond the present Chinese political frontier. There is every probability that the art of Formosa and the art of Liu-Kiu was originally Australasian, but I have not seen any specimens showing this. What little art I have seen from Formosa seems to be Chinese* and what little art I have seen from Liu- Kiu seems to be Japanese.* At any rate, therefore, East Asiatic art has overrun these islands sufficiently to have replaced, at least partially, any original native art. KOREAN ART. Korean art in its infancy belonged to Early Asiatic art. A remnant of this continues to-day in some extremely primitive sculpted wooden figures, which are sometimes set up along roads as guide posts. One of these figures is some two meters high.f It has a small grotesque body and a big ugly head with oblique eyes. It is said that these images sometimes wear hats. There is a certain resemblance between these figures and Easter Island statues, Borneo funeral poles and Alaska totem poles. These guide posts apparently must be a survival, perhaps the only one, of a former, earUer art. Korean art to-day is almost entirely East Asiatic: at least that is the case with the few specimens I have seen. A lot of pipe stems from Seoul, for instance, are decorated with patterns distinct from Australasian art or Amerind art.* Korean art forms and decorations resemble most closely Chinese art, but, of course, they have their local individuality. In my opinion, Korean art lacks some of the grace and charm of Japanese art. Korean pottery dates from far back. Some early * Salem P. M. t United States N. M. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 193 specimens, of red or grey clay, mostly dug out of ancient graves, are closely in touch with some early Japanese potteries. These sometimes have pretty shapes and are decorated with nearly symmetrical lines and patterns, which in all probabUity were taken from straw basketries.* Under the Korai Kings, 918-1392 A. D., Korean pottery was perhaps at its best. The specimens are usually simple in form, of a somewhat steel grey color, polished, and with but Uttle decora- tion.* Some recent Korean pottery is in dull light blues and greys, and is decorated with only a few decidedly artistic patterns. This pottery, altho local, is much hke some Chinese pottery and has a particular dehcate charm of its own.* The Koreans also painted kakemonos. These are purely East Asiatic in character. They are perhaps rather more Chinese than Japanese in their affiliations. It would be difficult to say anything of them which would not apply equally to Chinese or Japanese paintings. One of them, which is said to have been presented by the Emperor of Korea to the American Minister to Korea some years ago, is singularly delicate in its pinks and greens, f JAPANESE ART. I. The beginnings of Japanese art are exceedingly nebulous. Nevertheless there are many evidences tend- ing to show that the original art of Japan, some two thousand and more years ago, was of the same type as the Early Asiatic art of the mainland in Siberia, China, Korea, Burma and perhaps Hindustan. A few remnants of this early art can be pointed out still in the art of Japan. * Boston M. F. A. t Authors' Collection. 194 JAPANESE AET. Japanese history also dates back to several cen- turies B. C, when imperial rule began. These early times, however, are as nebulous as early Japanese art. Confucianism came from China about the third century A. D. and Buddhism about the sixth century A. D., when Japanese history begins to get definite. The seventh and eighth centuries are divided by different authorities into various periods whose names do not correspond, but which may for convenience be spoken of as the Nara period. After this come four great epochs in Japanese history: 1. Fujiwara period, ninth century A. D. to 1189 A. D. 2. Kamakura Shogunate, 1190-1337 A. D. 3. Ashikaga Shogunate, 1338-1582 A. D. 4. Tokugawa Shogunate, 1603-1867 A. D. There is some Japanese art of the last two or three centuries, for instance some small grotesque figurines, which has a strong resemblance to some Australasian art. This resemblance may be traced between some of the art productions of Zipangu and some of the art productions of Hawaii, of Rapa Nui, of New Zealand, and of some Malayan and Melanesian islands. The suits of lacquered armor of old Japan are in touch with the suits of grass armor of the Gilbert Islanders.* Some Japanese bronzes have decorative patterns resem- bling the frigate bird patterns of Papua, f There is also a distinct resemblance between Japanese armor and the art of New Ireland, a resemblance I pointed out already in 1906.$ While there is little in Japanese art or manufactures reminiscent of Alaska, nevertheless there is a certain similarity in some masks and a few Japanese bronzes have patterns resembUng West North Amerind patterns, f There is also a resemblance * S^^lem P. M. t Boston M. F. A. t Comparative Art. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 195 between some Japanese and some Zuni women's head- dresses and this coincidence, while it may mean noth- ing, still is curious. It must also be remembered that even to-day Japanese art is in touch with Australasian art thru Ainu art and that the Ainu inhabited formerly most of Japan. Japanese art on the whole, however, is more nearly in touch with Malayan, Micronesian and Polynesian art than with Melanesian or West North Amerind art. In this it follows the law that propinquity leads to resemblance. There is probably a little Early Asiatic or Austra- lasian paternity in Japanese colored prints. Many of these prints have strong black outlines and are of most pronounced patterns, as is especially noticeable in the prints of some of the later print designers such as Kunisada. And it is not impossible that the pecuh'ar flavor of some of these prints is partly derived from the original art of Japan. These various resembltoces in the art of Japan to Australasian art point to some Australasian ancestry which influenced in some degree the art of Japan. They look like a survival of a time when Japanese art resembled Australasian art and imply blood rela- tionship. And the greater resemblance of Japanese to Malayan, Micronesian and Polynesian arts than to Melanesian art would tend to show that the Japanese were a brown, possibly a Malay island race, who adopted much of Chinese civilization. The earliest art of Japan, however, slowly gave way when Chinese art crossed the Yellow Sea, it is said according to written records about the fifth century A. D., that is some fifteen hundred years ago. Japanese art therefore seems to be mainly the outgrowth of an intrusive art which came and kept coming from China, and which gradually replaced most of the underlying 196 JAPANESE ART. art of Japan. Apparently therefore also, Japan is not one of the original centers from which art radiated. There are in Japan, just as in China, two branches of art: the decorative, the naturalistic. The decorative art belongs to the same family as Early Asiatic art and Australasian art: the naturalistic springs from Chinese indigenous art. From the naturalistic there are no authentic specimens nearly as ancient as the oldest from China, indeed it is questionable whether any Japanese sculptural or pictorial art specimens in existence antedates 500 A. D. Much of this naturalistic art also, as in China, is Buddhistic in its subjects. And therefore, altho the naturalistic art came to Japan from China, still some of its subjects are South Asiatic. Digging has revealed the fact that there was some pottery made in Japan in prehistoric times, that is pottery which antedates any Chinese art influence mentioned in history or legend. Some of these prehistoric Japanese potteries from the shell mounds near Tokyo and from those at Omori and Otaru in Yezo are almost plain and have scarcely any sign of decoration on them. Some other early potteries, taken mostly from ancient graves, are made of red and grey clays. They sometimes are of pretty shapes and usually are decorated with lines and patterns which generally are symmetrical and some of which look as if they were copied from straw basketry.* Possibly these are Australasian. I have not seen any similar potteries from China and this may mean that there is no connection between early Japanese and Chinese potteries. On the other hand there are certain resem- blances between these prehistoric Japanese potteries and some prehistoric potteries from Korea and these resem- blances connect to some extent the earliest Japanese pottery with that of the east Asiatic mainland. * Boston M. F. A, AETS OF THE WORLD. 197 It is difficult to determine therefore whether Japanese pottery came from the mainland of Asia or whether it started as a native art. It certainly began long ago and the prehistoric Japanese pottery undoubtedly has affinities to Korean pottery. From the beginning of the historic period there is some light gray glazed pottery evidently made under Chinese influence.* And altho pottery may have started independently in Japan, it certainly developed under Chinese impulse; and from China also came porcelain to Japan. Japanese pottery on the other hand, except possibly in the patterns on prehis- toric pottery, does not suggest any affinities to Australasian art in its decorations, for in the entire Morse collection of Japanese and old Korean pottery* I did not detect a single South Sea decorative pattern. Neither does Japanese pottery resemble at all, either in colors or decorations, Amerind pottery. Japanese pottery, with the single exception perhaps of Chinese pottery, is, in my opinion, the most artistic pottery ever made. The best of it is that with useful shapes; of a nice, not too even, color; and without or with almost no decoration. And indeed these are its usual characteristics, for in the Morse collection almost all the pottery is either perfectly plain or is decorated only with ^xy simple decorative or natural- istic patterns.* Certain pieces of Japanese pottery in the Morse collection are ornamented with what might be called drip work: as if paint had been put on or round the top of the piece and allowed to run down. Sometimes the efifects are very pretty. I never noticed this in any other pottery.* That there is relationship between the architecture of Japan and the architecture of eastern and south eastern Asia is very noticeable. One need only * Boston M. F. A. ~~~ 198 JAPANESE ART. compare photographs of the architecture of Japan with photographs of the architecture of China, Burma, Bhutan, and even Benares to see strong resemblances. And this shows that East Asiatic and South East Asiatic architecture is all more or less an outcrop from the same mould. A picturesque form of East Asiatic architecture is the gateway called a torii. It is found in China, in Japan and in a rough form in Borneo. In Japan it seems to be associated mainly with Shintoism. The lay sculpture of Japan is very individual. It is most nearly akin to Chinese sculpture, but it is not the same. That the impulse for some of it came from China seems probable, but a great deal of it any rate does not follow Chinese models, so that the Japanese must be credited with great inventive sculptural powers and with the formation of a style of their own. In my judgment, the best Japanese sculptures and the best Chinese sculptures I have seen are generically similar but locally individual, and are on an equally high art level. One of the most impressive sculptures I know, which, however, doubtless many sculptors would not call sculpture, is a group of Japanese warriors, dressed in the armor and carrying the we^-pons of the fifteenth century A. D.* They are receiving the tidings of a disaster in battle, and the expression of fear and horror in the faces and the lifelike action of the figures is remarkable. This group was modelled in Japan only a few years ago and, while it is not in the least our ideal of sculpture, it seems to me very near perfection as an example of reaUstic sculptural achievement. The Japanese sculptures of saints or deities are very similar to the Chinese and South Asiatic sculptures of the same personages. Some Japanese sculpture s * United States N. M. ARTS OP THE WORLD. 199 certainly are much like some of the Hindu sculptures from Java: one of these statues, with six arms and three, Janus-wise, faces, suggests a Hindu Brahmanist deity.* Another of these many armed or many headed deities, common to both South and East Asiatic art, is a big Japanese statue of a male deity, beheved to date from the fourteenth century A, D., which has six arms and is called "the great passion, "f There can be no doubt that Hindu, Buddhist and Brahmanist tenets are responsible for the subjects of some Japanese sculpture. It is sometimes claimed that Japanese painting never rose to the heights reached by its Chinese parent. The statement should not be made too unquaUfiedly. But it appears correct to assert that if there be one quality in which Chinese art takes the lead, it is power: if there be one quaUty in which Japanese art takes the lead, it is charm. In my opinion also both arts are greater in the works representing the world of nature than in those undertaking the concrete presen- tation of religious beUefs; and it is not the Buddhistic subjects of China and Japan so much as the mountains and the rocks, the trees and the flowers, the snows and the waterfalls, the birds and the tigers, and the thousands of humans in their every day avocations in peace or their fierce actions in war, which convey the most esthetic thrills. There were several waves in Japanese art, and it changed, progressed and retrograded at different times, tho on the whole it followed a regular evolution. There were also several schools of painting in Japan, the Tosa, the Kano, the Ukiyo-ye, and others, all varying from one another altho in the main following similar art canons and sometimes co-existent in time. * Salem P. M. t Boston M. F. A. 200 JAPANESE ART. There are perhaps no specimens extant of the oldest Japanese painting, but there are a few from the Fujiwara period, altho genuine examples are rare. Some of these are of Buddhist subjects and have consequently South Asiatic reminiscences. For instance, there are several supposedly Japanese kakemonos, which are said to date from about 800 A. D., in which the figures have Hindu faces and the feet of the Buddha have the upturned soles of Ceylon and Hindustan.* A kakemono by Chinkai-Iko-Daihashi, with a date, probably 1143 A, D., inscribed on the back, shows South Asiatic faces.* After this, Japanese kakemonos of Buddhist subjects become increasingly East Asiatic in the faces and in technic. Sometimes they are indistinguishable from Chinese or Tibetan kakemonos of Buddhist subjects. But as a rule the Japanese Buddhistic kakemonos of the Fujiwara, Kama- kura and Ashikaga are inferior to the Chinese kakemonos of the Sung or the Ming: the face drawing is less good and the colors are duller and have blackened. Like them, however, they are best looked at close, because of the quantity of details.* The paintings of lay subjects also date back to the Fujiwara period and from the Kamakura period, 1190 A. D.-1337 A. D., there are some splendid examples of naturahstic art remaining. One of these, the "Heigi Monogatari Roll" of about 1300 A. D., formerly attributed to Keion, is a remarkably vivid and living presentment of a fight.* It has all the qualities of violent action and motion which the admirers of Hokusai laud so highly, and it proves that some of the early painters of Japan knew as much about drawing, action, color and life as any of their successors. It is a curious fact that even in these early times * Boston M. F. A. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 201 the face in East Asiatic art is generally drawn three quarters and less commonly full-face. A pure profile is exceedingly rare. One of the few I have seen is in a beautiful color print of Koriusai of about 1760-1780 A. D.* Why the Eastern Asiatics avoided drawing profiles is hard to see: but it certainly differentiates them in this respect from the arts of Western Asia and Egypt to the west and from the art of Central America to the east. In landscape, the Japanese have produced thousands of beautiful works. From the beginning, the line predominates in some, the wash or blot predominates in others. From the Ashikaga period, 1338-1582 A. D., there are many landscapes. These are usually definitely outlined black and white monochromes and some of them are strongly reminiscent of some Chinese work. They already show a perfect comprehension of artistic perspective, of values, of aerial perspective, in fact of many of the most important points of landscape painting. Thousands upon thousands of later Japanese pictures reveal the same knowledge. For instance two capital screens by Sotan, 1398-1465,* in black and white, show hills and ocean in correct artistic perspec- tive and are very Chinese; while two delightful kakemonos of landscapes by Hasegawa Tohahu, six- teenth century,* are also extremely Chinese, with firm outlines and abrupt rocks. Some of the earlier Japanese landscapes are, on the contrary, strongly suggestionist. In the fifteenth cen- tury, Sesshiu, one of the most famous painters of Japan, painted some charming, melting black and white landscapes. A landscape by Wunkei, sixteenth century,* is delightful and, in its method and handling, suggests Sesshiu. Of the sixteenth century also, there is a kakemono of mountains, rocks and trees by Ka no * Boston M. F. A. 202 JAPANESE ART, Masonobu* which, while more formal and defined, shows also a thoro knowledge of perspective, aerial perspective, and other landscape qualities. Some of the most dehghtful and un-European Japanese paintings come from the brush of Koyetzu and his followers, Sotatsu, Korin and Hoitsu. Koyetzu, who lived in the beginning of the seventeenth century A. D. and leaned on nature untrammelled by conven- tion, is one of the greatest imaginative and decorative painters of Japan. By Sotatsu, in the seventeenth century, there are some screens of trees and flowers, which might be considered as, haK way between landscapes and flower pieces.* On a background of gold leaf, great numbers of many varieties of flowers are painted imitatively and delicately and are intended to be looked at near by. Some of them, peonies or chrysanthemums, are embossed on the gold. There are no cast shadows, there is no light and shade, there is no composition beyond the tasteful combination of flowers, branches and grasses waving in profusion one beside the other. The paintings on these screens are really series of spots of color shaped in the forms of flowers: decora- tions rather than pictures. Two screens of this kind by Ogata Korin, who died in 1716 or 1717 and who is said to have been first under the influence of Sotatsu, are superb. They represent flowers and trees on a yellow gray silk and altho there is no distance indicated there is quite a suggestion of perspective. One of these screens is of spring and the other of autumn and Korin apparently took just what he wanted and made a decoration of it. These floral, arboreal screens are entirely different from anything in European or South Asiatic art but there are certain resemblances to some Assyrian slabs. * Boston M. F. A. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 203 These screens are good examples of the fact that the Japanese pay but little attention to the values of an object in relation to its surroundings. They often isolate a figure or a bird as far as the surroundings are concerned. They sometimes combine a number of things in an arbitrary way in order to make a decora- tive design, paying no attention to atmosphere. They select certain things to paint and eliminate what they choose. These screens also, altho highly decorative, lack anything like a repetition of patterns. This lack of repetition of patterns indeed, appertains to all Japanese art just as it does to Arab art. Among a great number of Japanese sword guards, for instance, many are elaborately decorated, each with one beautiful decoration, but only a few repeat the design sym- metrically.* Probably it is due to the Japanese art sense balking at anything as mechanical as sjonmetry. Korrn's greatest efforts, however, were his landscapes. One of these is on a screen and represents a stormy sea, a couple of islands with a green pine tree or two and a few golden clouds floating over the waves.* From any imitative standpoint everything on the screen, waves, land, pine trees, clouds, is unnatural. The picture is highly decorative but it exercises an almost hypnotic force in producing a sense of motion. The action of the waves in their curious and monotonous repetition imprints itself on the spectator's brain until the waves almost seem to move. This screen must rank in the highest type of imaginative art. In the eighteenth century some Japanese landscape painters continue the suggestionist traditions of the Sung landscape painters and of Sesshiu. These men painted motives rather than subjects. They belong to what is known as the Shijo school and their chief master is Maruyama Okyo, 1733-1795 A. D. Their * Boston M. F. A. 204 JAPANESE ABT. work while descending from earlier naturalistic painting is nevertheless entirely dependent on direct observation of nature. It is often full of quality but outline is not much insisted on and sometimes the work is rather weak. The best painting by Okyo I have seen is a six pannelled screen in black and white, of hills, a brook, trees, houses, and snow: snow everywhere, lying in a thick blanket over everything.* It is a pure motive picture and it is the snow, represented by the white paper, which is the motive. It is the snow which stirred Okyo, with which he fascinates the onlooker and hypnotizes him into quietude thru the perfect repose and silence he has imparted to this greatest of snow- scapes. The black and white Chinese and Japanese painting in many cases shows much greater freedom in handling than does the polychromatic painting and one can almost follow the artist expressing his feeling in his lines and washes of Chinese ink. And among such black and white suggestions I know of none, since the time of the great Sung landscapists, which reaches quite the perfection of this snowscape of Okyo. In the nineteenth century and even to-day sugges- tionist landscape painting is not entirely dead in Japan. For instance, several kakemonos by Mori Ippo, of the so called Kyoto school, of about 1840 A. D., two of snow covered trees, one of a lake and mountains with streaks arid streamers of sunlight, one of a moon cut by a tree branch, are charming suggestions.* While some of this later Japanese art lacks vigor, much of it is most agreeable and would be pleasant to hve with. There have been many animal painters in Japan, among whom may be mentioned Sesshiu, 1420-1507 A. D.; Tosa Mitsunobu, 1434-1526 A. D.; Shukei Sesson, 1500-1570 A. D.; Kano Utanosuke, 1513-1570 A. P.; Hasegawa Tohahei, 1570-1600 A. P.; Tsunenobu, * Boston M. F. A. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 205 end of seventeenth century; Kano Tanyu; Okyo; Ganku; Mori Sosen. Some of the Japanese animal pictures are sugges- tions. Among early work, is a suggestionist screen in Chinese ink by Sesshiu, representing two screaming cranes pursued down a waterfall by two hawks, which is unsurpassable for form, action, motion and synthesis.* Two screens by Sesson, representing in black and white some Chinese monkeys, are also painted with little detail but great synthetic power.* Certain Japanese animal pictures, on the contrary, are finished to the limit. Such, for instance, is a golden eagle of Tsunenobu's dating from about 1685 A. D.f It is perched on a high branch, and the treatment is broad and masterly but a trifle hard, for every feather in sight is carefully worked out. Both kinds of animal painting come down to the nineteenth century, for we find Okyo, with his pup- pies and chickens, and Mori Sosen, with some of his monkeys in broad dabs without details, continuing the traditions of suggestionist animal art. These pictures are usually of motives rather than of subjects, as in a kakemono by Okyo of two white monkeys sitting still* and a kakemono by Mori Sosen of a monkey examining intently the chips of a game of Go.f Mori Ippo may also be mentioned as a good painter of animals, as in a kakemono of crows or blackbirds in the snow.* It must not be supposed however, that all Japanese animal painting is good. It is not. For instance, some pottery plates from the province of Iwaki, have horses with the open-scissor action.* These appear to be modern and the faulty animal action may be due to imitating European art. * Boston M. F. A. t Authors' Collection. 206 JAPANESE ART. II. In the last three centuries, the lay subjects gradually predominate over the religious subjects in Japanese figure pictures: in this respect, the evolution of East Asiatic art resembles the evolution of European art. The naturalistic art of the Sung and Ming land- scapists and of Sesshiu continues in a modified form in the art of Okyo and Mori Sosen. The less naturalistic art of the figure painters also continues, but their subjects become increasingly secular. There are a number of kakemonos dating from about 1650-1750 A. D., in which the subjects, usually figures, are purely secular and not in the least religious.* These kakemonos are drawn with sweeping classical calli- graphic lines and are painted with much bright color. Usually they have gold backgrounds and are highly decorative. The figures are not naturalistic but strongly conventional. And it is these kakemonos of figure secular subjects, painted in a non naturalistic way, that gave the artistic impulse to one of the most interesting phases of East Asiatic art, namely Japanese colored prints. The technical start of the prints possibly came from the paper money of the Mings in China, t Japanese prints first appear towards the middle of the seventeenth century A. D., and continue as one art until about the time when Commodore Perry — with whom was my cousin George Balch — ^gave the first shock to the civilization of old Nippon. Japanese prints are usually small. They average 14 x 10 inches. Not infrequently there are three of them in a set, usually called a triptych, making one picture 14 x 30 inches. A rather odd form is a tall narrow print, averaging perhaps 30 x 5 to 8 inches. These are * Boston M. F. A. t Ante, p. 188. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 207 called pillar prints. Often these are only part of a composition, with the sides lacking, and they would be more complete if a few inches wider. The small bulk and light weight of Japanese colored prints is an attraction to a collector, for a large collec- tion may be kept in a few small portfolios. Certain collectors, however, make one great mistake. They delude themselves into thiaking that only prints in the most perfect condition and for which large sums are asked and paid, are any good. But to a painter many, many prints which are somewhat faded or rubbed or torn or otherwise damaged and for which very small sums are asked, may be a joy. For the design, the composition, the drawing is all there. And in some cases of later prints where the original color was possibly crude and raw, the dirt of time and careless handling sometimes lends a tone, as do coats of varnish to some old European paintings. A collection for a connoisseur who wants only perfect specimens of prints in their original state is difficult and expensive to form: but a collection for an artist who wants prints for art's sake is still obtainable and for a not very heavy outlay. In studying Japanese prints, it should be remembered that they are colored prints, not paintings. In com- paring them with any European art, therefore, they can be compared with fairness with European etchings, engravings, wood cuts, lithographs, mezzotints, etc.; not with European oil or water color paintings. For they are arts of reproduction. Altho they are spoken of as the work of certain artists, yet each print is the work of three men: the artist draughtsman; the wood cutting engraver; and the printer of colors. Some- times the printer was up to rendering the intention of the artist: sometimes he was not. Japanese prints form a regular art cycle. They start as a simple form of wood engraving in black 208 JAPANESE AET. lines on a white ground. Next come black engraved lines with touches of water color laid on by hand. Then comes printing in black, dull red and dull green. This develops gradually into beautiful, dehcately colored prints, in full chromatics, except that blue is almost lacking, possibly because the blues have faded or changed. This stage, between about 1760-1810 A. D., is the best period, the crest of the wave. After 1810 A. D., Japanese prints gradually degenerate into increasingly violent chromatics which finally bring this art cycle to an end in a riot of raw colors. Since the advent of the Europeans, a second cycle has been started, with a return to more delicate colors, but what it will mature into is for the future to show. In Japan the nobility and aristocracy turned up their noses at the subjects of Japanese prints, at the actors and other personages represented. The humans in the prints were common or disreputable: ergo the prints were considered vulgar art and were left to the 'ot ToXkdK. In Europe and America, on the con- trary, the subjects of Japanese prints mean little or nothing. Girls in beautiful clothes and men with two swords do not convey to us any meaning beyond what is actually apparent to the eye. To those who hke them they bring up beautiful patterns, drawn with an assured hand and sometimes presenting a bouquet of exquisite colors. One of the great pleasures of Japanese prints to White race artists is that to us the subjects are meaningless: the non-comprehension of subject by us is a joy. But the patterns and the draw- ing and sometimes the color are a deUght to the eye. In looking at them, we are looking at art for art's sake, untrammelled by any hterary or scientific ideas, or by any imitative rendition of nature whatever. It is from the subjects, however, that the Japanese prints get their Japanese name "Ukioye." Now "Ukioye" ARTS OF THE WORLD. 209 means "pictures or a mirror of the transient or the passing world." And the name is a misnomer, for it is only partially accurate. And by its inaccuracy it has misled many connoisseurs and induced many incorrect judgments. For the name "XJkioye" applies wholly to the subject, to the matter: it does not apply to the treatment, to the manner. The subjects truly are secular, and with time more and more plebeian: often they are scenes from the theater. But the treatment, especially in the earlier and in the best period, is not in the least a naturalistic represen- tation of the real world. The best Japanese prints are visions of a dream world. If they are in any wise a mirror, it is a magic mirror, not a real mirror. The subjects are suggested undoubtedly by the world or the theater, but they are transformed in the minds and the memories of the artists and axe given back to us on the small rectangular sheets of paper, not as nature but as art. In my judgment, it is the color more than anything else which is the most vital factor in differentiating good and bad Japanese prints. The advance and retrogression of Japanese prints is largely due to the colors. From the inception to the end of the cycle we find work which in drawing, in design, in composi- tion, is good. In these quahties Moronobu and Masanobu were highly meritorious artists, but so were Kuniyoshi and Kunisada. When color was introduced in the earlier stages it was delicate and harmonious. Gradually the number of tints increased, but they still remained delicate and harmonious. In time however they became offensively violent and often so discordant that by their coarseness they ruin many otherwise well drawn and well conceived prints. Fortunately there are signs that the present colored print renaissance, as shown in the works of such artists as Bairei and 210 JAPANESE ART. Gekko, may prove a reaction against these garish, raw pigments. Japanese prints are a sort of pocket edition of the art of Japan. Anyone who knows them thoroly and hkes them has acquired a mental epitome of East Asiatic art. And if ever he beholds the great art of the Sung and the Ming and of the great painters of Japan he will be fully prepared to appreciate these as they deserve. But it must be remembered that Japanese prints, as indeed all East Asiatic paintings, are good only for those who like them. Such epithets as caricatures, grotesque, no art, hideous, ugly, conven- tional, have been applied to them. One may like them at first sight; or one may dishke them at first and learn to like them; or it may happen that some persons will dislike them first, last and all the time. To some persons they might be as indigestible as lobster and welsh-rarebit at 1 A. M. It is a question of taste and de gustibus non est disputandum. The esthetic laws and conventions governing Japanese prints, at least in their start, when untouched by European influence, are the same as those governing all East Asiatic painting. There is no strict imitation of nature. There are no shadows. The earlier prints are conventional in technic and wholly two dimensional. The latest prints, however, become less East Asiatic. European perspective and three dimensional interpreta- tion of nature come more and more to the fore, and I have no doubt it is because these art attributes are found prominently in the works of Hokusai and Hiroshige that these have been so extravagantly lauded by European connoisseurs. The supreme merits of Japanese prints perhaps, nevertheless, are the splendid drawing so commonly found; the great power of out- line, Une, composition and design; and in the best period, the lightness, brightness, delicacy and harmony AKTS OF THE WORLD. 211 of the colors. If one can see close together a number of fine East Asiatic kakemonos or a collection of good Japanese prints and a roomful of pre-Impressionist modern European oil paintings, the latter will look as if they were kneaded out of gingerbread. And such a comparison should take some of the conceit out of us about any artistic superiority of our race. Perhaps the term most descriptive of the art merit of fine Japanese prints is "charm." They are not grand — they are too small for that word — : they are not sublime: they are not magnificent: they are not gorgeous. But some of them are charming. They can be held in the hand or turned over in a portfolio and admired for the unswerving accuracy of their fines, for the power of their blacks, for the refinement of their yellows and reds and purples and greens. To those who like them they are beautiful just as a bunch of roses or of lilies of the valley is beautiful to admirers of flowers. Like roses or lilies of the valley, the subjects of many Japanese prints are meaningless to us, but like them in their forms and colors they are a delight to the eye. And to an artist they convey a subtle realization of how certain other artists have felt and expressed their emotions. During the past two centuries many Japanese artists devoted their efforts to preparing pictures to be printed in black and colors instead of to direct paint- ing. Some of these men are masterly designers and composers of pictures. The founders of the art, Matahei, Moronobu, Kiyonobu, Masanobu, Toyonobu, Kiyomitsu, worked at first in pure black and white. After awhile they added to this by hand some washes of water color and later began printing in black, red and green. Their line work in black is strong and full of quality; they depended on their outline; and their prints are two dimensional pattern work. Their figures 212 JAPANESE ART. are in accurate human proportions and more rounded and plumper than later work. Some of these earlier prints are most interesting, but the art had not yet blossomed into perfection and the earlier prints lack the charm afforded by chromatically complete delicate color. It is when full chromatics are reached that "charm" comes to the fore in Japanese prints. The term fits especially the prints of the men who worked between about 1760-1810 A. D., the best period of Japanese colored prints. It is then that we find all the resources of the printers' colors in full use, but with reserve and delicacy. These prints are non-naturalistic, they are dreams. They are not the Japanese world as seen by the ordinary man, but the Japanese world or theater as seen thru the temperaments of emotional Japanese artists, extremely sensitive to form and color. There are a number of artists who left such delightful work that it is difficult to specify them all and it seems almost invidious to speak of any of them as better or best. One can only give some opinions, but without the slightest attempt at dogmatism. The man apparently who brought full chromatic printing to perfection was Harunobu. He left a great number of prints, principally of figures in repose, with most refined colors. He is certainly one of the best print designers of Japan. Koriusai, Shunsho, Shigemasa, Buncho, Shuncho, Shunzan and Yeishi are among the better men of the best period. Kiyonaga is a very highly admired artist of the same time. But he does not seem to us — this is a purely personal opinion — ^to come up quite to the level of Haronubu nor to that of the somewhat later Toyokuni I., some of whose prints are amongst the loveliest, both in design and color, in Japanese art and which have occasionally a flavor of Botticelli. Toyokuni I., however, has been ARTS OF THE WORLD. 213 decried to some extent; and this is partly due to the fact that many prints which bear his signature, but which do not come up to his highest mark, unques- tionably are not his handiwork. Among the most charming prints are some of those of Utamaro. He came in the closing years of the best period and fittingly caps it. There is a wonderful distinction about Utamaro. He is a stylist: a master of line and composition. He handles black in the most forceful way and no one better than he knows where to put it. His figures are classical and willowy. In none of the Japanese prints is there a more dreamy quality; a quality which takes you out of the world of nature into that of attenuated forms and color abstrac- tions. Utamaro is a lyric poet. There is one Japanese print designer who drew most unique heads: Sharaku. In Japanese prints the faces are always drawn in black lines and the paper is usually left white. There is expression in a few of them, but the majority are conventional and merely represent set masks. With Sharaku it is different. With a few lines he constructs faces which are not pleasant, which some persons have called caricatural and vulgar, which are claimed to be the masks of No actors, but which are forceful and powerful to an unsurpassed degree. He certainly drew faces with more expression than any other Japanese print designer, and indeed I know of no painter who with lines alone has accomphshed more remarkable results in facial portraiture than Sharaku. He attains character. Underneath the mask, he shows a living man. Sharaku is both subtle and strong, qualities not always found in juxtaposition in a work of art. His color is rich and full, but never garish. He was fortunate in coming at the exiact moment when the color printers did their best work. He is a master of elimination; he eliminates everything but the 214 JAPANESE ART. necessities in his drawings. His work is done with the fewest possible lines of unsurpassed delicacy. He filled a space to perfection as indeed do most good East Asiatic artists. But with all his great power of representing life and action, his prints are not realistic. Like other great Japanese colored prints, they are visions of dreams: but of dreams which we call night- mares. Sharaku is a tragic poet, entitled to rank among world artists. In the closing years of the best period and in the beginning of the period of the more violent colors, Yeizan and Kuniyoshi still designed many delightful prints. Kunisada also, who is sometimes decried, nevertheless designed many fine prints and his color is usually satisfying and harmonious. One man at least of the present renaissance, Bairei, about 1875- 1895, returned to the old traditions and left some excel- lent prints of bird life. Among the later print designers, there are three who need especial attention, because they are so much better known in Europe than any other East Asiatic painters. These are Hokusai and the two Hiroshiges. Their work, more than any other Japanese prints, genuinely gives us what the name Ukioye is generally accepted as meaning. It is not wholly naturalistic, for it lacks shadows. Still, with that exception, it is an attempt at representing real scenes and real people. Their landscapes are drawn in European perspective. Their figures are real Japanese men and women, commonplace but living. Their works, in drawing, composition and design, tho perhaps less in color, are really a "mirror of the passing world" of their day. They show us what the life of the Japanese people of the first half of the nineteenth century really was. Hokusai has been lauded by some writers as the greatest painter of Japan and decried by others as a ARTS OF THE WORLD. 215 VA KAG M I R. V A K U T S '^ MITTITE ^<^ ASSYRIAN SUMERIAN PERSIAN A N N s O R T H TUNGUSSE r 1 a' Twl C 6 AINU T I B E TAN H V Asiatic Arts. 216 -JAPANESE ABT. rather low down, vulgar performer. Both views are exaggerated and the truth must be sought between them. Moderation in all things! Hokusai was a capital draughtsman of remarkable versatility who drew from memory thousands of incidents of the life around him. His instinct for composition was unusually acute and of all the Japanese print designers he was the cleverest sketcher. His line is broken and picturesque, not in the least classical or calligraphic. In that respect he is distinctly different from most of the earher painters or print designers of Japan. The weak spot of Hokusai prints, however, is their color. This is sometimes crude, especially in a blue, perhaps indigo, which is violent and unpleasant. Of course this is Hokusai's misfortune rather than his fault, as the colors of the printers had already deteriorated by his time. Nevertheless Hokusai must shoulder the blame and 1 suspect it is the strong blues and greens of his prints which have brought on him sometimes the stigma of vulgarity. There are a great number of prints of landscapes, of about the years 1820-1830, almost all longer than high. These are signed Hiroshige. There are also a number of prints of landscapes, of about the years 1840-1850, almost all uprights. These are likewise signed Hiroshige. Some writers attribute the length- wise and the upright series to the same painter: others to two men. The signature of the two sets, however, is not quite the same. And much more important, the drawing and the detail of the earUer set is much firmer and crisper than that of the later set. From the internal art evidences I should judge that they were by different men, and that these are rightly distinguished as Hiroshige I. and Hiroshige II. Their work is certainly more akin to European art than is that of earlier Japanese landscapists and they may well ARTS OF THE WORLD. 217 have obtained some inspiration from European models. Altho some examples of both series are very nice, yet there can be no doubt, I think, that the lengthwise prints are the best prints of landscape from Japan. They have good drawing and fine composition in endless forms and varieties. The weakest spot is the color which, altho less raw perhaps than Hokusai's, is not quite up to the best color printing. Nevertheless Hiroshige I., was a master, a delightful and very productive landscape designer, whose work it is always a pleasure to look at. 218 AUSTRALASIAN ART, Part IV. AUSTRALASIA. AUSTRALASIAN ART. In the islands of the Pacific Ocean there grew up in past times some most individual mainly decorative art which, as a whole, may best be spoken of as Australasian art. There are two great branches of this art, Melanesian and Polynesian, and it is extremely probable that originally they were entirely distinct arts. Australasian art stretched over the islands of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, from the Andamans in the west, to Easter Island and Hawaii in the east, and from Tasmania in the south to Yezo* in the north. Sumatra, Borneo, the Philip- pines, Australia, Melanesia, Polynesia and Micronesia even now belong to Australasian art; and I have no doubt that Java and Japan did formerly. On the mainland of Asia also, in China formerly and in Siberia and Indo-China to-day, there is some art so similar to Australasian art that they all surely sprang from art impulses similar in kind and degree and all these arts therefore are in close relationship. The little art there is from Madagascar — and from nowhere in the world is there so little — ^is probably Australasian, more Polynesian than Melanesian. f Several races inhabit Australasia and this adds greatly to the difficulty of classifying and systematizing Australasian art. Ethnologists' opinions vary in regard to these races: some for instance hold that there is, others that there is not some White race blood in * Ante, p. 143. t -Ante, p. 96. AKTS OF THE WORLD. 219 Australasia. For the student of art, the following classification* into three races is sufficiently compre- hensive: 1. Straight haired, light brown race. Andamans, Malaya. Malays, pure, or mixed with Nicobars, Chinese, Japanese and Siunatra, Hindu. Java, Bali, Lombok, Borneo. 2. Crisp haired, dark brown race. New Guinea, Melanesia. Melanesians, Papuans, Negritos. Admiralty Id., New Hanover, New Britain, New Ireland, Solomon Ids., New Hebrides, New Caledonia, Fiji, Tasmania, Torres Strait Ids. 3. Wavy haired, brown race. Philippines, East Malaya, Polynesians, Australians, Celebes. East Malays, separate or mixed with the other two. Pelew, Marshall, Micronesia. Caroline, Gilbert. Australia, New Zealand, Tonga, Niue or Savage, Harvey, Austral, Tahiti, Easter Id., Marquesas, Hawaii, Samoa, EUice. Polynesia. Melanesian art and Polynesian art are in about the same stage of development. Nevertheless in their central geographical points they are so different from each other that it seems impossible that they had * Ratzel. 220 AUSTRALASIAN ART. a comihon origin. These arts rise to their most individual heights in the groups of islands known to ethnologists and geographers as Melanesia and Polynesia and in certain limited localities they are absolutely distinct. But in many of the islands of the Pacific Ocean art has traits common to both these arts. This is the case in Malaya, in Yezo and to a lesser degree in Micronesia. Melanesian art, as a pure art, extends from Papua to New Caledonia and the New Hebrides. In Fiji it is affected by Polynesian art. There is certainly some Melanesian art in AustraUa and also in most of the Malayan islands. There are some drawings but Melanesian art nowhere reaches a pictorial stage. There is some sculpture and there is much decorative art whose patterns, altho sometimes in curves, are usually straight or rectangular. The coloration of Melanesian art seems to me more individual and distinctive than the forms. Melanesian art is about on the same level as Polynesian art and rises to its best, probably, in New Ireland. The Melanesians, like the Africans, are a black race, but if there be any relationship between the Melanesians and the Africans it must be many millenniums back. The art specimens of both locaUties are too recent to be much help. African sculpture, as a rule, is better than Melanesian sculpture; the Africans observed and sculpted faces in a way the Melanesians never did. On the other hand, the Africans never invented anything like the New Ireland sculptures. Polynesian art, as a distinct art, is found in the most easterly islands of the South Pacific, including New Zealand, Easter Island, Samoa, EUice and Hawaii. There are some drawings which in several instances almost rise to the pictorial. Certain forms of human statues at Easter Island, Hawaii and New Zealand especially, carvings on paddles and clubs, and tapa ARTS OF THE WORLD. 221 cloth and its decorations are all very distinctive. Polynesian art is different from Melanesian art, altho there is a connection thru Fiji and in Malaya. Poly- nesian sculptures of humans can never be termed beautiful and, tho many figures from Polynesia are better proportioned than many figures from Africa, Polynesian heads as a rule do not have as much character, reahsm and accuracy as most African heads. Many of the decorations by Polynesian artists on clubs, paddles and cloths on the contrary are really beautiful and show much feeling for line and fiUing spaces. Some of these carvings are extremely elaborate and evidently required much time to carry out: indeed I have been told that some Polynesian paddles took twenty years to carve. Melanesian art, in my opinion, is the main factor of art thruout Malaya. Polynesian art also plays a part there, but in a lesser degree. This mixed Austra- lasian art certainly extended to Formosa and probably included Japan and Yezo. In some parts of Malaya the underlying Australasian art has been superseded by art from the mainland. South Asiatic art for instance has practically swept away Australasian art from Java and has also penetrated into Sumatra. East Asiatic art has taken some hold in the Philippines and in Borneo, in which latter island the Japanese torii, for instance, is found. In Japan itself East Asiatic art has so completely superseded Australasian, that it is hard to be sure that the latter ever was there. And since there are only faint resemblances to Australasian art remaining in South and East Asiatic art, when these appear in the islands of the Pacific they may be looked on as intruders. The art of Micronesia is a composite art, mainly Polynesian with touches of Melanesian. There are no specimens of graphic or sculptural art from the four 222 AUSTRALASIAN ART, Micronesian island groups, but there is a great deal of decorative art. Some of their fabrics and patterns are pretty and, tho different from those from Samoa and the Ellice Islands, are usually closely in relation with Poljoiesia. The most individual Micronesian products are the cocoanut string or reed armor and the shark teeth weapons of the Gilbert Islanders, and these too are in touch with Hawaii. Australasian art scarcely reaches the pictorial stage, altho in certain cases it is on the verge of doing so. Probably none of it suggests pictures, certainly none of it suggests perspective. In many places it reaches the sculptural stage and much of it consists of wooden sculpted figures, sometimes with unnaturally large heads, always with curiously shaped heads, frequently with undersized bodies and generally with short legs. Masks are rather rare. Everywhere it reaches the decorative stage. Australasian artists sometimes achieve but poor results, yet in many cases their work has real artistic quality and merit. Australasian art, as a whole, must be looked on as practically independent from most other arts. It is entirely different from Egean, Egyptian or West Asiatic art. There are traces of art resembhng it in India and China; it is still lingering in Java and Japan; there are certain resemblances to West North Amerind art which suggest kinship; and there are certain generic traits common to Negro art and to Australasian art which show that these arts are similar in kind and degree altho relationship between them seems impossible. Thruout Australasia, the art of each island group dovetails more or less with that of its neighbors. But almost every group of islands and in some cases indi- vidual islands have produced art work with a local stamp which is found nowhere else. It therefore seems ARTS OF THE WORLD. 223 most rational to speak separately of the art of each island group, following as far as possible their geograph- ical positions from west to east. MALAYA. Andamans. Some bits of broken pottery from the Andaman Islands are inscribed with wavy and zigzag Hnes.* I have seen nothing else which could be termed art work from there. I feel uncertain therefore whether these islands are connected artistically princi- pally with the mainland of Asia or with the Australasian islands; they may be connected with both. NicoBARS. From the Nicobars comes some rather original art. There are many large wooden almost nude figures from about sixty centimeters to two meters high.f Some of the faces are painted red and the eyes are set in with some white substance. This latter is a distinctly Australasian touch, altho the figures themselves do not thoroly resemble any Poly- nesian or any Melanesian figures. They are probably a mixture of Polynesian and Melanesian art, with Melanesian predominating, diverging therefrom partly on account of their distance from the central points of these arts. Sumatra. Smnatra art originally was unquestionably Australasian. To-day there is a stratum of Australasian art remaining, on which another stratum of South Asiatic art is gradually forming. This is shown, for instance, by some decorations on cloths, etc., which are South Asiatic in character, t The Australasian art of Sumatra is a mixture of Polynesian and Melanesian. Some shields from Smnatra are decorated with patterns decidedly Melanesian, * United States N. M. t British M. j Salem P. M. 224 MALAYA. except that the lines are more rounded. Two little nude figures of light colored wood, a man and a woman, from Nias Island off the west coast of Sumatra, have tall head pieces, apparently representing one great palm leaf and resembling somewhat bishops' miters. These are much like the headdresses on paddles from the Solomon Islands and on stilts from the Marquesas. This decoration is apparently, therefore, both Melanesian • and Polynesian.