William H. Holmes - A Study Of The Textile Art In Its Relation To The Development Of Form And Ornament
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William H. Holmes >> A Study Of The Textile Art In Its Relation To The Development Of Form And Ornament
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A STUDY OF THE TEXTILE ART
IN ITS RELATION TO THE
DEVELOPMENT OF FORM AND ORNAMENT
BY
WILLIAM H. HOLMES.
Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology
to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1884-'85,
Government Printing Office, Washington, 1888, pages 189-252
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CONTENTS.
Page
Introduction. 195
Form in textile art. 196
Relations of form to ornament. 201
Color in textile art. 201
Textile ornament. 202
Development of a geometric system within the art. 202
Introduction. 202
Relief phenomena. 203
Ordinary features. 203
Reticulated work. 210
Superconstructive features. 211
Color phenomena. 215
Ordinary features. 215
Non-essential constructive features. 226
Superconstructive features. 228
Adventitious features. 231
Geometricity imposed upon adopted elements. 232
Extension of textile ornament to other forms of art. 244
ILLUSTRATIONS.
FIG. Page.
286. Mat or tray with esthetic attributes of form 197
287. Tray having decided esthetic attributes of form 198
288. Pyriform water vessel 198
289. Basket with esthetic characters of form 199
290. Basket of eccentric form 200
291. Character of surface in the simplest form of weaving 204
292. Surface produced by impacting 204
293. Surface produced by use of wide fillets 204
294. Basket with ribbed surface 205
295. Bottle showing obliquely ribbed surface 205
296. Tray showing radial ribs 205
297. Combination giving herring bone effect 206
298. Combination giving triangular figures 206
299. Peruvian work basket 206
300. Basket of Seminole workmanship 207
301. Surface effect produced in open twined combination 207
302. Surface effect produced in open twined combination 207
303. Surface effect produced by impacting in twined
combination 208
304. Surface effect produced by impacting the web strands
in twined combination 208
305. Surface effect produced by crossing the web series
in open twined work 208
306. Tray with open mesh, twined combination 208
307. Conical basket, twined combination 209
308. Example of primitive reticulated weaving 210
309. Simple form of reticulation 211
310. Reticulated pattern in cotton cloth 211
311. Peruvian embroidery 213
312. Basket with pendent ornaments 213
313. Basket with pendent ornaments 213
314. Tasseled Peruvian mantle 214
315. Pattern produced by interlacing strands of different colors 216
316. Pattern produced by interlacing strands of different colors 216
317. Pattern produced by interlacing strands of different colors 216
318. Pattern produced by interlacing strands of different colors 217
319. Base of coiled basket 218
320. Coiled basket with geometric ornament 218
321. Coiled basket with geometric ornament 219
322. Coiled basket with geometric ornament 220
323. Coiled basket with geometric ornament 220
324. Coiled basket with geometric ornament 221
325. Coiled basket with geometric ornament 223
326. Coiled tray with geometric ornament 224
327. Coiled tray with geometric ornament 225
328. Tray with geometric ornament 225
329. Tray with geometric ornament 226
330. Ornament produced by wrapping the strands 227
331. Ornament produced by fixing strands to the surface of the
fabric 227
332. Basket with feather ornamentation 227
333. Basket with feather ornamentation 227
334. Piece of cloth showing use of supplementary warp and woof 228
335. Piece of cloth showing use of supplementary warp and woof 228
336. Example of grass embroidery 230
337. Example of feather embroidery 231
338. Figures from the Penn wampum belt 233
339. Figures from a California Indian basket 234
340. California Indian basket 234
341. Figures from a Peruvian basket 235
342. Figure from a piece of Peruvian gobelins 236
343. Figures from a Peruvian vase 237
344. Figure from a circular basket 238
345. Figure of a bird from a Zuni shield 239
346. Figure of a bird woven in a tray 240
347. Figure of a bird woven in a basket 241
348. Figures embroidered on a cotton net by the ancient
Peruvians 242
349. Figures of birds embroidered by the ancient Peruvians 243
350. Conventional design painted upon cotton cloth 243
351. Herring bone and checker patterns produced in weaving 246
352. Herring bone and checker patterns engraved in clay 246
353. Earthen vase with textile ornament 247
354. Example of textile ornament painted upon pottery 248
355. Textile pattern transferred to pottery through costume 248
356. Ceremonial adz with carved ornament of textile character 250
357. Figures upon a tapa stamp 251
358. Design in stucco exhibiting textile characters 251
TEXTILE ART IN ITS RELATION TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF FORM AND ORNAMENT.