* Two little wooden carved heads from the Batta tribe in Sumatra f strongly resemble in their lines and general shape some Easter Island heads and some Hawaii feather heads. This is the most westerly spot from which I have seen the Easter Island type of head, and it implies blood relationship between the artists of Easter Island, Hawaii, and Sumatra. I pubhshed this observation already in 1906$, but heard no more of the matter until 1917, when a paper, Easter Island, was read before the Royal Geographical Society and in the discussion of that paper Sir Henry Howarth§ said that the only place he knew of where inscriptions in the least like those of Easter Island are to be found was among some of the wild races of Sumatra such as the Battas. He infers from this that the Malays may be related to or have had relations with the primitive people of Easter Island. His opinion, based on the resemblance of primitive writings, therefore corroborates exactly my opinion based wholly on the resemblance or similarity between sculpted heads and moreover on an exceedingly small number of these. Java. Several hundred thousand years ago, in the Pleiocene period, Java was the home of the oldest * Salem P. M. t British M. X Comparative Art, page 140. § The Geographical Journal, 1917, Vol. XLIX, page 347. ARTS OF THE WOBLD. 225 known cousin of man, pithecanthropus erectus. Never- theless there is no art remaining from Java which antedates the Christian era. But it is highly probable that whatever art there was in Java say fifteen hundred or more years ago, was purely Australasian. For there are still in Java some faint survivals of Australasian art. For instance, a few bamboo sticks believed to be from Java and ornamented with patterns much like some from New Hanover show relationship with Melanesia.* The original native art was largely super- seded, however, by one or more waves of art from India and Cochin China. South Asiatic art spread to Java at one period and left its mark in the great Buddhistic temple at Boro- budur in the center of Java. This is somewhat pyra- midal in form and was built, it is believed, about the eighth or ninth century A. D.f Borobudur consists of a number of terraces, rising one above the other to a height of thirty-five meters. It contains a number of seated Buddhas and no less than fifteen hundred and four bas reliefs. J These are a good deal weather worn. They show the usual Hindu softness or flabbiness, but the proportions, action, expression and poses of the figures are unusually good. They are evidently care- fully studied from life and are not abstracts of mental conceptions. I fail to see any descent from any art but South Asiatic. European art never did anything quite like them. They are less realistic than the sculptures from Bharhut, Sanchi or Amaravati and show the art of that ear her period already altered, probably thru religious conventions. On Bali island, there is also a Hindu, probably * Harvard U. P. M. t Illustrations: J. F. van Bemmelen and G. B. Hooyer: Guide through Netherlands India. X Illustrations: E. B. Havell: Indian Scidpture and Painting. 226 MALAYA. Buddhist temple. This is perhaps the furthest exten- sion eastward of highly developed Hindu art.* Hindu art also left one interesting Brahmanist architectural relic, at Prambanan, in the centre of Java. Here are a number of small temples together somewhat pyramidal in shape and ornamented with many bas reliefs of subjects in Hindu mythology, f These are Brahmanistic and inferior to and later than the bas reliefs at Borobudur. Some old and weather worn stone statues from Java also are pure Hindu Brah- manistic art. J One is a Ganesh; another a Durga. The proportions are good, there is no archaic rigidity, and the swing and action of the body is well expressed. They must be considered as very fair art. The invasion of Java by Europeans, while not much altering the character of the native art, still did so, at any rate in certain subjects, to a shght extent. This is the case with a lot of little bronze figurines from the temple of Jochtacartha.* They are small, perhaps ten to twenty centimeters in height. They have a good deal of action and many of these figures are in arrested motion. Their age and make is unknown, but as some have guns and cocked hats, it is evident that they are not very old, perhaps two hundred years. Probably they were done by some native Javanese artists, about the time of the first European inroads of Java. Many hideous masks, painted in crude colors and resembling Singhalese masks from Ceylon, come from Java.§ Some queer grotesque highly colored and gilt figures, some thirty to fifty centimeters high, also come * J. F. van Bemmelen and G. B. Hooyer: Guide through Netherlands India. t Illustrations: E. B. Havell: Indian Sculpture and Painting, t Salem P. M. § British M. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 227 from there.* There are two similar figures from Lombok. My impression is that they are due to the underlying Malay-Australasian art instinct asserting itself among the people. From Java also comes some printed or rather dyed textile art known as Batik. The original patterns are more South Asiatic than Australasian in character. Batiks have lately been made to some extent in America, the designs being often imitations of Indo- Persian paintings. Javanese art indeed is a good deal of a medley. Originally Australasian, the inroads of South Asiatic art have affected it most profoundly; and the inroad of European art barely at all. But the South Asiatic influence has partly passed away and has been altered and moulded by the racial characteristics of the Jav- anese into an art which has a certain local individu- ality and shows its descent from its several parent arts. Borneo. Borneo art is Australasian with a veneer of East Asiatic. Its main factor is Melanesian; it has some touches of Polynesian; and on top of this comes some influence from China and Japan. There are no pictures from Borneo. There is decorative painting, some of which resembles the decorative art of Simiatra.f Some in white, black, red and yellow ochre is closely akin to decorative painting from Papua. A number of shields, however, are ornamented with patterns, generally in straight lines and rectangles and some few curves, which are decidedly different from Papuan art. Three of these have decorative heads, with babirussa tusks; they are painted yellow ochre, black and a little dull red, and are faintly reminiscent of New Ireland. | Some basket * British M. — Louvre. t Salem P. M. t Harvard U. P. M. 228 MALAYA. work also has rectangular patterns which are quite unlike most Australasian or Amerind work.* From the. Kayans there are some rather nicely decorated pipes and other objects. f There is some tattooing in Borneo and this seems different from New Zealand tattooing.! There is a good deal of rough sculpture from Borneo. Among this are a number of small wooden figures which are infantile, shapeless and of no special type.§ Some of these, it is said, are intended to represent persons to whom harm is wished; and as the wood decays or is eaten by insects the body of these persons is supposed to waste away until death ensues. Some poles have several superposed carved figures or heads and are set up in front of a house after a successful head hunt to show how many persons were killed. 1 1 They are poor work and inferior to Alaska totem poles to which, as an art form, they are almost similar. Some masks, worn by medicine men and dancers during festivities, are usually painted with white and black, and have a pronounced Australasian, in some cases, Papuan appearance. 1[ The best piece of sculpture I have seen from Borneo is the figurehead of a canoe which represents a crocodile's head holding in its open jaws a sitting monkey. || There is also a little feather work from Borneo.* In Borneo distending and elongating the earlobe seems to be almost universal. As this ugly fashion has extended from about Beluchistan to Easter Island, Korea and Mexico, Borneo is fairly in the center of the elongated ear's "sphere of influence." * Harvard U. P. M. t British M. } Photographs by W. H. Furness. § U. Penn. M. S. & A.— Harvard U. P. M.— British M. ||U. Penn. M. 8. &A. i[ U. Penn. M. S. & A. Harvard U. P. M. ARTS OP THE WORLD. 229 Of late years there has been also some East Asiatic influence at work in the art of Borneo. The most noteworthy specimens are certain structures closely akin to Japanese torii. They are decorated with carvings suggestive of Chinese dragons and with painted decora- tions suggesting Papuan art.* Another most unique bit of art, probably from Borneo, is a model of a boat, made out of cloves; the work is minute and suggests Chinese handiwork, f Celebes. Celebes art is at least partly Melanesian, as shown by some bamboo sticks on which are patterns much resembling those from New Hanover.* A curious shield, from the Celebes, is ornamented with shells in transverse bars and with hanging tufts of what may be hair.f Philippines. The art of the Philippines is a mixture. It is mainly Australasian and this forms an underlying stratum which is nearer to Melanesian than to Poly- nesian art. After this comes an overlying stratum of South Asiatic and East Asiatic art. The comparatively few specimens of Philippine art I have seen are all recent, t Some of the decorations are rectilinear and are strongly Melanesian. This is the case on one shield in particular, on which is drawn a great mouth with babirussa tusks sticking out of it. Many of the PhiUppine patterns, however, are not rectilinear and show relationship rather to Polynesian than to Melan- esian art. One wooden statue, about thirty centimeters high, with one arm thrown up, tho rough and in poor proportions, yet has rather good swing and action, and is better than many African statues: this can be labelled nothing more definite than Australasian, f Some models of houses show a Chinese or South * Harvard U. P. M. t Salem P. M. 230 MELANESIA. Asiatic influence; and a small crocodile and bullock in bronze, both with rather good action, also are due probably to South Asiatic or East Asiatic influence.* From northern Luzon island, Bontoc Igorot and Ifugao work appear to be entirely Australasian, a mixture of Melanesian and Polynesian. There is no East Asiatic influence among the real native work, which is also quite different from West North Amerind work.f Bontoc Igorot work is more Melanesian than Polynesian, t Ifugao work is more Polynesian than Melanesian. It is more individual than Borneo art. A number of very nude httle wooden figurines have quite fair proportions and resemble somewhat Polynesian Easter Island figures. There is also basketry and a little decorative art from the Ifugaos.f MELANESIA. New Guinea or Papua. The art of New Guinea is distinctly Melanesian. It consists mainly of wooden sculptures, decorative work and some feather work. Papuan art, however, varies in various parts of the island: that from West New Guinea is not quite the same as that from East New Guinea. There are many rough wooden figures of humans, animals, birds, etc. J The humans are ugly and almost formless. Some of these figures, generally between about twenty centimeters and eighty centi- meters high, have the eyes colored white. § All this sculpture is grotesquely bad. Sometimes the sculpture takes the totem pole art form. One piece of timber, for instance, has three heads and three patches of decorative work sculpted one over the other. Never- * Salem P. M. t Harvard U. P. M. j British M.— Harvard U. P. M. § British M. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 231 theless I cannot feel any real resemblance to West North Amerind art. Some Papuan carved figures remind me of the figures on Solomon Islands paddles.* One lime spoon from New Guinea has for handle a figure, much like the Nissan island, Solomon Islands, paddle figure, only it lacks the palm leaf headdress.* Papuan decorative art is found on shields, masks, paddles, bark belts and other implements, and some of it is rather pretty. The ornamentations from West New Guinea are somewhat different from those from East New Guinea. Most of the shields and big masks have the patterns dug out or burnt in low relief; this accentuates the pattern. As a rule, the shields and masks are decorated with red, white and black. One shield is very different from the others: it is smooth, mainly white, and a lot of rather pretty pattern decorations are painted on it. Some pieces of bamboo are decorated in black with Melanesian patterns.* There are some implements or weapons almost like the patu-patu of New Zealand, only a little longer. Some curious somewhat sand-glass shaped implements, open at one end, with some kind of covering like fish skin at the other, are probably drums. The open end of some of these is carved roughly hke crocodile heads and jaws, and some of these are colored red, white and black. Some of the shields, masks and crocodile head shaped implements have certain resemblances to New Ireland art; but New Guinea art seems to me less artistic than New Ireland art.* Admiralty Islands. From the Admiralty Islands, there are some lances tipped with chipped obsidian points: the fastenings of these points are decorated with Melanesian patterns in red, white and black of a local type. There is one small mask, about the size * Harvard U. P. M. 232 MELANESIA. of a small, narrow faced man. This is Melanesian, not much like Papuan masks, and reminds one dimly of the heads on paddles from the Solomon Islands.* New Hanovee. Some lances of bamboo from New Hanover are decorated, each at one spot, with some rather pretty designs, in black or brown lines, some of which are rectangular and others wavy. The decora- tions are Melanesian, but local.* New Britain. The art of New Britain is certainly Melanesian. From there come some figures carved in chalk, from thirty to fifty centimeters high.f They are uncompromisingly nude, almost shapeless and are little better than symbols. Altho these attempts at art are almost grotesque, yet there is something naive about them, which redeems them from being absolutely ugly. There are some undecorated paddles and wooden weapons from New Britain.* The clubs from this island are different from the clubs from Fiji. J New Ireland. New Ireland art is pure Melanesian art and is probably the most artistic of Melanesian arts. It includes sculptures, masks and decorative work, but nothing which can be termed pictorial art. It is very different from much Melanesian work, and resembles most closely some Papuan work. A magnificent set of carved wooden figures, about one meter high, are supposed to be ancestral figures, f They are painted red, white, and black. They are carved into extraordinary shapes; some have huge tusks, Uke babirussas; others have birds attached to them. There are also some smaller figures and carvings of several birds. It may be only a wild fancy, but somehow these New Ireland figures remind me of the suits of lacquered armor, with strange variegated orna- * Harvard U. P. M. t British M. t Salem P. M. ARTS OP THE WORLD. 233 mentation, which were worn formerly by the Japanese Samurai. A splendid wooden sculpture from New Ireland rep- resents the figure of a man, on whose abdomen some creature, which may be either a bird or a fish, is placed pointing upwards.* The colors are white, black, red and a little yellow. The figure is about 1.50 meters high. The body is about two heads long and the legs about one head long; the waist is much pinched in under the shoulders, showing the makers were used to the Papuan belt or corset for men. There is a big headdress, which terminates in five points, doubtless intended to represent feathers. A beard, of some kind of dark grass, springs from the chin. The eyes of the man and those of the bird are made of some kind of stone or glass which gives a most hving look. This is really wonderful art, distinct from any other. Another fine piece of New Ireland wood carving, colored in the same white, black, red and yellow, and done in the same technic, has a man, a bird, a snake, and several other animals all convoluted together in a regular tangle, t Two large wooden statues are probably from New Ireland or perhaps from New Guinea. | One is about 1 meter, the other about 1.50 meters high. They are mainly painted white, and there are some decorations and marks on the bodies in fight red, dark red, and black. They are said to come from ghost houses, and any underlying rehgious idea in them is certainly not that of a totem pole, tho there is some art resemblance to Alaska totem poles. Thiey are quaint and curious, and I never saw any statues quite like them. There are also some masks, probably dancing masks, * Harvard U. P. M. t Salem P. M. $ Replicas: American M. N. H. 234 MELANESIA. from New Ireland.* One of these is painted like the admirable New Ireland figures, and is evidently identi- cal as art. Two masks on the contrary resemble Papuan masks, f Altho there is little sense of proportion and little anatomy or observation of nature in New Ireland figures, yet New Ireland art is most remarkable and original. It reveals an innate sense and feeling for color and decoration in its makers. It is totally unhke Polynesian art, and goes to show that pure Melanesian art is a separate, autochthonous art. Solomon Islands. Solomon Islands art is most artis- tic. It is especially original in certain decorative figures. The Solomon Islanders made many rather small figures of wood and carved coral. J These are aU ugly, but curiously enough the heads have something of the Easter Island type. There are many lances, clubs and paddles from the Solomons. Many of these are rather plain, but many are ornamented with straight or rectangular patterns, with resemblances to New Ireland and to Papua. § A few of the paddles, however, are decorated with human heads. § They wear curious head pieces, some- thing Uke a bishop's miter. Probably this "miter" is a palm leaf headdress similar to those from Mas Island and the Marquesas: in several cases, there is a small decorative body with arms and legs under these heads, and this dwarfed figure is all bunched up in a way I have seen from elsewhere only on a couple of "West North Amerind blankets. || The colors on these figured paddles are white, red, and black. They are believed * British M.— Salem P. M. t Salem P. M. t British M. § Harvard U. P. M.— Salem P. M. jl American M. N. H. ARTS OF THE WORLD, 235 to come from only one island in the Solomon group and, whilst they are something hke New Ireland art and also suggest the tall headdresses of Australian cor- roborees, the unmistakable artistic similarity in concep- tion to some West North Amerind figures is striking. New Hebrides. From the New Hebrides come some ugly wooden figiires which in some places, especially on the face, are daubed over with red and blue streaks.* From the New Hebrides also there are some curious clubs, carved into spikes and excrescences like teeth, f Here is a bond with Fiji and the Gilbert Islands. New Caledonia. New Caledonian art is of an inferior Melanesian type. There is some sculpture. There are several small rather grotesque wooden figures.* A curious post is carved at the top to represent what is, probably, a woman. A pick shaped club, represent- ing the head and beak of a bird, is used it is said for purposes of husbandry as well as for war and as art appears to be local. f New Caledonian sculpture is much rougher than, for instance. New Ireland sculpture and seems absolutely distinct from Polynesian art. Fiji. Fiji is a meeting ground of Melanesian and Polynesian art, that is Fijian art is a transition. There is no real drawing or painting from Fiji, but plenty of decorative work. Much of this is on Fijian tapa cloth and on grass fabrics. Often it is in straight lines and rectangles, with much resemblance to Papuan decora- tions, especially on some tapa cloth mats. Some of the patterns are from flowers, with a more Papuan square- ness in decoration than is noticeable in Polynesia. Some white tapa cloth, however, is decorated with black and brown designs, resembling those from Niue Island. J * British M. t Harvard U. P. M. t Harvard U. P. M.— Salem P. M. 236 POLYNESIA. There are many kiads of spears and war clubs from Fiji, which are splendid unsurpassed work of their kind. Many are of plain wood. On some spears there are many barbs. Some clubs are ornamented with shells mainly in Melanesian patterns. Some clubs and paddles, however, are ornamented with decorations resembling, except that they are much inferior. Austral Islands, Polynesia, decorations. This appears to be the only decoration of the kind in Melanesia.* There are a number of food dishes and oil jars from Fiji made of a reddish or brownish hued pottery. Some of this is rough, some has a sort of glaze. On the tops of some of the jars are incized linear designs, resembling the lines and patterns of many Polynesian patterns. Similar designs are also found on some Fiji war clubs, t Pillows, that is neck rests, from Fiji, are similar in shape to some from Korea and Japan, f Torres Strait Islands. The art of the Torres Strait islanders is Melanesian. Some drawings are fairly good, but their sculptures, among which are some humans, are poor. From Jervis Islands, some tortoise shell masks representing crocodiles are clever but bar- barous art. J POLYNESIA. Australia. Despite the dictum of some ethnologists that the Australians belong to the wavy haired, brown race of the Celebes, Phihppines, Micronesia and Poly- nesia, Australian art, as far as the specimens I have seen are concerned, is unquestionably Melanesian, in touch with New Guinea. § There is no resemblance to New Zealand art, but much to Papuan art; in fact, * Harvard U. P. M.— Salem P. M. t Harvard U. P. M. t British M. § British M.— Harvard U. P. M.— Salem P. M. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 237 Australian art and Papuan art dovetail across Torres Strait. Some shells, shields, spears, boomerangs and clubs show some extremely primitive decorations, in the shape of rough drawings or patterns, which certainly could not be placed among Polynesian art and hardly among Melanesian art. A few wooden shields, how- ever, have patterns, possibly suggested by those on snake skins, which resemble considerably the patterns on some ceremom'al masks from British Papua. These Australian decorations are painted in white, dull red, yellow and black, while the Papuan patterns have mainly white, black and red, and but rarely yellow. There is, however, well authenticated evidence of the existence in Australia of some art which is difficult to classify. In 1838, Sir George Grey discoveied some colored drawings in caves and a head sculpted on a near-by rock on the Glenelg river, north west Australia. He published some illustrations from his sketches, and as Sir George Grey was only an amateur artist, this must be taken into account when looking at them.* The drawings are of himians and in two instances of kan- garoos. Yellow, red, blue and black are used on white paper in the illustrations. In the humans the bodies and arms are small and short relatively to the heads; the eyes and noses are indicated, but not the ears, mouths or chins. These figures aU have something like a headdress which resembles somewhat a halo. One of the figures, whose proportions are better than the others and whose hands and feet are well indicated, is clothed in a long red gown or shirt, and over his head, in his headdress, are some signs which might almost be con- strued into a word "sitilf." The headdresses and the long red gowns are much like some of the extraordinary costumes used by some Australian tribes in their * Sir George Grey: Journal of two expeditions of discovery in north west and western Australia. 238 POLYNESIA, initiation ceremonies and corroborees, and the faces in which only eyes and noses are indicated might be reproductions of masks and not of the human face at a]]. These drawings do not look like any Australian art specimens I have seen, but they dimly suggest Byzantine art. The head sketched by Sir George Grey was about sixty centimeters long and forty centimeters broad, and was dug out, in a sandstone rock, from the edges to a depth of about four centimeters in the center. The edges were rounded off, so that it must have been exposed for a long time to atmospheric influences. There is nothing Australasian about this head in the illustration, indeed it suggests a white man's head. Some older travellers in Australia have also reported native drawings. For instance Captain Flinders found in caves on Chasm Island, Gulf of Carpentaria, some rude drawings in charcoal and a sort of red paint of humans, kangaroos, porpoises and turtles.* Mr. Cun- ningham found on the roof and sides of a cave on Clack's Island, northeast coast of Australia, tolerable drawings of sharks, porpoises, turtles, of some quad- rupeds, and of canoes and clubs, executed on a ground of red ochre and delineated by dots of a white argil- laceous earth, t Some Austrahans, therefore, had advanced to a pictographic stage. There are also some exceedingly unusual drawings or paintings which may hail from northwest Australia and which may have been found by a Captain Brad- shaw.l They are of humans and animals. The figures are nude; their proportions are good; some of the ♦Matthew Flinders: A Voyage to Terra Australis, 1814, Vol. II., p. 188. t Phillip P. King, R. N. : Narrative of a Survey of the* * * Coasts of Australia, 1827, Vol. II., p. 25. t Illustrations: N.W.Thomas: Natives of Australia, 1906. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 239 waists are strongly pinched in, showing an exaggerated female figure; there are no feet, the legs just wander- ing off into painted streaks. They mostly wear a sort of long, baggy or pendant headdress. One of the draw- ings appears to be a female, with something like a dress behind her, and this dress goes off into what appears to be a snake and is finished in a snake's head. A kan- garoo and a snake in one picture are well drawn; in another there is a big fish or possibly crocodile. In one of the paintings there are some unintelligible marks and signs back of the figures. As far as I know, these drawings are sui generis. The proportions of the figures are strongly European and one figure of a man with his headdress is decidedly Assyrian. The animals, however, are Australian; the headdresses are very similar to those of the Arunta and other tribes of central Australia; whilst pinched waists are found among some Papuan men.* These various drawings undoubtedly are an extraord- inary development of Australasian art: indeed it is difficult to fathom their parentage. Certainly they are not Melanesian. Neither does it seem possible that there is any foreign influence in them. The only apparent ancestry left therefore is Polynesian and this would correspond to the anthropological status assigned by ethnologists to the Australians. The resemblance or reminiscence to White race art also, opens the only vista in Australasian art in support of the theory of relationship between the Polynesians and the Indo- Europeans. New Zealand. Maori art is pure Polynesian. There is a good deal of it, principally in the form of sculp- ture and decorative work. There are many wooden figures, from small ones up to some about 1.50 meters ♦Baldwin Spencer and F. J. Gillen: The Native tribes of Central Australia-'Noithem tribes of Central Australia." 240 POLYNESIA. high.* The heads are usually big and the trunks and legs dwarfed. A characteristic figure has a big head with small eyes, small mouth, a round knobby button of a nose, httle arms and hands, two uprights for legs, and the face and arms covered with tattoo marks, f The head is usually the part best done; often there are shell eyes; sometimes the tongue hangs out. The back of the head is generally almost absent, but there is a good high forehead. Frequently these figures are decorated with incized linear patterns, especially the faces, on which the lines reproduce the tattoo marks, following the great muscles of the face, so common on Maori heads. Some carved poles about 1.50 meters high, have several heads one over the other, in the manner of Alaska totem poles, f Some New Zealand neck ornaments of greenstone represent little figures, quite flat, with eyes of shell or mother of pearl set sideways. They are called "hei- tiki" and seem to be a purely New Zealand art form. J Numerous wooden bowls and utensils are ornamented with a local variety of the multi-lined Polynesian carv- ing. § Many of the decorative patterns are in curved Unes of a high Polynesian type and some of them resemble the decorations on paddles from Austral Islands. Some feather work in the shape of cloaks and a robe or blanket of bird feathers is not unlike Hawai- ian work. 1 1 Besides clubs, the Maoris made some weapons called patu-patu which are really bone or stone swords. These appear to be local to New Zealand, but strange to say, almost the identical thing has been found in Colorado. There is real feeling in Maori art, which is one of * British M.— American M. N. H.— Harvard U. P. M. t British M. t Salem P. M. § Harvard U. P. M— Salem P. M. llHarvardU. P. M. ARTS OP THE WORLD. 241 the most advanced forms of Polynesian art. The heads have the peculiar characteristics of heads from Easter Island and Hawaii, whilst the undersized ill-formed bodies show a distinct artistic similarity to some sculp- tures from Africa and America. Tonga. From Tonga there are many clubs and paddles, decorated with straight lines and rectangles. There is also tapa cloth, decorated mainly with floral patterns. All Tonga patterns are true Polynesian, but they are simple, that is somewhat less developed than patterns from some other parts of Polynesia, for instance the Hervey Islands.* NiuE OR Savage Island. From Niue Island comes some white tapa cloth covered with black or dark brown decorative patterns taken mainly from flowers and laid on firm and clear, f Hervey Islands. From the Hervey Islands come some sculpted small wooden humans which are pretty poor art. A crude specimen of a sort of totem pole has a big head and under this two smaller heads at right angles to the big one.f One remarkable figure, however, has a head of the Easter Island variety and three small figures carved on top of the chest. { Nxunerous beautiful decorative patterns from the Hervey Islands, on wooden paddles, adzes, tapa cloth, etc., often are in curves and are most unusual. Some ceremonial stone axes have wooden handles, beautifully carved, some d jour: these appear to be local, altho their carvings are of a general Polynesian appearance. All Hervey Islands patterns are totally unlike Amerind patterns.* Austral Islands. There is a certain local originality about Austral Islands art. One remarkable figure has * Harvard U. P. M.— Salem P. M. t Harvard U. P. M. i British M. 242 POLYNESIA. small figures, which stand out from it, carved on the nose, the mouth, the ears, the eyes and on other parts of the body.* This is rather similar to one figure from the Hervey Islands; and it reminds one in its artistic idea, but not in its technic, of the hideous statue of Diana of the Ephesians.f From the Aus- tral Islands also, there are many paddles, beautifully decorated in straight lines and rectangles. These decorations are not the same as, but they are similar and superior to, Tonga decorations. J Tahiti. From the Tahiti or Society Islands, there are some grotesque, poor, wooden figures.* There is also some tapa cloth and some pretty and original feather work. One splendid moon shaped headdress, ornamented with feathers, must measure 1.30 meters across. § Easter Island or Rap a Nui. In spite of its distance from other lands, much art was made on Easter Island, in the shape of big stone and small wooden sculptures, and some decorative art. In the Jardin des Plantes, Paris, is a great stone head from Easter Island. It is about 1.80 meters high. It has a large rather square hose; great, deeply carved, cavernous eyes; a tiny slit of a mouth with a strong determined expression; a square chin; and long, not much worked out ears. There is scarcely any back to the head and a low forehead. The nose, eyes and mouth are much modelled. This head is a most dignified piece of sculpture. I had some difficulty in finding it in 1905 when it was poked away under a shed and surrounded by a lot of old scrap iron, or as one of the more intelligent gardiens expressed it "dans un endroit ou Von * British M, t Naples M. t Harvard U. P. M. § Harvard U. P. M.— Salem P. M. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 243 met les vieux rossignols."* In London there are two stone heads about sixty to seventy centimeters high.f They have great hollow eyes and a big nose. The mouth is big, almost negroid in type. There is scarcely any forehead or back to these heads. In Washington there is a big stone head and also a big stone statue of a man sculpted only as far down as the waist. | This statue wears a high stone cap which has no brim or visor and is shaped somewhat Uke a Persian fur cap. This statue is thin from front to back, apparently a usual characteristic of Easter Island art. The body is only a little longer than the head, the arms are rather diminutive and the hands are relatively tiny, with enormously long fingers, clasped over the abdomen. The proportions are somewhat those of African art. It seems incredible that these great stone figures should have been carved, as they must have been, with stone implements. The wooden figures from Easter Island vary between about thirty and sixty centimeters in height. § They are of all proportions, from long and lean, to short and squat. Some of these figures have a tall head, moderate body and short legs, that is the proportions are similar to some African figures. Many are unnat- tirally thin. On these the ribs appear, also the lower part of the breast bone, under which is a hollow, representing evidently, as the navel is apparent, the outside of the abdomen which has fallen away inwards. This intense thinness and the hollow abdomen, a feature in art perhaps found only in the art of East Island, is doubtless due to the natives acquiring these characteristics in times of famine. There is no back to * The New York Herald, Paris, May 25, 1905. t British M. t United States N. M. § British M.— Harvard U. P. M.— Salem P. M.— U, Penn. M. S. & A. 244 POLYNESIA. the head to speak of and a small skull with a low forehead. The eyes are inset with some kind of stone, obsidian perhaps, and there are enormous ears with the lobes distended by a weight. Some of the heads have chin beards, like the old fashioned goatee of fishermen and countrymen from Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Two figures of skin or hide are stuffed with some kind of grass and have big heads, thin gaunt bodies, short arms and legs, and fingers ending in long grass claws. Their heads suggest the colors and designs on Papuan shields. The Easter Islanders also sculpted fishes, birds, etc., sometimes quite realistically. There are likewise some decorations made apparently of human hair.* Easter Island art is among the best of the Austra- lasian arts. It is pure Polynesian. It resembles some- what New Zealand art and the figures have a strong family likeness to the feathered figures from Hawaii. The shape of the heads from Hawaii and Easter Island, with their lack of back and top, is so similar that the generic artistic impulse is unmistakable. Contrariwise I have not observed anything Peruvian or Amerind about Easter Island art; that is, I am of the opinion that there is no connection between the New World and the Old World across the South Pacific Ocean. Mabquesas Islands. From the Marquesas, there is much wooden carving. Some of the sculptures do not suggest Easter Island or Hawaiian art at all. The most interesting objects are what are said to be ceremonial clubs. They are colored black and look something like paddles. The top or end of the blade of these implements is shaped somewhat like a horse- shoe. The blade represents roughly a head and on each side at the height of the nose the wood is carved into two squarish projections. T he eyes and nose * Harvard U. P. M. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 245 stand out as prominent excretions, each of which represents roughly a small human head.* Four small pieces of dark wood, the foot pieces of stilts, are carved into figures, each with a headdress representing one great palm leaf. They are very similar to some figures from Nias Island and to deco- rative figures from the Solomons, f Some Marquesas figures, however, are somewhat like some Hawaiian and Maori figures. This is the case, for instance, in a statue of King Taka II, Puamau Valley, Hivaoa Island, which is of stone," about eight feet high, and has a big head with a very wide mouth and a short squat figure. { Some Marquesas figures also have a very Mexican look, as for instance four wooden figures with palm leaf headdresses which have tremendous eyes without any pupils and with long rectangular mouths.* Hawaii. There is some sculpture but no pictorial art from Hawaii. One Ught colored wooden figure, about 1.80 meters high, has the body and legs small in relation to the head, which has immense jaws filled with great teeth, f This figure comes from a Moral or cemetery where there were a number of these figures together. This sculpture is not at all realistic; it is very rough and distinctly different from Easter Island figures; altho the idea of a number of such figures together is reminiscent of Easter Island. A wooden statue, about 1.50 meters high, is of the same type as New Zealand statues. § The most original Hawaiian art is the feathered heads which it is said were war-gods and were carried into battle by the so called priests. § They are made * Harvard U. P. M. t Salem P. M. J Illustration : F. W. Christian: Eastern Pacific Lands, page 122. § British M. 246 MICRONESIA. of wickerwork covered with netting and feathers. They are about fifty centimeters high and have long necks and ahnost no back to the heads. In two heads there are low foreheads; in two other heads there are high foreheads, but all these heads are narrow sideways. There is strong artistic resemblance in form between these heads and those from Easter Island, too strong to be accidental. The feather work is beautiful in its colors and these heads seem to be unique to Hawaii. Much Hawaiian art is decorative. The patterns are rectangular or straight. They are different, as a rule, from the rest of Polynesia and also from Micronesia. There is some decorated wood in the shape of paddles, clubs, etc. Hawaiian cloths and mats are more advanced than most Australasian cloths or mats. The Hawaiians made some grass helmets, with feather decorations in some cases, and some of these helmets have a great grass curved piece on top, exactly like the helmets of some Greek statues.* Samoa. From Samoa come some rather grotesque small wooden figures, f There are also some white tapa cloth fabrics decorated with black and brown, mainly floral, patterns, much like those from Niue Island.* Ellice Islands. From the Ellice Islands, come tapa cloth fabrics similar to, yet different from, Niue and Samoa fabrics. There are also some grass weavings with rather local patterns and some paddles carved with many small lines.* MICRONESIA. GiLBEET Islands. From the Gilbert Islands there is no pictorial art or sculpture but only some simple decorative art. This is in straight lines and rectangles and principally on mats. It is a little different from * Harvard U. P. M. " t British M. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 247 Marshall and Caroline Islands work, and decidedly different from Samoa and EUice work. The specimens are mostly, perhaps entirely, recent.* The most important Gilbert Islands work are spears studded with sharks teeth and cocoa nut string or reed armor. There are some regular corslets woven of some thick cocoa nut string or reed; the back of these rises in a continuous piece forty or fifty centimeters higher than the shoulders. There are heavy trousers, also of a rough, but different sort of reed; hats and helmets also of cocoanut string, and one at least made out of fish (drum fish?) skin. All these would have turned a wood or stone tipped arrow. The weapons are wooden spears or lances or rather tridents, with a row of shark teeth inserted in the edges. Professor Edward S. Morse told me, while standing before the Gilbert Island case in Salem, that he beUeved the cocoanut string armor was invented on account of the shark toothed weapons, and the tall back armor was intended to guard the head from behind when the women were throwing stones over the men's heads. This cocoanut string armor is an elementary form of armor, but in many ways it shows a close resemblance to the armor of old Japan.* Marshall Islands. There are some polished stone implements from the Marshall Islands which may be old; all other specimens look recent. The art consists mainly of some decorative work, principally on mats. This is mostly in rectangles and straight lines, and tho not quite the same as Gilbert or Caroline Islands work, is not very distinctive. There is also some feather work, t Caroline Islands. From the Carolines there are some stone axes; otherwise everything is recent. There * Harvard U. P. M.— Salem P. M. t Harvard U. P. M. 248 MICRONESIA. are some decorative patterns, of a distinctly South Sea type, in straight lines and rectangles, on fabrics and paddles. These patterns are different from Gilbert or Marshall Islands patterns, and more advanced than either of these.* Some woven belts, probably from the Carolines, certainly from Micronesia, have lovely soft colors and pretty decorative patterns, f * Harvard U. P. M. t Salem P. M. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 249 Part V. AMERICA. EARLY ART IN AMERICA. On the American continent, art extends or extended from Greenland to Patagonia. It may be divided into two main branches. On the shores of the Arctic there is Eskimo or Arctic art. Thruout the rest of America there is Amerind art. While these arts diverge mutu- ally in many respects, in other respects they have certain points in common. When I first began to compare these arts, in my opinion the divergences far surpassed the resemblances.* I was influenced also doubtless by the prevalent behef that the Eskimo were a totally different race from the Amerinds. Increasing familiarity with the art of America, however, has slowly modified my views to some extent. The resemblances between Eskimo art and Amerind art are looming up to my eyes more prominently than they did of yore, and are leading me to the belief that the racial rela- tionship of the Eskimo and the Amerinds are much closer than was usually accepted not so long ago. Eskimo art is primarily naturalistic; it is distinctly sculptural and occasionally pictographic; and it is only secondarily decorative. It belongs to the same art family as Pleistokene art and Bushman art. Amerind art, on the contrary, is primarily decorative; it is largely rectiUnear and shows a Hking for color; but nevertheless some of it is naturalistic and curvilinear and reveals a. strong sculptural sense, especially among * Comparative Art. 250 EARLY ART IN AMERICA. the Moundbuilders, Mayas and Incas. Only in a few places and instances does Amerind art reach an incipi- ent pictoral stage, that is where an attempt is made to set down the appearance of things. It belongs to the same art family as African art and Australasian art. The little sculptures of the Eskimo have a decided resemblance to small Chinese and Japanese ivory carv- ings. The decorative work of the Amerinds on the other hand, closely resembles the decorative work of some of the North Asiatic and of some of the Australa- sian races. And this is in touch with the appearance of the natives of America, which points to blood relationship with the inhabitants of northern and eastern Asia. For in stature and physical character- istics the Eskimo resemble some of the East Asiatics and the Amerinds resemble some of the tribes of Siberia. The fossil skulls so far found in America as a rule are similar to Amerind or Eskimo skulls, so that it seems as if the majority at least of the early men of America were either Amerinds or Eskimo. Never- theless it is possible that some other race besides these two once dwelt in the New World. For instance, two skulls have been found, respectively at Trenton and at Sykesville, New Jersey, in which the extraordinarily low brow approximates to the type of the Neanderthal cranium.* Apparently there is need of further observa- tions. When, how and wherefrom man appeared on the scene in America has long been a matter of violent controversy. Some anthropologists claim that man is an inhabitant of the New World only since yesterday, *Ales Hrdlicka: "Bulletin 33, Bureau of American Ethnology," 1907_Oliver P. Hay: A Study of Skulls and Probabilities: "Anthro- pologic Scraps" No. 1, 10 September 1919. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 251 others assign him back to the beginning of the Glacial periods, which in America are now usually classified as follows : 9. Fifth Glacial. 8. 7. Fourth Glacial. 6. 5. Third Glacial. 4. 3. Second Glacial. 2. 1. First Glacial. Wisconsin. Peorian. lowan. Sangamon. lUinoian. Yarmouth. Kansan. Aftonian. Nebraskan. (Read up). Fourth Interglacial. Third Interglacial. Second Interglacial. First Interglacial. The thick implement-bearing strata of the European Pleistokene, of the CheUeen, Acheuleen, Mousterien horizons, etc., extending thru thousands upon thousands of years, are lacking in America. In the great majority of locahties all over America, chipped stone and polished stone implements are found associated together, that is as a rule the state of culture is neolithic. In the American Neohthic as many as four horizons con- taining pottery have been traced. Some ethnologists indeed consider all prehistoric deposits in the New World to be Neohthic, but this is an error, for in America there is at least one and possibly there are several horizons with chipped stone implements and neither polished stone nor pottery. Almost certainly therefore, at least in some places, a Paleolithic Amerind preceded the Neolithic Amerind. Of course, on the evidence of stone implements alone, one could not say whether man in America does or does not date back to Pleistokene times. He might be a Paleolithic man and yet not be a Pleistokene man. But there seems to be a good deal of evidence that some Paleolithic Amerinds were likewise Pleistokene Amerinds. 252 EAHLY ABT IN AMERICA. One place in America where there is a true chipped stone horizon underlying a polished stone horizon is at Trenton, New Jersey. Here, on the authority of the discoverer. Dr. Charles C. Abbott,* and of his corrobo- rator, Mr. Ernest Volk,t there is on top a culture of mixed chipped stones and poHshed stones, that is a neolithic horizon. Two to four feet below this, in yellow sand, there is a culture of pure chipped stone argillite or basalt flakes, that is a paleoUthic horizon. Again some distance below this in the Trenton gravel, — a remnant of the Wisconsin glacial period or last advance of the North polar ice — one finds a few chipped stone argillite flakes and some big pointed pebbles, something like Chelleen coups-de-poings and probably fashioned by man, that is an early paleolithic culture. In this lowest horizon the finds are very rare and only reward a searcher after days and weeks of patient observation. The two skulls with Neanderthal charac- teristics before mentioned also appear to come from either the Yellow Sand or the Trenton gravel. In 1914, the existence of the Yellow Sand or upper- most Paleolithic horizon at Trenton was investigated in a most elaborate manner by a commission of the American Museum of Natural History, Dr. Wissler, Dr. Spier and others. J On the surface they found numer- ous remains of a Neolithic Amerind cultm'e: potttry, * Charles C. Abbott: The Stone Age in New Jersey: "American Naturalist," ,1872, Vol. 6, page UQ.— Primitive Industry, 1881. t Ernest Volk: The Archaeology of the Delaware Valley: "Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology," Harvard University, 1911. X Clark Wissler: The Application of Statistical Methods to the Data on the Trenton Argillite Culture: "American Anthropologist," April- June, 1916. Leslie Spier: New Data on the Trenton Argillite Cultur6: "Amer- ican Anthropologist, " April-Jime, 1916. Leslie Spier: The Trenton Argillite Culture: "Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History," Vol. XXII, Part IV., 1918. AKTS OF THE WORLD. 253 bone, shell and copper implements, polished and engraved stone objects, notched and grooved sinkers, pitted and pitless hammerstones, some large blades and many different forms of arrow points. Bekw the surface on the contrary, in the enormous trenches which they cut across Dr. Abbott's farm, in the Yellow Sand horizon they found but few forms of artifacts, pitless hammer- stones, implements of a large blade type, and three or four kinds of chipped stone arrow points and one speci- men of a rubbing stone. I have myself visited Dr. Abbott many times at Trenton and have tramped with him over his ancestral acres and along the banks of the Delaware and the bluffs overhanging the meadows.* I have found nvunerous historic Amerind implements on the surface. And I have dug into the Yellow Sand horizon on the bluff and also in the American Museum trenches and found several chipped stone argillite flakes. My own observations in regard to the surface and the Yellow Sand horizons at Trenton therefore are entirely corroborative of Abbott, Volk, Spier and Wissler. And there can be no doubt,- it seems to me, that at Trenton there is a neolithic stratum preceded by a paleolithic stratum. Another case of paleoUthic stratification of signifi- cance is at the Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, where Mr. Nelson t recently made some diggings and found a horizon in which there was chipped stone but neither pottery nor fine poUshed stone. This culture ante- dates the Moundbuilders. The fossUs of this horizon, however, are from the Recent and therefore altho this culture appears to be true paleolithic it probably is not Pleistokene. * Edwin Swift Balch: Early Man in America: "Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society," Vol. LVI., No. 6, 1917. t N.. C. Nelson: Archeology of Mammoth Cave . and .vicinity: "Proceedings National Academy of Sciences," Vol. 3, March, 1917. 254 EABLY ART IN AMERICA. Many stone implements from Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio and Wisconsin were studied exhaust- ively by Dr. H. N. Winchell.* He classified them, principally according to their patination, as Neolithic, Early Neolithic, Paleolithic, and Early Paleolithic. In form some of the latter are almost identical with Chell^en coups-de-poings from the valley of the Somme. That the Amerinds therefore made CheUeen implements is undoubted and from their patination these are certainly old. Dr. WincheU thinks that many of these imple- ments antedate the Wisconsin glacial and this is prob- ably a fact. Unfortunately there is an element of uncertainty about their date, for these implements usually were found together on the surface of the ground and therefore the most certain test of age, position by strati- fication, is lacking. In the year 1916, there was dug up at Vero, Florida, the tusk of a proboscidian on which are a number of marks, recalling somewhat the marks of the European Azilien, and also a small drawing. In the same horizon were found some human bones, chipped stone implements, and numerous bones of extinct animals of Pleistokene times. The human and animal bones were in the same state of fossilization. Dr. Sellards, state geologist of Florida, who was in charge of the excavations, is strongly of the opinion that the human bones are Pleistokene. f Dr. Hrdlicka, after exam- ination of the human bones, is of the opinion that they are historic Amerind and were introduced into the Pleistokene horizon by burial. J * The Weathering of Aboriginal Stone Artifacts: The Minnesota Historical Society. 1913. t E. H. Sellards: Human remains and Associated Fossils from the Pleistocene of Florida: "Eighth Annual Report of the Florida State Geological Survey, 1916." t Ales Hrdlicks : Recent discoveries attribvied to early Man in America: Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 66. 1918. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 255 In a number of other cases also, human fossils have been dug out of Pleistokene strata. For instance, human fossils have been found in connection with the bones of extinct animals at Trenton, New Jersey, by Mr. Volk; in Minas Gereas, Brazil, by Dr. Lund; and in many other places by other observers. Much ingenuity has been expended to show that these remains were not Pleistokene, and some of them undoubtedly may have been introduced by burial into Pleistokene strata, but the number of these finds favors some of them at least being Pleistokene.