BY WILLIAM H. HOLMES.
INTRODUCTION.
The textile art is one of the most ancient known, dating back to the
very inception of culture. In primitive times it occupied a wide
field, embracing the stems of numerous branches of industry now
expressed in other materials or relegated to distinct systems of
construction. Accompanying the gradual narrowing of its sphere there
was a steady development with the general increase of intelligence and
skill so that with the cultured nations of to-day it takes an
important, though unobtrusive, place in the hierarchy of the arts.
Woven fabrics include all those products of art in which the elements
or parts employed in construction are largely filamental and are
combined by methods conditioned chiefly by their flexibility. The
processes employed are known by such terms as interlacing, plaiting,
netting, weaving, sewing, and embroidering.
The materials used at first are chiefly filiform vegetal growths, such
as twigs, leaves, roots, and grasses, but later on filiform and then
fibrous elements from all the kingdoms of nature, as well as numerous
artificial preparations, are freely used. These are employed in the
single, doubled, doubled and twisted, and plaited conditions, and are
combined by the hands alone, by the hands assisted by simple devices,
by hand looms, and finally in civilization by machine looms.
The products are, first, individual structures or articles, such as
shelters, baskets, nets, and garments, or integral parts of these;
and, second, "piece" goods, such as are not adapted to use until they
are cut and fitted. In earlier stages of art we have to deal almost
exclusively with the former class, as the tailor and the house
furnisher are evolved with civilization.
In their bearing upon art these products are to be studied chiefly
with reference to three grand divisions of phenomena, the first of
which I shall denominate _constructive_, the second _functional_, and
the third _esthetic_. The last class, with which this paper has almost
exclusively to deal, is composed mainly of what may be called the
superconstructive and superfunctional features of the art and includes
three subdivisions of phenomena, connected respectively with (1) form,
(2) color, and (3) design. Esthetic features of form are, in origin
and manifestation, related to both function and construction; color
and design, to construction mainly. In the following study separate
sections are given to each of these topics.
It is fortunate perhaps that in this work I am restricted to the
products of rather primitive stages of culture, as I have thus to deal
with a limited number of uses, simple processes, and simple shapes. In
the advanced stages of art we encounter complex phenomena, processes,
and conditions, the accumulation of ages, through which no broad light
can fall upon the field of vision.
In America there is a vast body of primitive, indigenous art having no
parallel in the world. Uncontaminated by contact with the complex
conditions of civilized art, it offers the best possible facilities
for the study of the fundamental principles of esthetic development.
The laws of evolution correspond closely in all art, and, if once
rightly interpreted in the incipient stage of a single, homogeneous
culture, are traceable with comparative ease through all the
succeeding stages of civilization.
FORM IN TEXTILE ART.
Form in the textile art, as in all other useful arts, is
fundamentally, although not exclusively, the resultant or expression
of function, but at the same time it is further than in other shaping
arts from expressing the whole of function. Such is the pliability of
a large portion of textile products--as, for example, nets, garments,
and hangings--that the shapes assumed are variable, and, therefore,
when not distended or for some purpose folded or draped, the articles
are without esthetic value or interest. The more rigid objects, in
common with the individuals of other useful arts, while their shape
still accords with their functional office, exhibit attributes of form
generally recognized as pleasing to the mind, which are expressed by
the terms grace, elegance, symmetry, and the like. Such attributes are
not separable from functional attributes, but originate and exist
conjointly with them.
In addition to these features of form we observe others of a more
decidedly superfunctional character, added manifestly for the purpose
of enhancing the appearance.
In very primitive times when a utensil is produced functional ideas
predominate, and there is, perhaps, so far as its artificial
characters are concerned, a minimum of comeliness. But as the ages
pass by essential features are refined and elements of beauty are
added and emphasized. In riper culture the growing pressure of
esthetic desire leads to the addition of many superficial
modifications whose chief office is to please the fancy. In periods of
deadened sensibility or even through the incompetence of individual
artists in any period, such features may be ill chosen and
erroneously applied, interfering with construction and use, and thus
violating well founded and generally accepted canons of taste. In
respect to primitive works we may distinguish four steps in the
acquisition of esthetic features of form, three of which are normal,
the fourth abnormal: First, we have that in which functional
characters alone are considered, any element of beauty, whether due to
the artist's hand or to the accidents of material, construction, or
model, being purely adventitious; second, that in which the necessary
features of the utensil appear to have experienced the supervision of
taste, edges being rounded, curves refined, and symmetry perfected;
third, that in which the functionally perfect object, just described,
undergoes further variations of contour, adding to variety, unity,
&c., thus enhancing beauty without interfering with serviceability;
and, fourth, that in which, under abnormal influences, beauty is
sought at the sacrifice of functional and constructive perfection.