* The origin and age of the polished stone culture as well as that of the chipped stone culture of America are still uncertain. No one can say definitely as yet whether the American Neohthic evolved from the American Paleolithic, whether it was introduced from Asia, nor when it began. Ethnologists have had a tendency to measure the American Neohthic by the European Neolithic and to assume that man could not have been here more than ten or at the most fifteen thousand years. But they forget that they do not know whether the Neolithic came from Europe to Asia and that the date of its beginnings both in eastern Asia and in America is quite unknown. It may be older in eastern Asia than in France and likewise it may also be older in the New World than in the Old World. How old now is Amerind art? This question is hard to answer. The drawing at Vero is a small, crude, rather square drawing of a head.f Its square- * Oliver P. Hay: Further consideration of the occurrence of human remains in the Pleistocene deposits at Vero, Florida: "American Anthro- pologist, N. S. Vol. XX, No. 1, 1918." t Illustration: E. H. Sellards: Human remains and Associated Fossils from the Pleistocene of Florida: "Eighth Annual Report of the Florida State Geological Survey, 1916." Illustration reprbduced in Art and Man. 256 EARLY ART IN AMERICA. ness suggests rudimentary Amerind drawing. As the horizon where it was found is unquestionably Pleisto- kene it may be that this drawing is Pleistokene and from its squareness the work of a Pleistokene ancestor of the present Amerinds. The fact that the drawing is on a tusk and also the marks with it suggest great age. Still one cannot be sure of anything more than that the drawing was made either by a Pleistokene Amerind or a historic Amerind: its age at present is uncertain. There are no known art specimens from the Mam- moth Cave paleolithic horizon, from the Yellow Sand horizon at Trenton nor from the Trenton gravels. This may be due to the fact that art specimens are usually too delicate to survive anywhere but in protected places such as caves and rock shelters. It is nevertheless Unfor- tunate that there are no art specimens, for the chipped stone implements will never tell us whether they were fashioned by early Amerinds, by historic Amerinds, or by Eskimo. I mention the Eskimo in this connection, for the Trenton gravels are close to the terminal moraine of the north polar ice which at one time extended across New Jersey and Pennsylvania. And it is possible that the Esjsimo may have been pushed south by the ice, have Hved in the valley of the Delaware and afterwards followed the ice north again. This is a case which shows clearly how valuable comparative art may be in clearing up ethnological questions. For the lucky finding of a few, only a few, works of art in undisturbed parts of this gravel would tell us posi- tively whether those argillite implements belonged to the Eskimo or the Amerinds. In this case, art would tell us what the implements do not. A little statuette found at Nampa, Idaho, some thirty years ago, has been held by some as an example of early art in America. It is reported to have come ARTS OF THE WORLD. 257 up from a depth of 320 feet while an artesian well was being bored. This "Nampa image" represents a nude woman and is about one and a half inches long. It is made of baked clay, it has good proportions and, judging from an illustration only, it is thoroly curvi- linear.* The nude figure argues against Eskimo ances- try, while the excellent proportions of head, body and remainder of one leg, as well as the naturalistic curves argue against Amerind ancestry. Judging from the artistic evidence ojily, I should hesitate about accepting the "Nampa image" as a genuine specimen of old Amerind art. In the United States there was certainly art which was pre-Columbian and which was a trifle different from the art existing there among the Amerinds of the last three centuries. I have been told that large trees were growing on some kitchen middens explored in Alaska. In some of the cities of Mexico and Central America, there are believed to be three layers of occupation. The uppermost may date back to the year 1; the middle horizon to perhaps 1500 B. C; the lowest to perhaps 4000 B. C. Whether art in America goes back as far or farther than this, can not be asserted as yet. Eskimo art sheds but little light on the date of man's first appearance in America. For all the speci- mens of Eskimo art are recent and give no clue as to when it originated. It might have done so long ago, but any assumptions about the date of its birth would at present be mere guesses. Eskimo art, however, does shed a good deal of light on the problem of where American man came from. For Eskimo art is found in north eastern Siberia as well as in Arctic America and it has also certain resemblances to some Japanese ♦Illustrations: Proceedings Boston Society of Natural History, Vol. XXIV, 1890, pages 424-450. 258 EARLY ART IN AMERICA. art. There can be little doubt that it came over from Asia with its makers. The relation of art , to stone implement technic is different in America from what it is in Europe. For the technic of Pleistokene art in Europe certainly sprang from the technic of chipping stone implements. The technic of some rough Amerind pictographs on rocks is also akin to the technic of chipped stones. But these pictographs are few and the technic of chipping stones kept up into historic Amerind times. Most Amerind art in stone on the contrary is pohshed. Such are the numerous smoking pipes in red CatUnite or in black slate and such also are the heads on Maya monoliths. From the great number of art specimens fashioned out of polished stone, the inference is irre- sistible that Amerind art is closely in touch with the Amerind Neolithic. The one drawing at Vero has nothing specially Paleolithic about it and its strongest qualification to be considered Pleistokene is that it is on the tusk of a proboscidian, a most unusual material to be used by a historic Amerind. It is harder to trace connections between stone implement technic and art technic in America than in Pleistokene Europe; nevertheless, from the inforimation at present accessible, Amerind art seems associated with the Amerind Neolithic. Here I wish to hazard a hypothesis, of a somewhat higher type than a pure guess. Amerind art shows that the Amerind took instinctively to polished stone technic as an art form. Apparently the use of polished stone technic in art work was tempera^mental with him- And therefore it may be suggested that altho the origin as well as the age of the Am^erind polished stone is still unknown, yet that there is as much probability that the Amerind discovered the technic of polishing stone for himself as that he brought it over from Asia. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 259 Amerind art is similar in kind and degree to African art and Australasian art, without being in any wise identical with them. The most noticeable similarities are the statues with big heads and dwarfed bodies and legs, the lack of pictorial feehng, and the advanced decorative sense. The strongest resemblances of Amerind art are with North Asiatic art and Melanesian art. There are weaker resemblances to Polynesian art and also some between Mexican temples and the temples of Angkhor. The art of southern Alaska and British Columbia much resembles the art of the Ainu and a little that of the Melanesians. Some of the bas reUefs in Maya art suggest Hindu work. There are, however, a few resemblances to arts across the Atlantic. In Peruvian art there are fortuitous resemblances in certain pottery sculptures said to antedate Columbus to some European sculptures. Some patterns and drawings from the East North Amerinds have certain European traits and in this case these are probably due to the contact with Europeans since Columbus. It is noteworthy that the main similarities and resemblances between Amerind art and other arts occur precisely where the land connections are closest. Say what one may about the Amerinds being a separate race and their art an autochthonous one, the fact remains that Amerind art is most nearly in touch with Asiatic art and Australasian art precisely at the spot where the Aleutian islands form the piers of a bridge between Asia and America, and most differentiated from them in western South America which is separated from the extremest outpost of Australasian art at Easter Island by a wide expanse of ocean. This tends to prove that the main race movement at least between Australasia and America took place far north of the Equator. There is certainly relationship between Eskimo art and East Asiatic art, and probably between Amerind 260 EARLY AKT IN AMERICA. art and North Asiatic and Australasian arts in the last two millenniums, but to how far back the race move- ment dates there is nothing in the art specimens them- selves to show. But there are other points to be considered. The Africans and Melanesians are black woolly-haired races: the Early Asiatics were probably a yellow straight- haired race; the Polynesians are a brown wavy-haired race; the builders of Angkhor were a brown wavy- haired, possibly Indo-European, race. Here therefore are similarities or resemblances between the arts of several different races. While some diffusion is possible it seems much less probable than independent growth. The similarities of Amerind art and African art are certainly accidental and go to show that the other resem- blances have also come in obedience to the art sense of the makers rather than thru borrowing from each other. In other words, despite the resemblances to other arts, racial differences point to Amerind art being autochthonous. It seems most probable that the move- ment of the Amerind race originally was from Asia to North America, and from North America to South America, and it looks as if art among the Mound- builders, the Mayas and Aztecs, and the Incas, had grown up almost independently, displajdng similar characteristics owing to the racial similarity of these peoples. Whether any Neanderthal men, or some similar race, dwelt in America, is a problem about which there is at present no data beyond the two skulls from New Jersey. With this exception the conclusions in regard to early art in America which a study of the stone implements and art of America seem to warrant, may perhaps be summed up as follows: 1. Man was probably not an autochthone in America: ARTS OF THE WORLD. 261 2. He probably began to come during the Pleis- tokene some time before the Wisconsin Glacial: 3. He probably came in two streams. One inflow, the Amerinds, probably advanced from north western China and south eastern Siberia via the Aleutian Islands and migrated south. The other inflow, the Eskimo, probably came from eastern Asia, China and Japan, moved northward, traversed Bering Straits and spread along Arctic shores. These two streams there- fore apparently crossed each other: 4. The Amerinds racially are always the same: 5. The Eskimo racially are always the same: 6. The Amerind is not the baby, five or ten thou- sand years old, some modernist scientists think he is. Nor is he the venerable hoary ancient, two hundred and fifty or five hundred thousand years old, other anti- quarian scientists insist on. "Moderation in all things." Perhaps fifty thousand years would split the difference and reconcile the evidence: 7. The earliest invaders were almost surely in a chipped stone or paleoUthic stage of culture. Whether the advance to poUshed stone was an independent discovery in America or whether polished stone migrated from Asia is not determinable as yet: 8. Amerind art is barely related to chipped stone technic, but is closely related to polished stone technic: it is therefore mainly a neoUthic growth and its growth is the very antithesis of that of the European Pleistokene and Neolithic arts: 9. Amerind art apparently is not very old: except possibly the one specimen from Vero, 4,000 B. C. is the extremest date at present discernable: 10. Amerind art has numerous resemblances to North Asiatic, Australasian and Negro arts: 11. Nevertheless Amerind art is sufiiciently distinct from the arts of the rest of the world for the balance 262 AKCTIC ART. of probabilities to show that the Amerind did not bring his art with him but in him: that is he brought his art instinct across the salt water and developed his art in America. ARCTIC (KORAK-CHUKCHEE, ESKIMO) ART. In America along the shores of the Arctic Ocean and in one or two locaUties south of the Arctic Circle such as Labrador, and in extreme eastern Siberia east of the 160th meridian of East longitude, there is found among the Eskimo and the Korak-Chukchees an extremely individual art. This art is of a decidedly different character from the art of the Amerinds or of the Tungusses and Yakaghirs and while varying somewhat with each tribe in each locaUty, nevertheless is always similar in kind and must be ranked as one art which deserves one name, which might well be Arctic art. Arctic art is primarily naturalistic and only secondarily decorative. The Korak-Chuckchees are said to be of a. different ethnological stock from the Eskimo.* It is also asserted that there is a gradual change in the skulls of the races living along the Arctic shores. I do not know whether these statements are correct. But whatever the race relationships across Bering Strait, there is no doubt that the arts on both its shores are generically similar: that they must be ranked as one art. There can be no doubt also that, whatever the anthropological relation- ships of the humans of Asia, Australasia, and America, the arts of these three parts of the world come in contact in eastern Siberia, Alaska, and the Aleutian Islands. The Koraks are a tribe inhabiting extreme eastern Siberia north of the Sea of Okhotsk. They make rough and shapeless drawings on wood and also many * F. A. Cook: To the Top of the Continent. ARTS OF THE WOELD. 263 carvings in ivory, bone and wood, with the naturalistic quality of small Chinese and Japanese carvings. Some of them are good. A Korak ivory walrus in its action, proportions, etc., is fine. Several small ivory humans from the Koraks are first rate sciilpture: they are more advanced than Pleistokene ivory humans: but this may be partly because they are better preserved. Korak art is much the same as Eskimo, but of all the Arctic tribes, I should say Korak sculpture was the best and next to it Alaska Eskimo.* The Koraks make masks of plain unpainted wood, in which the mouths and eyes are unusually small. There is some extremely rough armor, made of small iron plates tied together by thongs of hide which go thru small holes in the iron plates, which is probably Korak and which shows affihations to the south. On skins and cloths from the Koraks also there are many decorative patterns which, while local and individual, have resemblances to Melanesian, Chinese and Northern Amerind patterns. In Korak art therefore we find art relationships with art to the south and also with art to the north and east.* Due north of the Koraks, the Chukchees live along the Arctic shores of extreme north eastern Siberia. They make rough drawings on wood and ivory, bone and wood carvings much like Korak work and resembling, even more than Korak carvings, Eskimo carvings. Some of the little Chukchee bone carvings are just hke Greenland figures.* The Chuk- chees, however, do not draw as elaborately as the Eskimo and, in my opinion, while their art is similar to it is rather less good than Korak or Alaska Eskimo art. I have not observed any resemblances in Chuk- chee art to Australasian art or to Amerind art. But it is especially noteworthy that Chukchee art is * American M. N. H. 264 AECTIC ART, closer akin than any other Asiatic art to Eskimo art, because the Chukchees are the Asiatic tribe living nearest to the Alaska Eskimo, and it impUes that across Bering Strait Chukchee art and Eskimo art join hands. The Eskimo or Innuits are a race inhabiting mainly the Arctic shores of the American continent. They are fbund in Greenland, in Labrador, in Arctic Canada, and in Alaska. There are also a few in the Aleutian Islands and a few in Arctic Siberia immediately west of Bering Strait. From the statements of many Arctic explorers who are personal friends of mine, there can be no doubt that the Eskimo are a fine people and this may be due partly to the fact that only the best survive under their difficult conditions of existence. Considering the small number of Innuits in existence, there is a great deal of art among them. Altho the art of each locality or tribe varies somewhat from that of every other locality or tribe, the variations unquestionably are all one art. Eskimo art consists of small sculptures, principally in ivory, bone or horn, of drawings or engravings on bone or ivory, of a little decorative art, and in Alaska of a few masks. Some of the Eskimo make small drawings or engravings, usually on bone or ivory. I do not know whether the Greenland and Arctic Canada Eskimo make any, but all those I have seen come from Alaska or Labrador.* They represent all sorts of scenes of Eskimo life, especially hunting and fishing incidents. Men, bears, reindeer, walrus, seals, whales, boats are the commonest motives. One Alaska drawing, for instance, depicts two huts raised on piles with two dogs nearby, t Several show the harpooning of * American M. N. H.— British M. Harvard U. P. M. — United States N. M. t American M. N. H. ABTS OF THE WORLD. 265 whales from large canoes or boats and may represent whale fishing by white men.* As a rule the engraved lines in these drawings are filled in with some black substance which is probably bitumen. Some Eskimo drawings apparently are a record of events, that is they are pictorial writing. But the most important artistic fact about them is that many of them almost reach an incipient pictorial stage. While the Eskimo evidently have no notion of per- spective, yet they see and can put down something like the appearance of things. In this respect, they are more advanced than most of the Amerinds, Australasians or Africans. Their drawings are of the same kind — ^that is naturalistic — as the drawings of the Bushmen and of the Pleistokenes, but they are much inferior to and quite different from them, Eskimo carvings are always small. This is due to the materials, bone or walrus ivory, limiting the size of the work. These carvings, to aJl intents and purposes, are portraits of men, women, walrus, seal, bear, reindeer, dogs, etc., and I consider them among the most artistic and realistic sculptures in America. They have action and motion and reveal accurate observation on the part of the sculptors. The first Eskimo sculptures I ever saw were four little carvings which Dr, Vincent, surgeon of the second Peary expedition, brought back from North Greenland and presented to me while coming up the Delaware River on the whaler "Falcon." These I pre- sented, in turn, to the Museum of Archeology of the University of Pennsylvania. They are a man, a woman, a dog and a seal. They are carved out of walrus ivory, probably with a sailor's knife, not the best of sculptural tools. They are Uttle things, each of them about two centimeters long. The sense of proportion is remark- * American M. N. H. 266 AECTIC AET. able. The man and woman are standing up, and tho the feet are tmy, in exact relation to the rest of the figure, the center of gravity is so correct that, until I gave them away, they stood up without any difficulty on a smooth surface. Unfortunately these figures have since then been somewhat damaged. But anyone who has tried seriously to model a clay figure and who knows how hard it is for a beginner to pose a statue on its feet, will appreciate that these untaught Eskimo have the gift of observation and a genuine sculptural sense. I am uncertain whether only a few of the Eskimo can. sculpt these figures or whether it is a common faculty with them. Dr. A. E. Ortman, who went in 1899 on the "Diana" to Smith Sound and Inglefield GuK, told me he thought the art ability among the North Greenland Eskimo was limited to certain indi- viduals altho, as their carving is done principally in the winter months when time hangs heavy on their hands, he could not say how many do it. He found that these carvings take a long time, for one Eskimo, a cripple, started to carve a figure for him and several weeks afterwards, when he left, the figure was not finished. The fact that it was an Eskimo cripple who began to make a carving for Dr. Ortman is noteworthy. For it would seem probable that it is the primitive men who, from some physical defect, are unable to hunt or fish or do rough outdoor work, who take up art to while away their dull fives. In all the specimens I have seen, the heads of the humans in Eskimo carvings are always bald, that is, the hair is not sculpted. This is a difference from the Pleistokenes. One rather unique carving from Alaska has two faces back to back.* The Alaska Eskimo also make a few masks, t These * British M. t American M. N. H. ARTS OP THE WORLD. 267 have a resemblance to some Japanese and to some West North Amerind masks. My impression is that these are a recent art development, which has pos- sibly come from the West North Amierinds. The Eskimo have a little decorative art and place some rather simple decorative patterns on some of their clothing. These patterns are usually square or rectangular, that is, there is a resemblance to Amerind or Australasian patterns.* Most of the heads of the whaUng harpoons of the Alaska Eskimo also have' a special property mark, to indicate which hunter struck the animal. These property marks are a rudimentary form of pictorial writing and decorative art.* Eskimo clothes, in their shape, are not unlike Chinese clothes. They are made out of pieces of skin sewn together and not of woven materials like Chinese clothes: nevertheless there is a general resemblance.* Arctic art is purely an art of observation. There is no symbolism. All the carvings and drawings present sculptural or pictorial motives. These northernmost tribes are impelled by their innate artistic sense to attempt to reproduce the human beings and the animals which they see in their daily life and their works show that some of them have an inborn aptitude to do so. Eskimo art is decidedly different from Amerind art. I am inclined, however, to look on them as nearer than I thought formerly;! at certain places they dove- tail. For instance, from the Aleutian Islands there are some little drawings on walrus teeth which are thoroly Eskimo and also some basketry whose decorations dis- tinctly resemble East North Amerind work.* At other spots, not very far apart, on the other hand, Eskimo and Amerind art are most distinct. For instance, Tlingit walrus ivory carvings are quite unlike Eskimo * American M. N. H. t Comparative Art. 268 ARCTIC ART. walrus ivory carvings: resembling on the contrary- Central Amerind and Mexican art.* In its qualities of life and action, Arctic art resem- bles Chinese and Japanese art and is wholly different from Australasian art and Amerind art. It is especially in the Arctic carvings in walrus ivory that there are strong resemblances to some of the smaller Chinese carvings and to Japanese netzkes. Despite the pictorial feeling in Arctic art, however, in the drawings of East Asiatic art and Arctic art there is ahnost complete divergence. In its decorative qualities, Korak-Chukchee art has stronger resemblances, very naturally, to Australasian and Chinese art, than has Eskimo art which, on the contrary, has stronger resemblances to Amerind art. In other words each art gradates most nearly into its neighboring art. When unadulterated, Eskimo art has no Australasian savor and I doubt any relationship. Arctic art belongs to the same art family as Pleisto- kene art and Bushman art. All three are naturalistic primitive arts, with imitation as the leading attribute and decoration as a secondary matter. Arctic art cer- tainly resembles Pleistokene art in the little ivory carvings, but the resemblances between these are much less marked than those between the implements of the two cultures. The drawings, however, diverge strongly from Pleistokene drawings. One could never mistake the former for the latter. Curiously enough the resem- blances and divergences between these two arts are precisely the same as those between Arctic art and East Asiatic art. The difference between Arctic draw- ings and Pleistokene drawings is of special importance in regard to any possible cousinship between the Arctics and the Bushmen: for it is precisely the cave paintings of the Pleistokenes which Bushmen drawings resemble * Harvard U. P. M. AETS OP THE WORLD. 269 most closely. In fact Arctic art and Bushman art resemble different phases of Pleistokene art and do not resemble one another, and the inference is that they are not related. It is possible, of course, that the resemblances between Pleistokene art and Arctic art spring from the Pleistokenes, and Korak-Chukchees and Eskimo, lead- ing somewhat similar wild hunters' existences on the edge of the great ice and therefore developing very similar arts. It is also possible that the Pleistokenes were the ancestors of the Korak-Chukchees and Eskimo, and that the resemblances in art are due to relationship by blood. But for Arctic art to be descended from Pleistokene art, however, its makers must have traversed, millenniums ago, the northern lands of the Asiatic continent in which North Asiatic art has held sway for several thousand years. And therefore while I am inclined to believe in close relationship between Arctic art and East Asiatic art on account of their propinquity in place, their contem- poraneity in time, and the anthropological similarities between their makers; I am inclined to doubt relation- ship between Arctic art and Pleistokene art on account of the wide separation of their habitats and the enormous lapse of years between the two. AMERIND ART. Amerind art, as far as I can judge from much examination and comparison of specimens, is one art. It extended from the southwest coast of Alaska, Atha- basca and eastern Canada to Patagonia. I do not believe any of it found its way to the shores of the Arctic, except perhaps a few masks among the Alaska Eskimo. Amerind art varies locally, that is to say there are or were several branches or separate mani- festations of it. The environments and conditions of 270 AMERIND ART. life in various parts of America, on the plains, in the equatorial forests, on the pampas, in the mountain regions and on the strip of western shore, were sufl&ci- ently different as to cause modifications in the art. The mountain barriers of the Rockies and the Andes tended to bring about diversity. For instance, there is but Httle feather work west of the Andes whUst it is abundant east of them. Sculpture on the contrary is more developed in the western than in the eastern part of South America. But the art feeling underlying the various outbursts of Amerind art is always so sinular that there can be no doubt that it is an expression of the same art instinct and therefore that it is the art of one race. It is difiicult to classify Amerind art into sub- divisions with anything like ,■ accuracy. Whatever classi- fication one might adopt, some variant on it might be offered. Tentatively, however, the following classifica- tion may be suggested: 1. West North Amerind, 2. Moundbuilders. 