[Illustration: FIG. 286. Mat or tray exhibiting a minimum of esthetic
attributes of form. Moki work--1/8.]
The exact relations of the various classes of forces and phenomena
pertaining to this theme may be more fully elucidated by the aid of
illustrations. Woven mats, in early use by many tribes of men and
originating in the attempt to combine leaves, vines, and branches for
purposes of comfort, are flat because of function, the degree of
flatness depending upon the size of filaments and mode of combination;
and in outline they are irregular, square, round, or oval, as a result
of many causes and influences, embracing use, construction, material,
models, &c. A close approach to symmetry, where not imposed by some of
the above mentioned agencies, is probably due to esthetic tendencies
on the part of the artist. The esthetic interest attaching to such a
shape cannot be great, unless perhaps it be regarded, as all
individuals and classes may be regarded, in its possible relations to
preceding, associated, and succeeding forms of art. The varied
features observed upon the surface, the colors and patterns (Fig.
286), pertain to design rather than to form and will receive attention
in the proper place.
[Illustration: FIG. 287. Tray having decided esthetic attributes of
form. Obtained from the Apache--1/2.]
In point of contour the basket tray shown in Fig. 287 has a somewhat
more decided claim upon esthetic attention than the preceding, as the
curves exhibited mark a step of progress in complexity and grace. How
much of this is due to intention and how much to technical perfection
must remain in doubt. In work so perfect we are wont, however
unwarrantably, to recognize the influence of taste.
[Illustration: FIG. 288. Pyriform water vessel used by the Piute
Indians--1/8.]
A third example--presented in Fig. 288--illustrates an advanced stage
in the art of basketry and exhibits a highly specialized shape. The
forces and influences concerned in its evolution may be analyzed as
follows: A primal origin in function and a final adaptation to a
special function, the carrying and storing of water; a contour full to
give capacity, narrow above for safety, and pointed below that it may
be set in sand; curves kept within certain bounds by the limitations
of construction; and a goodly share of variety, symmetry, and grace,
the result to a certain undetermined extent of the esthetic tendencies
of the artist's mind. In regard to the last point there is generally
in forms so simple an element of uncertainty; but many examples may be
found in which there is positive evidence of the existence of a strong
desire on the part of the primitive basketmaker to enhance beauty of
form. It will be observed that the textile materials and construction
do not lend themselves freely to minuteness in detail or to complexity
of outline, especially in those small ways in which beauty is most
readily expressed.
Modifications of a decidedly esthetic character are generally
suggested to the primitive mind by some functional, constructive, or
accidental feature which may with ease be turned in the new direction.
In the vessel presented in Fig. 289--the work of Alaskan Indians--the
margin is varied by altering the relations of the three marginal turns
of the coil, producing a scalloped effect. This is without reference
to use, is uncalled for in construction, and hence is, in all
probability, the direct result of esthetic tendencies. Other and much
more elaborate examples may be found in the basketry of almost all
countries.
[Illustration: FIG. 289. Vessel with esthetic characters of form. Work
of the Yakama--1/4.]
In the pursuit of this class of enrichment there is occasionally
noticeable a tendency to overload the subject with extraneous details.
This is not apt to occur, however, in the indigenous practice of an
art, but comes more frequently from a loss of equilibrium or balance
in motives or desires, caused by untoward exotic influence. When,
through suggestions derived from contact with civilized art, the
savage undertakes to secure all the grace and complexity observed in
the works of more cultured peoples, he does so at the expense of
construction and adaptability to use. An example of such work is
presented in Fig. 290, a weak, useless, and wholly vicious piece of
basketry. Other equally meretricious pieces represent goblets,
bottles, and tea pots. They are the work of the Indians of the
northwest coast and are executed in the neatest possible manner,
bearing evidence of the existence of cultivated taste.