3. East North Amerind. 4. Plains. 6. California. 6. Cliff-dweUers. 7. Pueblo. 8. North Mexican. 9^. Aztec (Tafascan, Totonacan, Nahuan). 10. Zapotecan. 11. Maya. 12. Yucatan. 13. Central Amerind. 14. Antillean. 15. Colombian. 16. West South Amerind. 17. East South Amerind. WEST NORTH AMERIND ART. Among the Amerinds of the north western coasts of North America, the Chilcats, Tlingits, Haidas, Tsimshian, Kwakiutl, Nootka and Coast Salish, from the neighbor- hood of the Kenai peninsula to the State of Wash- ington, there is much art still extant. This art has an individuality of its own and deserves classification as a branch of Amerind art under the name of West North Amerind art. All the specimens of this art I have seen are comparatively recent: none of them antedate the ARTS OP THE WORLD. 271 present maiennium. Nevertheless this art may be as old or even older than Moundbuilders art or old Mexican art. It is certamly mainly an Amerind art but it has adhesions to the west and the southwest. For it is in touch not only with North Asiatic art but if anything more so with Austrahan art. West North Amerind art does not reach the picto- graphie stage except in one or two rudimentary instances. There is much decorative work in color, but most of this art is in the form of sculpture, in wood, in stone, chiefly black slate, in bone, in ivory and in antler. Its most distinctive feature is the totem pole. West North Amerind art is extremely decorative and pleasant and both the forms and colors are individual. Straight lines, squares and rectangles predominate. The decorative patterns are most closely in touch with East North Amerind art. They are not the same as, altho they are similar to, some Australasian patterns.* Some Chilcat patterns resemble roughly some Ainu textiles.* Some of the decorations of the West North Amerinds have just a faint artistic resem- blance to Maya skulls: this is partly due to the some- what squarish decorations, f A big, full-face, single eye, looking solemnly at you, is a favorite decoration and this same big eye is also used sometimes in Central Amerind art. A skin blanket from the West North Amerinds has a number of figures, in shape much hke those on paddles from the Solomon Islands. There is, however, no miter-like head-dress and the waist is not pinched in. On the middle of this blanket is a human, under which is a grizzly bear. On each side are six humans and a number of Chilcat decorations, f * Harvard U. P. M. t American M. N. H. 272 WEST NORTH AMERIND ART. From the Tlingits, the Haida, the Tsimshian, the Kwakiutl and the Nootka, come many carvings.* In those of humans, some of the heads give the North Amerind type clearly, some of them unquestionably resemble old Mexican sculptures in the expression of the faces, while some heads suggest the South Pacific type. Among the sculptures of humans, many have large heads, small bodies and undersized legs; but altho these sculptures have thus a generic resemblance to some Australasian and African sculptures, yet they are distinct from them and none of them has in the sUghtest degree an African type of face. Some large wooden haUbut hooks are carved roughly into humans, f Some of the smaller sculptures resemble in their quaUty some of the heads carved on pipes by the Amerinds in the rest of the United States. The Tlingits made many carvings. One quaint figure, about twenty-five centimeters high, has the legs all bunched up and is staring upwards seemingly in pain: a slab slips out sideways from the abdomen, which contains another little carved ivory or bone figure, t Many Tlingit sculptures are on rattles which generally belonged to the shamans or medicine men and which, as a rule, were carved into shapes hke birds with figures on their backs or sometimes into rough human heads. J Some of the efiigies of TUngit women have labrets in the lower Hp and these are much Hke the African pelele.J A lot of ivory, bone, antler and stone carvings from the Tlingits are most Mexican but quite un-Eskimo.f TUngit art indeed resembles in certain ways the art of Copan, notably in the fact that the Tlingits fill all the spaces in their carvings. But * British M. United States N. M. American M. N. H. Harvard U. P. M. t Salem P. M. t Harvard U. P. M. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 273 it is not repulsive: there are no snakes or skulls as motives.* From the Haidas, Queen Charlotte Island, come some handsome carvings in black slate. One superb boat shaped dish, about 45 centimeters by 30 centi- meters, bears a relief carving representing two men fighting in the water with an octopus and a boat in the background. Another quaint well sculpted piece in black slate is a bear holding a baby at which two bears are sniffing.* From Queen Charlotte Island also come some capital pipe bowls of black slate on which are usually several figures, humans, animals or birds, one behind the other in a row.f These show some of the artistic qualities of totem poles, only that they are perhaps more decorative, but they have also a dis- tinctly Central Amerind art type. From the Nootkas comes the model of a canoe on which is drawn a figure of a woman with long pointed legs.J The canoe is of white wood and the sculpted head of the woman forms the bow: the rest of the figure is painted black. These pointed legs are some- thing like those in some puzzling AustraUan pictures and in some Minoan Cretan figures. There is also a rock carving on the beach of Fort Rupert, Vancouver Island, and therefore probably Nootka, which repre- sents, it is said, the face of the protector of the Cannibal Society and which was cut in 1845 in com- memoration of the killing and eating of a slave by the Cannibal Society. § It is very similar to a death's head from Porto Rico and somewhat Uke the skulls of Copan and Quirigua. This shows close relationship to Central Amerind art. I have seen nothing from the Old World resembling this unpleasant manifestation of art. * Harvard U. P. M. t British M. X American M. N. H. § Cast: American M. N. H. 274 WEST NORTH AMERIND ART. There are many masks carved in wood. Most of these are partially or wholly painted. One Tlingit mask has a very Mexican look* and another represent- ing a bird's head of immense sizef makes one think of Bushman hunting disguises and of Egyptian animal headed monsters. Some Kwakiutl ceremonial masks representing the octopus, the killer whale and what is said to be the evening sky, etc., resemble rather closely, altho they are different from, Japanese and Papuan masks: they have only the barest resemblance to Chinese masks. J Some Alaska masks have the mouths all twisted sideways, much Uke the heitikis of New Zealand, t Conical basketry hats are sometimes worn. The Haidas wore hats plaited of .spruce roots and painted with the owner's totem. The Nootkas made hats of cedar bark and grass, Mkewise decorated and fairly pyramidal in shape.* Similar hats are found on the coast of Asia. Something very similar to the Nicaraguan metate or corn-crusher is found among the West North Amerinds. Foreign ideas or subjects sometimes creep in among primitive races. A case in point is a small ivory carving of an elephant's head from Alaska. J The most important and distinctive form of West North Amerind art is the totem pole. The best I have seen in place are those at Fort Wrangel, Alaska. As a rule they are of plain wood, unpainted and unvarnished. Some few of them, however, are painted with rather blight colors such as emerald green and vermilion. There is one standing in a square at Seattle (1900) which is the most conspicuous example of these colored totem poles I have seen. It is possible that these * Harvard U. P. M. t United States N. M. t American M. N. H. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 275 colors are a result of the Russian occupation of Alaska and, if so, it is an instance of one art affecting another art and it would show that Byzantine art has borne an influence clean across Asia into North America. The forms of the animals, the frogs, the bears, the eagles, carved on the totem poles are distinctly good sometimes. Some of the heads, however, which look roughly like humans are said really to be suggested by such animals as beavers, etc.* In most instances the individual forms resemble Central Amerind art rather closely in their manner, but the totem pole itself as an art form, as far as I know, is not found in America anywhere east of the Rocky Mountains or south of California, except that some Maya monoliths have a vague resemblance to totem poles. Two great totem poles from the hook of Alaska f have faces carved on them which show a distinctly similar art impulse to some faces carved on poles from New Zealand, t The same is true of a great Alaska totem pole which has ten superposed totems and of these the men's heads with their tongues poked out unquestionably resemble New Zealand heads.} Alaska totem poles and New Zealand posts in fact are so similar both in form and in artistic manner as to hint at more than merely a coincidence: it seems as if the makers at some time, even if it were thousands of years apart, must have been related. Some of the heads from Alaska with the tongues poked out resemble the heads on Korean guide posts: the eyes, however, do not have the slant noticeable in the Korean heads. One totem pole, whose top repre- sents a sitting woman wearing a conical hat, resembles rather strongly Easter Island statues and Korean guide * American M. N. H. t U. Penn. M. S. & A. t United States N. M. 276 MOUNDBUILDERS ART. posts.* The position and general appearance of the totem poles also bear a similarity to the poles some- times placed before the houses of the Kayans of Borneo and, what is still more remarkable, to some of the posts carved in Nigeria. On the whole, West North Amerind art is something of a medley. It is mainly Amerind. The decorative art is more akin to East North Amerind work than to anything else: many of the square decorative patterns are almost similar. Some of the sculptures are very Mexican. A little of the art resembles some of the art of the Alaska Eskimo. But there are also some resem- blances to Ainu patterns, to Korean guide posts, to Japanese masks and to some Melanesian and Polynesian art. Now these various facts show pretty evidently that altho West North Amerind art was mainly, it was not wholly, of native growth, The resemblances cer- tainly point towards the accuracy of the belief that the Amerinds wandered, many millenniums ago, from the fringes of Asia to the welcoming shores of America, and the fact that these resemblances keep up even today leads to the further inference that intercourse across the North Pacific was maintained until comparatively recent i" ITU PS MOUNDBUILDERS ART. Thruout a great part of the northeastern United States, and especially in the Mississippi and Ohio val- leys, there is found a good deal of prehistoric art. This art consists principally of some very nice sculpture, pottery and decorative painting, usually buried in great man-raised earthen mounds. On account of these mounds the prehistoric men of the central United States are sometimes called the Moundbuilders : and for clarity their art may well be called Moundbuilders art. Their mounds or earthworks have certain similari- * Princeton U. M. ARTS OF THE WOELD. 277 ties and characteristics in common with the foundation mounds of Mexican temples and edifices. Some of these mounds were probably forts and would tend to prove that the Moundbuilders had reached a certain cohesion in civilization. Their most curious and unusual piece of architecture is the somewhat sculptural great Snake or Serpent Mound, Adams County, Ohio, which certainly suggests kinship with Mexico.* The Amerinds inhabiting the Mississippi and Ohio val- leys in historic times do not appear to have made any of these mounds; nevertheless there is no doubt now that the Moundbuilders are their direct and not remote ancestors. For all the animals represented in their sculpture, bear, deer, puma, elk, raccoon, lynx, otter, belong to the Recent geological horizon, and all their sculptures belong to the Polished Stone period. From New Jersey comes one very interesting and extremely well done little pottery head. It is called by its discoverer. Dr. Charles C, Abbott, "the American Sphinx" because of the mystery of its origin. f It resembles some Maya pottery heads which also have big ears, only it is better sculpture. $ A small stone seated statue found near the Great Grave Creek Mound, Virginia, is very rough and of no special type. It is interesting from the rarity of sculpture in the Appalachians. It may be Mound- builder or later in date.§ From the Turner group of mounds, Anderson township, Ohio, come some fairly well proportioned but much damaged stone or terra cotta figurines, t while from the animal mounds, Wis- consin, come some rather shapeless figures.] | Some of the best Moundbuilder sculpture is in the * Model: Harvard U. P. M. ~ t Ten Years Diggings in Lenape Land, page 29. J Harvard U. P. M. § American M. N. H. II Casts: Pittsburgh Carnegie M. 278 MOUNDBUILDERS AKT. form of smoking pipes. Many of them, from Ohio,* from Tennessee t and other places have good action and are good art. Several large stone smoking pipes, sculpted as birds or birds' heads, { are much like West North Amerind art. Perhaps the most interesting of all these pipes is one found in the Adena Mound, Ohio, showing a man with well proportioned head and body, but with dwarfed legs,§ of a style which connects the art of Ohio with the arts of Mexico and Peru. From the Turner group of mounds, Ohio, there are two large insects, carved out of brown wood, about 25 centimeters long, which are fine.f They are unhke any art I have seen, but they suggest Egyptian scarabs. There is some little low reUef carving or engraving in Moundbuilders art. For instance, the so-called "Cincinnati" tablet, a small slab some 10 by 20 centi- meters perhaps, has on it decorations much like Maya glyphs.] I Again from Moundville, Hale County, Ala- bama, comes a curious stone, known as the "Rattle- snake Disc", on which is carved a hand with an eye in the palm and a rattlesnake surrounding the hand.^f The hand resembles the Arab hand of Fatma and the art of this "Disc" is very Mexican. Prehistoric pottery is found almost everywhere. There are some potsherds from the Delaware Valley which possibly date from the Moundbuilders epoch.° Two pots from Vermont have decorations in wavy or circular or criss cross lines which are not rectangular, f * Illustrations: William C. Mills: Certain Mounds and Village Sites in Ohio, Vol. 2, Part 3. t Harvard U. P. M. I American M. N. H. § Illustrations: William C. Mills: Certain Mounds and Village Sites in Ohio, Vol. 1, Part 1. I I Cast: American M. N. H. % Smithsonian I. ° Charles C. Abbott CoUection: Harvard U. P. M. ARTS OP THE WORLD. 279 A few bowls or jars with tops ending in men's or animals' heads, from burial mounds in Missouri, have a most Peruvian quality.* A lot of curious pots and dishes, sculpted into heads or animals, from prehistoric Missouri, is almost identical with Peruvian art: not at all with Mexican.! The pottery from Tennessee, Arkansas, the Mississippi Valley, etc., as a rule is undecorated. Some few white and red pieces from Arkansas are decorated with curved or rounded lines. Some Moundbuilders pottery from Arkansas, with red and white patterns, is like poor Peruvian but it is also local with resemblances to New Mexican.* From some graves in the Cumberland valley, Tennessee, there are also some pottery jars ornamented with figures, or with tops ending in men's or animal's heads, but these have less Peruvian quality than those from Missouri.* Amerind pottery becomes rougher and less decorated towards the CaroUnas and Florida: that is in the eastern United States. This looks as if the potter's art had moved eastward.* There is much basketry pottery pattern work from North America. These patterns are very individual, quite different from early European patterns.* As a whole, there are some important differences between Moundbuilders art and other Amerind art. Its mounds, its wavy or rounded decorative lines, and its sculptures of insects, would tend to show that altho Moundbuilders art is the ancestor of historic East North Amerind art, it is also in touch with Mexican Amerind prehistoric art. Nevertheless there is nothing displeasing about it: there are none of the loathsome skulls, nor any of the square block work of Mexican- Guatemalan-Honduran art. It is perhaps not too much, therefore, to rank Moundbuilders art as a * Harvard U. P. M. t American M. N. H. 280 EAST NORTH AMERIND ART. separate variety of Amerind art: some of which is distinctly good, especially some artistically valuable animal effigies. EAST NORTH AMERIND ART. Over the greater part of Canada and of the eastern United States spreads wide one of the variants of Amerind art. It might be designated as East North Amerind art. It is an historic art in time, with local individuahties and variations, and in its southern habitat it is an inheritance from or perhaps rather a con- tinuation of the prehistoric Moundbuilders art. East North Amerind art takes the form of small carvings; of rough pictographs on birchbark, boulders and cliffs; of quaint masks; and of decorations, sometimes curvi- linear, on clothing and potteries. It produced neither pictures nor big sculptures. Among carvings by the historic East North Amerinds, the most important by their number and their variety are the tobacco pipes. They come from many parts of the United States: from Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Dela- ware, Virginia, the CaroUnas, Georgia, Florida, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, Louis- iana, Mississippi, Texas, California.* That is, over a great part of North America, the Amerinds carved pipes into human heads or animal shapes, whose designs show a very similar technic and art impulse. None of these pipes resemble Eskimo carvings, but there are resemblances to some West North Amerind art. Among the few East North Amerind sculptures of humans, there are two little figures from the Sauk and Fox tribes of Iowa, one of which is well done and has the Amerind face.f * Smithsonian I. t American M. N. H, ARTS OP THE WORLD. 281 Among the Athabascan tribes of north western Canada, there is some extremely ugly, probably fairly recent, bead work of an East North Amerind type.* Some Athabascan masks from the lower Yukon and their decorations rather suggest Zuni dolls: but, unlike Tlingit and Kwakiutl masks, they have no Asiatic, Australasian, or Eskimo characteristics.* In southern Canada and the northern United States, some of the Algonquian tribes, the Montagnais, the Nascapee, the Ojibwa, etc., scratched figures on birch- bark without using colors. These drawings are poor, they are not pictorial, and their quality is rather like that of the drawings of inartistic white children.* These tribes made some pretty decorative art, as a rule in straight lines and rectangles, but some- times in curves. Their decorative art is decidedly different from Apache or Caddoan decorative art and there are more long straight lines in it. It is a rather poor but individual Amerind art, quite distinct from any Pleistokene, Asiatic or Australasian art.f Among the Iroquoian tribes of the northeastern United States, the conditions of life were different from those on the Plains and are naturally reflected in their art. The Iroquois were passing from a hunting to a farming stage and had developed pottery. Some of this is decorated. One jar, dug up in New York City, October 7th, 1906, has a sort of herring bone pattern around the edge.* It is much Uke a jar found at Towanda, Pennsylvania, which is ornamented by a number of lines. These Iroquoian decorations are very individual and probably local among the Iroquois. The Iroquois being already farmers to a certain extent, raised corn amongst other plants, and from the corn husks they made some masks, with holes for the eyes * American M. N. H. t Harvard U. P. M. 282 PLAINS AET. and mouth, the nose laid on the outside and corn husks radiating all around in a sort of halo, which they wore on strawberry festivals and other occasions. These are unique among East North Amerinds so far as I know.* Some of these Iroquois masks have the mouth most grotesquely twisted sideways, f In the southern United States, the Choctaws and Seminoles of Florida and the Chitimachas of Louisiana made a little sculpture in pipe heads and some rather pretty decorative designs, the art of each tribe having local individual characteristics.* PLAINS ART. Another variant of the art of the historic northern Amerinds is the art which was made on the Plains from the Mississippi to the plateaus of the Rocky Mountains. The art sense of the historic Plains Amerinds found its expression mainly in decorating their various possessions and their persons. They decorated their teepees, their skin robes, their parfleches etc., generally in straight lines and rectangles, rarely in curves or circles. Some of the decorations are painted, some later ones are bead work. Usually they are highly colored. The color sense is good and most of the color harmonies, which as a rule are light in tone, are pleasing. Most of the northern Amerinds were fond of painting themselves with garish colors. Among various tribes I have myself seen, the Cheyennes and Arapahoes especially, I noticed that bright red seemed to be the favorite hue. A similar taste for brilliant colors is found among the Russian moujiks and I heard it stated in Petrograd that these look on red as the most beautiful of colors. I have little doubt that this * Harvard U. P. M. t American M. N. H. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 283 preference for scarlet among some primitive peoples is due to the fact that vermiUion is the most violent of colors and the one which has the intensest chromatic effect on the eye. In Une with this are the beautiful feather decorations with which certain tribes from the Plains, such as the Sioux, adorned their costumes. The most notable decorations of the Plains Amerinds are the pictographs on bison robes and deer skins. Usually they record eveints in the Ufe of the maker. Sometimes there are several incidents together, each one represented separately. There is neither naturalistic drawing, light and shade, nor perspective in these picto- graphs. The figures in fact are mere signs and symbols forming a sort of diary of the owner's Ufe. But the decorative effect as a whole frequently is very pleasing. Of sculpture there is practically none from any of the tribes of the Plains and this is probably due to the lack of wood or even suitable stone. There is much art from the Sioux or Dakota tribes of the Plains. In their decorative work, the Sioux tribes stuck to the typical square or diamond in their patterns: they could not see anything except the rect- angle. Their patterns resemble TUngit, Haida, etc., patterns rather closely. One skin is painted in red and black in almost exact Chilcat blanket patterns, whilst a rattlesnake skin is ornamented with a fringe of bead work.* All these Siouan and Algonquian patterns are pure North Amerind, but closer to TUngit patterns than are the Apache patterns which more resemble Mexican patterns.* The pictographs which the Sioux draw on skins are quite different from and inferior to Eskimo work: the figures are very rectangular and there is not the faintest notion of making a picture. One of the most remarkable examples of Plains art I have seen, is a robe of bison skin sent by * Harvard U. P. M. ~ 284 PLAINS ART. Lewis and Clark from Fort Mandan in April, 1805, to the Peale Museum, Philadelphia.* It is covered with figures which are said to represent a battle in about the year 1797 of the Sioux and Ricaras against the Minatares and Mandans. The drawing is very primi- tive. The bodies of the men are rectangles. The arms are indicated by one thick black line. Most of the figures on horseback have no legs, the rectangular bodies simply squatting square on the horses. Some of the figures have guns. The horses also have rectangular bodies. A little blue, yellow and red is used, but the lines are black. There is no sign of a picture nor of perspective, the figures, all of about equal size, simply being drawn over every part of the skin. The horses are somewhat like those on an old Greek vase of the 8th century B. C.,t a curious coincidence of two primitive arts. A bison skin from North Dakota, which is also quite old, has pictographs of men and horses on it. The men are like those on the Lewis and Clark robe. The horses resemble some of the early Greek terra cottas. There is plenty of action in the figures and animals; in fact the drawing of this robe is a little more naturalistic and spirited than that of the Lewis and Clark robe. The drawings on another smaller bison skin, evidently modern, have resemblances to White art. Possibly there is White influence which may have come with the immigration of the Whites. J Some drawings on bison skins from other tribes of the northern Plains also look something like the draw- ings which White children with artistic proclivities indulge in. The head, leg and shoulder of a bison on a Comanche shield is almost grotesque as art * Harvard U. P. M. t Boston M. F. A. I American M. N. H. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 285 and resembles a bad drawing by a White child.* An owl and rainbow on a similar Mandan shield show the same characteristics.* The humans almost always have the faces in profile, but the propor- tions of the figures are fair and resemble the White race art type. As these drawings are comparatively recent, after the Amerinds were in contact with the inrushing Europeans, it seems most probable that some of the Amerinds may have received some little art impulse from the latter. Another kind of pictorial work among the Siouan tribes, was to cut a figure as a sort of silhouette. Such a figure of a man from the Sioux, cut out of bison hide, is good, but the head is rather large. The figure of a bison also cut out of bison hide, is 'first rate in action and in proportions except that the legs are rather too long. These figures were suspended from poles during the festival known as the Sun Dance of the Ogalalla Sioux, f Some of the Algonquian tribes of the Plains, the Blackfeet, the Cheyennes, the Arapahoes, also make some drawings on skins; the figures are in fair pro- portions and tolerably free, tho rectangular; there is no perspective. They also make feather decorations and much decoration in beadwork. The patterns are much like Sioux work and are in touch with Haida art, TUngit art, etc.f The buckskin shirts Of the Northern Amerinds, especially those from the Plains, resemble somewhat Eskimo or East ^Siberian or Japanese garments: they ' do not resemble Hindu or Arab clothing in the least. They do not open down the front, but they hang like kimonos. Many of them are handsomely decorated. One, for instance, from the Dakotas, is ornamented * United States N. M. t Harvard U. P. M. 286 PLAINS ART. with rectangular outlined humans, porcupine quills, and scalp locks.* Among the plateaus of the southern Rocky Mountains, art has certain connections with California art to the west and gradually merges with Pueblo art to the south. Nevertheless the strongest resemblances are probably with Plains art with which it may perhaps be included. The Athabascan Apaches of Arizona made no pictographs but placed much decoration on basketry ware, bowls, etc. They had some bead work and much feather ornament. Their decorations were mostly in straight lines or squares with almost no curves but with some wavy lines. They often used queer little rectangular men as a decoration. Their art has no resemblance to any Australasian art.* The Sho- shonean Pai-Utes of the southern Rockies have only a little art in typical square, diamond, etc., patterns, rather similar to Sioux patterns.* The Yuman Mohave and Havasupai tribes and the Caddoan Pima make basket bowls closely allied to Apache bowls, yet dif- ferent from them.* Shoshone decorations on parfleches, etc., in form and color are much Uke the Zuni style of decorations and are therefore transitional to Pueblo art.f As a whole, the art of the historic Plains Amerinds must be looked on as largely spontaneous and individual. It is in many ways in touch with West North Amerind art, certainly more so than is Pueblo art. It is nearer also to Australasian and Ainu art than is Pueblo art or East North Amerind art but further from Siberian art than the latter. While these reseijablances of Plains art to other arts tend to show relationship to North Asiatic-Australasian art, the individuality of Plains art tends to show that its makers must have broken their home ties a long while, many millenniums, ago. * Harvard U. P. M. t American M. N. H. ARTS OP THE WORLD. 287 CALIFORNIA ART. In the United States, to the west of the Rocky- Mountains, in Washington, Oregon and California, art should be considered as a separate branch of Amerind art, more closely connected with East North Amerind art than with West North Amerind art, and might be called California art. It begins to differ from West North Amerind art in southern British Columbia and shades off insensibly and gradually into North Mexican art. California art is found among various tribes, the Salishan of British Columbia and Washington, the Sahaptian KHkitat and Nez Perc6 of Washington and Oregon, the Athabascan Hupa of northern California, and the Pujunan, Shoshonean and Kalunapan Maidu, Pomo, Yoroks and Pit Rivers of central and southern CaUfornia.* The most distinctive feature of Cah- fornia art is the basketry work, ornamented with hundreds of beautiful decorative patterns, mainly in straight Unes, rectangles and squares. Of sculpture or drawing proper, there is little, except some rough picto- graphs on rocks. There is some feather work from southern California, and the Hupas of northern Cali- fornia wore headdresses not unlike some AustraUan headdresses. While the basketry from Washington to southern California is of the same general type, that in the south resembles more closely Pueblo basketry. These south CaUfornia Amerinds, however, do not appear to decorate their pottery with decorations of the same kind as those of the Pueblo Amerinds. CLIFF-DWELLERS ART. From the southwestern United States, from Colo- rado, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, possibly southern California, and from northern Mexico as far south as Chihuahua, remains of a prehistoric art are obtained, * American M. N. H. Harvard U. P. M. 288 CLIFF-DWELLERS ART. sufficiently distinctive to be classified perhaps as a separate variety of Amerind art. This art includes architecture, pottery and decorative work. Its makers are represented to-day by their direct descendants the Pueblo Amerinds. Its most individual feature is the cliff dwellings which its makers dug or built in the canyons of this region. It may therefore for clarity best be called Cliff-dwellers art, altho now usually it is designated as prehistoric Pueblo art. The Cliff-dwellers left many specimens of their architecture. Under projecting rock shelters, in the mouth of shallow caves, along the sides of precipitous canyons, they built up stone walls and houses whose position made them into semi-fortresses and which show that man was always the same and necessarily afraid of his fellow man. They also raised mounds in some places and, if I am not mistaken, built some towns much like the modern pueblos. Cliff-dwellers art comes down mainly in the shape of decorated pottery. This pottery is locally distinct and individual and looks quite different from Moundbuilders pottery of the Mississippi Valley: the artistic feehng is different.* It is also different from old south Mexican pottery. Nevertheless, it is a pure Amerind art and implies merely local variation. I would hazard the guess that most Cliff-dwellers pottery is of somewhat later date than most Moundbuilders pottery, because the Pueblo natives of to-day still make something much like it. Some of the early pottery was made by coiling strips of clay round and round into the shape required, causing the outside to resemble basketry or straw work. Evidently the idea underlying the making of these early potteries came from baskets of straw or grass resembling Panama work and which the early potters first tried to imitate in clay basketry work.* * Harvard U. P. M. ABTS OF THE WORLD. 289 Some of this pottery is red. Some from New Mexico is black and polished, and some other is white and decorated with black patterns which are not unlike modern Pueblo basketry patterns. Much Arizona pottery is black and white and, altho this is some- times found in ruins on the plains, is pre-eminently characteristic of cliff houses.* Some of this black and white Cliff-dwellers pottery has rather poor, rough and unsymmetrical decorative patterns which are inferior to CaUfornia patterns. On the other hand there are many beautiful decora- tions on Cliff-dwellers pottery. It is often decorated with straight hnes and rectangles but sometimes with curves. Much the same decorations are found on some of the beautiful modern Pueblo basketry work. Many of the decorations are humans or animals or plants. They are distinctly decorative and effective altho as naturaUstic drawings or paintings they are poor and lack observation. There are no pictures whatever from this region and this inclines me to think that Cliff-dwellers figures are not deteriorated drawings. The Cliff-dwellers did the best drawing they could on their pottery and, having an admirable decorative sense, they succeeded in making some most pleasing decorated pottery: better sometimes, to my taste, than some old Greek pottery.* There is a little pottery sculpture from CUff-dwellers art, mainly from its southern reaches. For instance there are some quaint pottery bowls from mounds near Ramas, Chihuahua, Mexico. These are hardly sculp- tures, just pots or jars shaped roughly into figures, but pleasanter than those from further south. Some prettily decorated pottery from the same mounds is much like modern Pueblo ware.* * Harvard U. P. M. 290 PUEBLO ABT. PUEBLO ART. Pueblo art is still made to-day in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, in Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona and Chihuahua. It is a pure Amerind art which is evidently descended from Cliff- dwellers art and old Mexican art, but which is rather more advanced than Cliff-dwellers art. It is closely in touch with Plains art and also with West North Amerind art, but nevertheless it is sufficiently dis- tinctive to be classed as a separate variety. As many of its makers live in the pueblo cities of the southwest, it is accurate to call it Pueblo art. Architecture, pottery, pottery sculpture, decorative art, drawing and colored drawing, are found in Pueblo art, but nothing which can be said to rise to the dignity of true sculpture or painting. The Pueblo artists apparently lack the ability to really observe. Among the Pueblo artists, the Shoshonean Moki Hopi are prominent. There are resemblances among the Moki-Hopi to peoples outside of America which are noteworthy: for instance, the hair of the Moki maidens is sometimes arranged just hke that of Japanese girls.* Then their patchoku or rabbit sticks are almost identical with Australian boomerangs and their mamzranti pahos remind one of Australian cheringa stones, j Mamzranti pahos are flat wooden objects, on which are painted what are said to be symbols of rain, clouds, corn, etc., and sometimes the figures of the totem to which the bearers belong, and are carried in ceremonies to bring rain, germinate corn, etc.f Again some implements dug out from a mound in southeastern Colorado J are similar to the patu-patu or merai, the traditional weapon of the Maories. Altho, of course, these imple- * Photographs: Harvard U. P. M. t Harvard U. P. M. J Smithsonian I. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 291 ments were doubtless developed independently in each locality, yet they point to a similarity of feeling and are thus of unusual interest. Some poata or coiled basketry trays made only by the Mokis of the pueblo of Miconinovi are really beautiful decorative art. A great variety of colors is used in the patterns and the straw or grass in these trays is in concentric circles like some sea shells. A rather similar form of poata or wicker basket tray is made only in the Moki pueblo of Oraibi. The beauti- ful patterns and colors are different from those from Miconinovi and look more as if they were taken from birds or animals. These Moki-Hopi trays are really artistic and suggest how local sometimes some beautiful or ugly art may be and in some cases, such as this, be a purely native product.* In its forms and decorations Pueblo pottery is a great improvement over Cliff-dwellers pottery. In every way it is stronger and better. For instance, some of the Moki pottery is full of quaUty and shows symmetry in decorative design, repeating one, two, three or four motives on one piece of pottery. Some of the Moki food or water bowls are bird shaped or animal shaped and are more pleasing than old Mexican or Mound- builders pottery. Their decorative art is certainly sometimes excellent and does not seem to me to resemble any Old World patterns I can think of.* Just as the Moki snake dance may be inferred to be a survival of serpent worship in Mexico, some Moki- Hopi art may be inferred to be a survival of old Mexican art from the fact that the Moki dolls are all in squares. These dolls are grotesque and silly, never- theless they are not loathsome because there are no snakes or skulls and because the bright colors, even if crude and violent, add at least one attempted artistic * Harvard U. P. M. ~ 292 PUEBLO ART. touch, which shows that the Mokis are trying to make something to give pleasure, not pain. These dolls are supposed to impersonate various mythical personages. The Moki also make clay tiles on which are painted, in red and black on a white ground, figures artistically similar to the dolls; with square heads, Uttle bodies and short legs. Like the dolls, these drawings of humans on clay tiles are decidedly grotesque.* Whilst most Zuni art also runs to squares, from the Zuni comes some pottery which easily holds its own artistically when compared with much Chinese and other pottery, t Some Pueblo potteries, which I believe are Zuni, have drawings on them much resembling Alaska Eskimo drawings and these are the nearest resemblances to Eskimo art I have seen in Amerind art.* There are also some small Zuni carvings of animals in various sorts of stone t which show a slight sense of form and observation, and which suggest some Eskimo, or perhaps Athabascan, carvings from Alaska. The rugs or blankets of the Navajo Indians are well known and have some distinctly artistic decorations. The Navajo also make some idealistic sand paintings which are unhke almost any other art. I call these "sand paintings," because they are made in the sand with colors. They appear to be an abstract of their gods in a decorative art form and there is resemblance in them to some of the ceremonial earth paintings of the Australians. One of these Navajo sand paintings repre- sents the four rain gods (Tonenih), the black god of the north, the blue god of the south, the yellow god of the west and the white god of the east, surrounded by an anthropomorphic rainbow. The rainbow has a head at one end, feet at the other: the hands hold a gourd. * Harvard U. P. M. t Boston M. F. A. t United States N. M. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 293 The heads of the gods are perfect rings, with eyes and mouth. The bodies are long, narrow and straight rectangles; the legs are very short. This is one of a series of three sand paintings and is made on the sixth day of the ceremony called commonly the Yebitsai or Night Chant. It is one of the most curious and most original works of art I have seen.* NORTH MEXICAN ART. Among the Amerinds of Mexico, principally of northern Mexico, there is some still living art, which belongs to northern Amerind art, has resemblances to Pueblo art and California art, and descends to a certain extent from old Mexican art.f The Maya-Quichen Lacandons of Chiapas make some hideous little pottery jars, with a head on one side. I The style of this inferior, rather degraded art, is somewhat like old Mexican. The Tarahumares, the Huichols, the Coras, and the Tepehuanes of northern Mexico, make a good deal of decorative art. It is different from CaUfornia art and from Pueblo art, altho it resembles both.§ The Tara- humares make some rough basketry and rather poor pottery, also some poor masks. § The Huichols make prettily decorated cloths, some rough basketry, and some little figures and various small objects not unlike Hopi dolls. Some of the decorations, of animals and humans, look like Pueblo decorative figures. || Their work is quite distinctive from old Mexican or East North Amerind art. The Nahuatlan Coras of north Mexico weave cloths with decorative patterns, some of * Model in Colors: Harvard U. P. M. t American M. N. H. Harvard U. P. M. Salem P. M. i Harvard U. P. M. § American M. N. H. 1 1 American M. N. H. Salem P. M. 294 AZTEC ART. which are taken from animals.* These also are quite distinctive from old Mexican art, Pueblo art, or East North Amerind art. The Tepehuanes of northern Mexico make the poorest decorative art of these four tribes, f AZTEC ART. For many centuries before Columbus' arrival Aztec art flourished thruout south central Mexico and north Central America. It was as luxuriant as tropical vege- tation. It was symbolic and decorative with a great sense of covering surfaces. In this it is closely in touch with West North Amerind art. In certain points it is also only less in touch with East North Amerind art. The date when Aztec and other Mexican arts started is uncertain, nevertheless it is generally con- ceded that it was at least some centuries B. C. Aztec art includes architecture in the shape of temples and pyramids, stone and pottery figures, pottery, bas reliefs, decorative art, hieroglyphs and pictographs. The art of the Aztecs extended over central- southern Mexico and into Yucatan. Some ethnologists now divide the archeology of this region into three sets of culture, Tarascan, Totonacan and Nahuan. In my judgment, the art of these three districts of Mexico is one, with certain local variations. The use of the three names, however, may be of value to make clearer where different specimens of Aztec art come from. The art of the so-called Tarascan culture comes from Tepic, JaHsco, Michoagan, Colima, etc.; the Totonacan from Vera Cruz and Puebla; the Nahuan from Mexico City, Puebla, Chiapas, western coast of Guatemala, north western coast of San Salvador, Guerrero, and, as a mixture with Mayan art, from * Salem P. M. Harvard U. P. M. t American M. N. H. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 295 Yucatan. The Nahuan branch of Aztec art, or Aztec art proper, is the most advanced. From this entire country come stone implements. From the Tarascan region there are many chipped stone implements, among them some fine ones of obsidian, and some copper implements. From the Totonacan or Vera Cruz district also there are stone implements, including some of chipped black obsidian. From the Nahuan region there are many chipped and polished stone implements; some beautiful black obsidian ones from Puebla; many from Guerrero; some beautiful chipped stone knives of chert from Mexico City; and also some highly polished implements of jadeite, chalcedony and serpentine.* The Tarascan branch of Aztec art, tho closely approximating Totonacan and Nahuan, is not quite the same. It consists mainly of decorated potteries, and pottery and stone figures. Tarascan art is not of the square, Zapotecan type: it is rather rounded. Some jars from Guadalajara, Jahsco, are decorated in a manner which still survives among the present Tarascan Amerinds and which is unlike most Nahuan art. From a single ancient ruin, Totoate, northern Jalisco, there are a number of inoffensively decorated pottery bowls and also some from various places in Zacatecas which closely resemble some Nahuan pottery from Tlaxcala, Puebla. t The Tarascan pottery and stone figures are grotesque, ugly and out of proportion, but they are not monstrous. I beheve the sculptors, in some cases, thought they were imitating nature. Earrings and big nose rings are common in these figures. Two small copper Tarascan turtles are quite well done.f The Totonacan branch of Aztec art, which comes from the provinces of Puebla and Vera Cruz, includes * American M. N. H. Harvard U. P. M. t American M. N. H. 296 AZTEC AET. potteries, pottery figures, small pottery heads and some small stone figures. These are ugly and common but are not distorted like art further south. They are in a transitional stage between Moundbuilders pottery and Guatemala pottery. A small sculptured skull shows, however, the true south Mexican art feeling. One piece of shell from Tuxpan, Vera Cruz, is engraved inside with a figure of pure Nahuatl appearance.* Nahuan or Nahuatl or Aztec art proper consists of pyramids and temples, sculptures, potteries, hieroglyphs or pictographs, and decorative art. The pyramids had many steps on their sides and buildings of a religious character on their tops. They are thus different from Egyptian pyramids and temples which are separate structures complete in themselves. It may be worth noting here that the Aztec word "tepee" or "tepetl" meaning hill is very similar to the East North Amerind "teepee" meaning tent. The temples are not neces- sarily very old, for accounts by eye witnesses speak of some of them as in use in the time of Cortez.f In general appearance they resemble the temples of Java and Cochin China. There is a great deal of pottery from the Aztecs. Some from the valley of Mexico is decorated much like pottery from the neighborhood of Jalisco, which shows that Tarascan art belongs to Aztec art. Some Nahuan pottery, however, is more advanced: some of it has an orange tinge. The patterns and colors are sufficiently unUke CHfl-dwellers art to show that they are the arts' of different tribes. J Some very individual pottery sculptures were made by the Aztecs. One curious piece, from near Texcoco, * Harvard U. P. M. American M. N. H. t Bemal Diaz de Castillo : The true history of the conquest of Mexico, translated by M. Keatinge, 1800. t American M. N. H. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 297 valley of Mexico, is a terra cotta figure, representing a warrior dressed in quilted cotton armor. The figure is fairly accurate in proportions. Some fragments of a similar figure show this statue is not unique.* There are some small stone figures from the Aztecs.* Some of these figures are in fair proportion, but many have big heads, small bodies and tiny legs. As such figures are also found in Yucatan, Peru and other places, it shows that this conception of the human form was widely spread in America. Some of these figures have feather headdresses and resemble some- what some Egyptian figurines, f Perhaps the best Aztec work was their sculpture on stone slabs. The faces, as a rule, are sculpted in pro- file, they have retreating foreheads and immense noses, and the eye, unlike the eye in Egyptian art, is cor- rectly drawn in profile. Many of the faces are decid- edly, tho doubtless unintentionally, grotesque. The invariable type is distinctly Amerind. Some of the big rounded noses suggest Semitic faces and some of the heads have faces approximately like Hindu faces but quite unlike Egyptian faces. Some bas reliefs from the ruins of Santa Lucia Cozumahualpa, Guatemala, are really fine.| There are none of the glyphs of Maya work, only occasion- ally a skull instead of a head on the figures and but rarely a snake. There being no glyphs, the spaces are not so filled with decoration as in Maya work. The proportions of the figures are rather too squat. Some of the heads are of a fantastic type: others, whether in profile or full-face, are fairly good. Sometimes with a realistic head, the body and limbs are of a fantastic type. There are also some slabs of this * American M. N. H. t Harvard U. P. M. } Casts: American M. N. H. 298 AZTEC AET. Santa Lucia type, I believe from Palenque.* These Santa Lucia slabs are artistically superior to most Aztec slabs. One of the latter, the "Stone of the Sun" or Aztec calendar stone, has certain resemblances to Maya art. The head in the center is almost, not quite, a skull; and a lot of decorations are not unlike Maya glyphs, f Aztec art has few skulls or snakes among its sculptures, in which it is different from Maya art. This is proof that these two arts are not quite the same and do not spring from quite the same impulses; and the fact that the Aztecs did almost no snakes, while the Maya did many, is almost sure evidence that the Maya interest in snakes, which is also found among the Moki-Hopi, has no connection with Baby- lonia, as some ethnologists have suggested. Nevertheless some Aztec art is not as pleasing as some Maya art. A particularly ugly semi-monolithic sculpture, now in Washington, D. C, with a death's head on each side, is said to be Aztec and to have been dug out of the site of a temple which stood on the site of the Cathedral of Mexico. J Standing near this one, a Maya monolith from Quirigua, some of whose glyphs and decorated bits have a Zapotecan quality, is certainly less unpleasant. J A number of masks from Mexico may be Aztec. § Apparently they represent skulls and assuredly they are ghastly. They are made of a sort of black and green obsidian mosaic. They have white set in eyes and white teeth. There is a certain resemblance between these masks and West North Amerind masks; and altho there is no resemblance in form to the heads * Casts: Harvard U. P. M. t Rxiins of Tenochtitlan, Mexico City. Cast: American M. N. H t United States N. M. § British M. ABTS OF THE WORLD. 299 from Easter Island and Hawaii, yet the set-in eyes suggest a similar art impulse. There is also a big, double headed snake of mosaic and a handle of mosaic, representing a kneeling man, in which a chipped stone dagger-like implement is inserted: these last two speci- mens of this rather unique mosaic art are not unpleasant.* The Aztecs also left a number of picture books or codexes. In these the humans are perhaps more reaUstic than those in Maya codexes, in " which the figures are perhaps more fantastic. But judging from pictures in one codex the Aztecs appear to have been as barbarous as the Maya, for laying people on their backs and cutting out their hearts and other vitals seems to have afforded them amusement and delight, f One of the codexes, the "Codex Vaticanus," is said to be Aztec and if this be true, the figures in the hall of the Jaguars at Chichen Itza are certainly Aztec, t Never- theless this codex has certain Maya characteristics, altho the glyphs are unusual. Aztec art, on the whole, is simply one phase of Amerind art with certain local peculiarities. It cannot be related to Egyptian art which it resembles only in the squat figures with feather headdresses. It has no relation to African art and only the vaguest resemblances to Hindu art or to Australasian art. MAYA ART. Maya art extended principally over southern Mexico, western Yucatan, Guatemala and northern Honduras. Copan and Quirigua, Honduras, were perhaps its chief centers. * British M. t Codex Magliabecchiano, Post Columbian Aztec, Biblioteca Nazionale, Florence, Italy. Facsimile: American M. N. H. I Facsimile: American M. N. H. 300 MAYA ART. There was some architecture, of the architrave order, among the Mayas. They raised some pyramids with temples on them. Some of these are comparatively recent, for in one case, at Uxmal, wooden beams have been found in a perfect state of preservation.* Maya art consists mainly of sculpted stone slabs and monoliths. Its chief motives are men's heads, men's skulls, snakes, snake heads, and hieroglyphs. The men's heads show some decided sculptural abiHty and the carefully filled spaces show a strong decorative art sense in the makers. But the skulls and the snakes make much Maya art most unpleasant, in fact many of its productions are hke soHdified nightmares. This appears to be due partly to some want of artistic feel- ing in the makers, but still more to the art evidently being controlled by brutal religious patrons. Some of their decorative art, with which they filled spaces, was also pictorial writing or hieroglyphs. The most important Maya art form is the stone monolith. These vary between three to nine meters in height. They have generally one great full-face in the center on one side, but sometimes they have several heads one above the other and then they certainly suggest the totem pole art idea. When there is one big head the rest of the figure is usually, but much less realistically, sculpted. The hands are posed point- ing upward below the face and as a rule the legs and bare feet are represented. Generally the figures are standing altho from Copan there are several in sitting poses. The remaining surfaces of the monoliths are all covered with sculpted bas reliefs, skulls, snakes and glyphs in wild profusion. The top of one monolith from Quirigua has good feather decorations, f The artistic abiUty of the Maya finds its highest * Stephens: Travels in Central Yucatan, etc. t Casts: Harvard U. P. M. American M. N. H. ARTS OF THE WORLD, 301 expression in the big heads or faces on monoHths. Next to this is their accomphshment in filling spaces with decorations. As a rule the faces are ugly, but sometimes they are dignified and handsome. Some of them are of a square art type, but some of the faces are long and narrow and are really well observed and sculpted. The ears of these heads are always enormous, but rather wide than long. Some of these faces have a long goatee and resemble a httle some Egyptian heads. Never- theless any resemblance to Egyptian sculpture must be purely accidental, as all the Mayan faces are invariably pure Amerind faces.* There are some curious Maya monolithic sculptures from Quirigua. One is said to be the head of an aUigator: possibly it is, but the proportions are more nearly those of the head of a jaguar. Another is known as the "Great Turtle of Quirigua" from its supposed general resemblance to a huge land tortoise. It is a large ball of stone some eight feet high by ten feet long and ten feet wide. It is carved with Maya sculpture and glyphs. At one end there is a head which does suggest a turtle and at the other end is carved a large human figure, f The skull as an ornamentation flourished especially among the Mayas. It is also found in much smaller numbers among the Aztecs, and the Hindu Brahman- istic artists also utilized this revolting negatively artistic motive. The suggestion has been made that these skulls are monkeys' heads. J I do not agree with this for they seem to me to be unmistakably sculp- tures of skulls. Possibly the skull as a motive was related to human sacrifices. The snake was another favorite motive for sculp- * Casts: Harvard U. P. M. American M. N. H. t Casts: American M. N. H. J Stephens: Travels in Central Yucatan, etc. 302 ZAPOTECAN ABT. tural ornament among the Mayas. Snakes coil around and leer at you from many Maya monuments. There is never anything beautiful about these snakes, as there is for instance in some Japanese representations of snakes: they are always stupid, venomous reptiles, ready to strike and to bite. There is no doubt that the serpent character is well observed and well expressed. But there are so many snakes in Maya art, that it almost seems as if the whole population were brooding over visions of delirium tremens. Some pottery figures from Guatemala are prob- ably Mayan. They have helmets, shields and corslets, and were evidently suggested by Spanish soldiers in armor.* They are hideous and this would tend to prove that the ugliness of Maya art is not wholly due to bad religious ideals, but largely to a lack of artistic feeling in the makers. Maya art is clearly a phase of Amerind art. It is not related to Egyptian art despite the monoliths on which are big faces with goatees. It has no relation to Austra- lasian art, to African art, nor to East Asiatic art. If there is any Old World art Maya art is in touch with, it is South Asiatic art. For Maya decorations of skulls and snakes resemble some of the Hindu sculptures due to Brahmanism and therefore it might be that some of the Maya subjects are reminiscences of reUgious ideas im- ported into the New World from Southern Asia. But whether Brahmanism was related to the reHgion of the Maya or not, in Hindustan and in Mexico religion is responsible for many artistic atrocities. ZAPOTECAN ART. From the districts of Oaxaca, Mitla, etc., south- western Mexico, comes some art which is local, indi- vidual and neither Aztec nor Mayan. The date * Harvard U. P. M. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 303 when it began is unknown but chipped stone, polished stone and copper implements are found in connection with it. It is sometimes termed Zapo- tecan but usually Mitla art. It includes buildings; potteries; pottery, stone and jadeite figures; and some primitive drawings. In the neighborhood of Mitla, some curious cruci- form structures were dug out and built. They are decorated with patterns which are neither Aztec nor Mayan and which are positively pleasant to look at.* These Mitla decorations are mainly based on the rattlesnake. The snake's head is highest; the rattles are in separate places, tip down; and decorations are filled in from the patterns on the snake's skin. They are all rectilinear, altho the snake is the most curving and sinuous of Uving forms. The most individual feature of Zapotecan art is its squareness. This is specially noticeable in pottery sculptures. Some of these potteries were food, drink and ceremonial vessels of various kinds used in connec- tion with funerary ceremonies untU after the Spanish invasion. They are all barbarously ugly. Many of the larger figures are said to be funerary urns and possibly to represent deities. Of course these square, rectangular lines are an Amerind trait, as they are found among the PeruAdans, the Mayas, the Aztecs, the Zuni and Moki, and there is a tendency towards squares and rectangles among aU the northern Amerinds. But rectiUnear art rules supreme among the Zapotecans. There are many Zapotecan ornaments of jadeite. This is carved into all sorts of more or less fantastic Central Amerind figures. A large adze of this material, 16 pounds in weight and 272 mm. long, is the hand- somest specimen.* Jadeite is found in many places of the world and art objects of jade therefore do not * American M. N. H. 304 YUCATAN ART. necessarily imply a Chinese origin as is generally assumed.* The Zapotecans did not reach a pictorial stage but they produced some rather queer drawings, amongst which may be mentioned a drawing called "Lienzo de Zacatepec" and another called "Lienzo de Coixt- ahuaca." They are on cotton cloth and are said to have been made shortly after the Spanish conquest. The second is considered to be a map of part of the Zapotecan country. It has not a trace of a picture, figures are drawn upside down or any which way, and it looks something like early Medieval maps.* YUCATAN ART. At Chichen Itza, Yucatan, and at Palenque, Chiapas, there was a branch of Amerind art which was more human than the art of southern Mexico or of northern Honduras. It is partly Maya but there is also Aztec influence, in fact I should judge it to be more Aztec than Maya. The figures are better and death's heads are not as much to the fore as at Copan, nevertheless it does not seem to me very artistic. The best specimens of Yucatan art come from the Temple or Hall of the Jaguars at Chichen Itza. This is sometimes miscalled the Temple of the Tigers but, considering that except in zoological gardens there have never been any tigers in America, it seems rather silly to speak of it thus. Yucatan art includes architecture, pottery, sculpture and colored bas rehefs. Some stone figures about seventy five centimeters high, supports for altar tops or door posts at the Temple of the Jaguars, are squat, square and unpleasant, but have distinct decorative qualities.! A statue of Chacmool or Tlaloc discovered by Le Plongeon at Chichen Itza, represents * American M. N. H. t Harvard U. P. M. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 305 a plump reclining life sized man holding on his abdomen a dish. The details are worked out, but the propor- tions are all wrong and the handling is flabby and soft. The figure is not hateful but there is something absurd about it.* At the Temple of the Jaguars, there are some colored sculpted and painted walls. I am not sure whether any of them are paintings on a flat surface or whether they are all colored bas reliefs. There are a great many figures, sometimes fairly weU proportioned, with much life, action and motion. They are tolerably well drawn, especially some of the naked figures, and there is some local color sense. But there is not an idea of perspective and everything is jumbled together; men fighting, women cooking, trees, houses, boats, etc. Most of the men have feather headdresses, and an occasional figure has a skull in place of a head. There do not seem to be any Maya glyphs and whilst there are some snakes, these do not jump out and strike at you. One cannot call these paintings, which are merely details strung together, in any sense pictures. They resemble some of the Mexican codexes and have slighter resemblances to some other branches of Amerind art, for instance to some Haida and Tlingit figures and very faint ones to some Sioux buffalo robes. I cannot feel any resemblance in them to any but Amerind art.f CENTRAL AMERIND ART. In Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica many chipped and poHshed stone implements are found f and also a great deal of art, which is sufficiently individual to be ranked as a separate branch of Amerind art * Casts: Harvard U. P. M. American M. N. H. t Casts colored in water color by Adela C. Breton: Harvard U. P. M. American M. N. 1}. t American M. N. H. 306 CENTRAL AMERIND ART. perhaps under the name of Central Amerind art. This art is different from Maya or Aztec art and is much pleasanter than any of the arts of Mexico. There are no pictures from Central America, altho numerous rocks bearing pictographs are reported, but I have seen none of these, nor any copies of the pictographs. The art is mainly pottery sculpture, some rather simple decorative art and a little stone sculpture. The pottery varies locally all thru Central America and some of it is decorated with patterns of a poor Amerind character. From the Uloa valley, north eastern Honduras, comes much broken pottery and many little grotesque terra cotta figures, not nearly so ugly as Maya art.* Some Nicaragua pottery is reddish in tone with white spots. It is pure Amerind and very rough. Some pieces are in the shape of caricatural figures, with the head open at the top and the arms for handles.* From Costa Rica and Chiriqui come some pre- historic three legged pottery jars. Each of these legs, as a rule, has a long slit in it. They look somewhat like the carious roots of a wisdom tooth. Some of these jars have an alligator sculpted on each leg. I have seen it stated that the underlying art motive in all these jars was the alUgator. This is perhaps doubtful because, tho in many cases the motive is a deteriorated decorative alligator, some of the jars have almost plain legs with slits in them and others are sculpted into very rough heads. In any case, however, this is local Costa Rica, Chiriqui art.f Hand mills or mealing stones or metates from southern Central America are hewn out of stone into the shape of small chairs or seats without backs. At * Harvard U. P. M. t Harvard U. P. M. American M. N. H. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 307 one end an animal's head was carved, usually that of a puma, and they stand as a rule on three legs, one under the shoulders and two hind legs. The back is hollow and in this corn was ground with a pestle.* Some stone sculptures were carved in Nicaragua. One stone figure, about half life size, is sitting all bunched up and in shape, pose and proportions is just like some Haida black slate totem pole figures, f There are some stone figures from Costa Rica also and some of them are marvellously Uke Kwakiutl wooden humans. J These figures show relationship between the art of Central America and that of Alaska and prove it is all one art. ANTILLEAN ART. While there is not much art from the Antilles, there is enough to show that originally it was in touch with southern Central Amerind and East South Amerind art. Some influence probably came from Central America and some from northern South America but none came from the United States into the Antilles. From probably all the islands of the Antilles there are stone implements. All those I have seen are of poUshed stone, which would imply a late migration into the islands. From Jamaica, San Domingo, the Bahamas, Porto Rico, Guadeloupe, Saint Vincent, come adzes and axes. There are several specimens of metates of a poor character from the Bahamas and Porto Rico. One implement from Porto Rico is almost a short patu-patu and from the same island come a number of elliptical stone rings whose object I do not know but which look like horse collars. J Art specimens from the Antilles are few, but they are distinctly Amerind. One is a rough pictograph on * Harvard U. P. M. American M. N. H. t Harvard U. P. M. t American M. N. H. 308 ANTILLEAN AND COLOMBIAN ART. a rock from Guadeloupe.* Others are a few roughly sculpted heads from Porto Rico. From there also come a curious stone ax, decorated on one side with a face, two eyes, mouth, and chin in reUef; and a stone death's head, artistically resembUng the death's head from Fort Rupert, Vancouver, and in touch with those at Copan and Quirigua.f A certain number of small stone sculptures are carved at either end of a longish stone into some kind of a head, man, animal or bird; they rise to a point, with an arete on each side, in the middle. Some small stone faces are full-face. The heads, animals and birds are all of an Amerind type.t From Haiti come two rather ancient rough wood carvings, the one of two figures about forty centi- meters high, the other of one figure about seventy centimeters high. I thought at one time that these figures were probably Negro ;§ further observations, however, lead me to think that they are not Negro but that they are in touch with Mexican or East South Amerind art. Big ears with ornaments lend support to this opinion. J Some Porto Rico pottery is of a brownish hue. It is coarse in texture and rough in execution. There are bowls, bottles, platters. Some are decorated with roughly sculpted human heads or animals. | From Antigua also comes some rough pottery. COLOMBIAN ART. There is no abrupt barrier between Central Amerind art and South Amerind art, for from Costa Rica art passes thru a most gentle transition into the art of * Cast: American M. N. H. t American M. N. H. t Smithsonian I. § Comparative Art, page 78. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 309 Colombia. From Colombia comes some pottery with rather commonplace decorations, also some square headed pottery figures and some very roughly sculpted heads. But there are no more three legged alligator jars, which did not cross the Isthmus from Costa Rica. Most Colombian pottery is better than Mexican, but some of it is almost as ugly as Guatemalan. There is undoubtedly a change from Central Amerind art, but Colombian art does not rise as high as Peru- vian art.* Colombian art extends to some distance into Ecuador, whose art is really a continuation of Colombian art and produced some rather common potteries with a few, poor decorations, f From Colombia and Ecuador also there are some gold and some gold covered figurines, which are transitional between Mexi- can and Peruvian art.f WEST SOUTH AMERIND ART. All along the western coast of South America, from Ecuador to Chile, there was much art in prehistoric times. This art is a pure Amerind art and has many resemblances to the arts of Mexico and Central America. But near the geographical center of western South America, in Peru and Bolivia, West South Amerind art evinces certain quahties of its own, which entitle it to recognition as one of the most important varieties of Amerind art. West South Amerind art was still a live art in the time of Pizarro. How far back it dates is at present unknown. From Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, how- ever, most of the stone implements found in connection with art specimens are poUshed stone implements and this points to the art not being very old. A number of rough chipped arrowheads, some of black obsidian, * Harvard U. P. M. American M. N. H. Salem P. M. t American M. N. H. 310 WEST SOUTH AMERIND ART. from Patagonia and a few from Brazil, however, run contrary to any belief that man's invasion of South America was only as late as the times of Peruvian Inca art.* West South Amerind art never reached a pictorial stage; at least I do not know of any real pictures from South America. It includes architecture, sculp- ture, pottery and decorative art. It rose to its highest level under the Incas in Peru and Bolivia, where it is better than the art of Colombia or Ecuador, and it dies away in northern Chile. Indeed in certain forms, especially in pottery sculpture, Amerind art rises to its acme in Peru. In Peru and BoUvia there dwelt formerly, besides the Incas, a large tribe called the Aymaras: the latter possibly a branch of the former. Like the Mexicans, these Inca-Aymaras sacrificed humans but their art nevertheless tends to show that they were nicer and less brutal people than the Aztecs or the Mayas. Some of their art is grotesque and poor but, as it does not turn to skulls and snakes for its motives, as a rule there is nothing disgusting nor hateful about it. Some of their art on the contrary is distinctly artistic. Much West South Amerind art is in the form of pottery sculpture. Most of this is red, but some of it is black. It is mainly prehistoric, that is to say, it antedates Columbus. It is found all along the west coast from Panama to northern Chile. It goes up, with architecture of the architrave order, to Lake Titicaca and Bolivia, and crosses, in an artistically debased form, into the head waters of the Amazon. Then comes some prettily decorated modern pottery in Brazil, t * American M. N. H. t Harvard U. P. M. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 311 Most Peruvian pottery is in the form of jars or vessels of some kind, usually moulded into the shape of a head, a figure or an animal. These are usually realistic and there is a good deal of action. On some of the jars, notably on some from prehistoric graves near Chimbote, there are decorative lines.* Some of the heads in Peruvian pottery are excellent reaUstic portraits, that is, they are not mere conven- tionahzed art or symbols, but genuine sculptural art giving the individual head. The eyes are sometimes white in color. Some of the " heads are caricatural. Some of the heads are pathological, showing the effects of various diseases, a use of sculpture in which Peru- vian art stands almost alone, f All these West South Amerind heads are pure Amerind. Nevertheless some of them resemble European heads and one might ascribe them to Spanish influence had not such quantities been dug up in prehistoric graves. Two curious heads, which I believe are of wood, with hats set sideways, look as if they might be caricatures of Napoleon I: possibly they are of late date and the result of Euro- pean contact. J The reaUstic Peruvian pottery portrait sculpture is decidedly artistic and in certain respects is the best sculpture on the American continent. The patho- logical sculpture on the contrary, tho showing ability, is unpleasant and lacks the sense of beauty: in fact some of the figures are simply hideous, f In decora- tions and color. South Amerind art is perhaps weaker than North Amerind art. Peruvian art undoubtedly has resemblances to Mexican art. For instance, some ancient pottery figures from the valley of Truxillo, Peru, somewhat resemble * Harvard U. P. M. t American M. N. H. Harvard U. P. M. 1 British M. 312 WEST SOUTH AMERIND ART. Chichen Itza caryatides.* But it lacks most of the unpleasant element, possibly because snakes are a rarity on high mountain slopes; the better portrait heads also are better than the average Mexican sculpture. Most of the pottery is quite different from any modern Brazilian or any Arizonian pottery: this points to local racial differences. Nevertheless some few prehistoric Peruvian potteries have decorations which might be a start for present southern Amerind work and some Peruvian jars have heads with the characteristics of Moki and Zuni dolls, f Besides the potteries, there are other forms of art in Peru. From the Lake Titicaca region there are many, sometimes soUd, sometimes hollow, silver figures of humans and llamas. The humans have large heads, small bodies and small legs, but they are in nowise African. The llamas are stiff and somewhat square, and their hmbs are rigid and almost straight.* From Peru come some stone sculptures. One from Chavin, has a skull for a head and some feather decorations: it is almost "Copanian" and shows connection between West South Amerind art and the hateful art forms of southern Mexico. J There are also a few heads made of textUesf and a little "square" art in Peru.* The Peruvians used a six unit design in the weaving of cloth, that is they used six designs one after the other in each piece of cloth, and kept repeating these six units in the same order.* Peruvian art is certainly not affected by Chinese art, by Hindu art, by Australasian art, nor by African art. It has certain similarities to some European art, especially Etruscan art, so that it seems as if it might be related across the Atlantic. But this is surely * American M. N. H. t Harvard U. P. M. I Cast: American M. N. H. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 313 accidental, because the Peruvian Amerind head is always persistent. There are likewise resemblances to Egyptian art, in certain jars and squat figures, especi- ally in some figures with feather headdresses. But these resemblances are so unimportant they are evidently accidental. The Peruvians, like the Egyptians, mum- mified their dead: these, however, were in a sitting posture. Some skulls show that the forehead was artificially depressed, giving a slope back from the eye: a deformation not found in Egypt.* Altogether, it is impossible to trace any relationship between West South Amerind art and any arts outside of the American Continent, and the more I see of West South Amerind art, the more does it seem to me a pure Amerind art. EAST SOUTH AMERIND ART. The main mass of South America, that is all the land east of the Cordilleras, is singularly destitute of art. As far as can be judged from museum exhibits, there is less art, both in quantity and quality, in East South America than in any other large land mass except Madagascar. There is no painting: only some pottery, a little very primitive sculpture, some decor- ation and some feather work. Certain it is that the barrier of the Andes had some effect on art, for whilst architecture and pottery sculpture are at their best in Peru, Bolivia and Chile, modern decorative patterns and feather work are at their best in Brazil. East South Amerind art therefore, while a purely Amerind art, is probably mainly of local growth. It extended over pretty nearly all South America east of the Andes and it still exists in most of the forest region of the Amazon and of the Orinoco. It varies, of course, but it may fairly be considered as one art. * Harvard U. P. M. 314 EAST SOUTH AMERIND ABT. There is a little prehistoric pottery from prehistoric burial mounds on the Island of Marajo, Brazil, which apparently belongs to the same civilization as Peruvian pottery and which therefore probably crossed the Cor- dilleras and followed the Amazon to the Atlantic* Some of these potteries are jars, one of which is at least 80 centimeters high. They are shaped as human heads or torsos and have eyes, noses, mouths, nipples, navels, etc., indicated. They are primitive and much less advanced than Peruvian work. Some of these potteries are covered with decorative Unes and pat- terns, black, white and red, which are distinctly artistic and with no blank spaces. Some fine speci- mens of this pottery have a decided resemblance to some CUff-dweller and Pueblo pottery, f From the Guianas and Venezuela, all the specimens seem modern. Some baskets and jars are ornamented with simple but pretty decorative patterns. J From the Caribs, Marsaruni River, Guiana, come two small almost shapeless clay figures and also some reed flutes with dec- orative patterns quite unlike any Old World patterns. § The Cadiu6ios Amerinds, a sub tribe of the Guai- curu, Brazil, make reddish pottery bowls ornamented with black and white patterns. Both the shape of the bowls and the patterns are very individual and show taste and decorative sense. Altho they do not resemble Zuni or most South Sea patterns, yet the artistic effect is not unlike some Papuan designs on shields and headdresses. Cadiu^ios pottery is quite different from prehistoric Peruvian pottery, an instance similar to that of Moundbuilders pottery and East North Amerind work. In neither case apparently was the later pottery * Harvard U. P. M. U. Penn. M. S. & A. t Smithsonian I. t Harvard U. P. M. § British M. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 315 NonTH American Arts. 316 EAST SOUTH AMERIND ART. modified by European influence. As it is most unlikely that either in North and South America the later tribes were a different race from the older ones, it is possible that the later races had a certain number of new art ideas of their own.* The Mundrucu, Jauapery and Parentintim tribes from Brazil make beautiful feather ornaments: head- dresses, a sort of breastplate, feather scarfs, etc. Some of the headdresses have much the appearance of head- dresses on old Mexican monoUths. The feather ornaments of these tribes do not resemble the shapes of the feather ornaments of the East North Amerinds nor of the Hawaiians, nevertheless there is a similar art impulse, in that southern and northern Amerinds and Hawaiians all made beautiful feather work.* Some skins from the Mundrucu have some curves among their decorations, f There is some art similarity between some Bolivian and BraziUan work and some Malay and Polynesian work. Some Karaja, Brazil, spears or lances, with wood or bone points, are decorated around part of the shafts with a kind of reed or grass matting work: the effect is something hke, yet quite different from Malay decorations on bamboos. Several paddles have the hasps decorated in the same way: three paddles are ornamented with curved lines. From the Kara j as also there are two human figures made out of forked sticks, which are most infantile sculpture. To redeem this, however, there are a number of feather decorations, includ- ing many head pieces, and some of this feather work is beautiful and is not unlike Hawaiian feather work.* From the Chaco, Paraguay, come a couple of small gourds decorated with most elementary lines. J * Harvard U. P. M. t American M. N. H. } British M. ARTS OF THE WORLD. 317 From southern Argentina, southern Chile and Tierra del Fuego, altho there are some stone implements* there is practically no art. The art impulse seems to have died out, partly perhaps thru hard conditions. The art movement of the human race which starts in Western Europe ends, as far as I can see, in the Austral lands of South America. * British M. 318 t;^^^^^ NORTH ASIATIC ^ DEC OR AT I V E 9|MICRONESIAN mS^Taya,^ AUSTRy M E L A N .^.-^J^^ " ARTS OF TME WOR.LD, E.S.B. 1920 ARTS OF THE WORLD. 319 EAST NORTH-^As AMERIND X^> DECORATIVE ZAPOTiXMi^^^^'''C:? ALAS IAN v^ R A T I V E Ci^ J" /. SOUTH ERINO