[Illustration: FIG. 290. Basket made under foreign influence,
construction and use being sacrificed to fancied beauty--1/3.]
It appears from the preceding analyses that _form_ in this art is not
sufficiently sensitive to receive impressions readily from the
delicate touch of esthetic fingers; besides, there are peculiar
difficulties in the way of detecting traces of the presence and
supervision of taste. The inherent morphologic forces of the art are
strong and stubborn and tend to produce the precise classes of results
that we, at this stage of culture, are inclined to attribute to
esthetic influence. If, in the making of a vessel, the demands of use
are fully satisfied, if construction is perfect of its kind, if
materials are uniformly suitable, and if models are not absolutely
bad, it follows that the result must necessarily possess in a high
degree those very attributes that all agree are pleasing to the eye.
In a primitive water vessel function gives a full outline, as capacity
is a prime consideration; convenience of use calls for a narrow neck
and a conical base; construction and materials unite to impose certain
limitations to curves and their combinations, from which the artist
cannot readily free himself. Models furnished by nature, as they are
usually graceful, do not interfere with the preceding agencies, and
all these forces united tend to give symmetry, grace, and the unity
that belongs to simplicity. Taste which is in a formative state can
but fall in with these tendencies of the art, and must be led by
them, and led in a measure corresponding to their persistency and
universality. If the textile art had been the only one known to man,
ideas of the esthetic in shape would have been in a great measure
formed through that art. Natural forms would have had little to do
with it except through models furnished directly to and utilized by
the art, for the ideas of primitive men concentrate about that upon
which their hands work and upon which their thoughts from necessity
dwell with steady attention from generation to generation.
RELATIONS OF FORM TO ORNAMENT.
It would seem that the esthetic tendencies of the mind, failing to
find satisfactory expression in shape, seized upon the non-essential
features of the art--markings of the surface and color of
filaments--creating a new field in which to labor and expending their
energy upon ornament.
Shape has some direct relations to ornament, and these relations may
be classified as follows:
First, the contour of the vessel controls its ornament to a large
extent, dictating the positions of design and setting its limits;
figures are in stripes, zones, rays, circles, ovals, or
rectangles--according, in no slight measure, to the character of the
spaces afforded by details of contour. Secondly, it affects ornament
through the reproduction and repetition of features of form, such as
handles, for ornamental purposes. Thirdly, it is probable that shape
influences embellishment through the peculiar bias given by it to the
taste and judgment of men prior to or independent of the employment of
ornament.
COLOR IN TEXTILE ART.
Color is one of the most constant factors in man's environment, and it
is so strongly and persistently forced upon his attention, so useful
as a means of identification and distinction, that it necessarily
receives a large share of consideration. It is probably one of the
foremost objective agencies in the formation and development of the
esthetic sense.
The natural colors of textile materials are enormously varied and form
one of the chief attractions of the products of the art. The great
interest taken in color--the great importance attached to it--is
attested by the very general use of dyes, by means of which additional
variety and brilliancy of effect are secured.
Color employed in the art is not related to use, excepting, perhaps,
in symbolic and superstitious matters; nor is it of consequence in
construction, although it derives importance from the manner in which
construction causes it to be manifested to the eye. It finds its chief
use in the field of design, in making evident to the eye the figures
with which objects of art are embellished.
Color is employed or applied in two distinct ways: it is woven or
worked into the fabric by using colored filaments or parts, or it is
added to the surface of the completed object by means of pencils,
brushes, and dies. Its employment in the latter manner is especially
convenient when complex ideographic or pictorial subjects are to be
executed.
TEXTILE ORNAMENT.
DEVELOPMENT OF A GEOMETRIC SYSTEM OF DESIGN WITHIN THE ART.
INTRODUCTION.
Having made a brief study of form and color in the textile art, I
shall now present the great group or family of phenomena whose
exclusive office is that of enhancing beauty. It will be necessary,
however, to present, besides those features of the art properly
expressive of the esthetic culture of the race, all those phenomena
that, being present in the art without man's volition, tend to suggest
decorative conceptions and give shape to them. I shall show how the
latter class of features arise as a necessity of the art, how they
gradually come into notice and are seized upon by the esthetic
faculty, and how under its guidance they assist in the development of
a system of ornament of world wide application.
For convenience of treatment esthetic phenomena may be classed as
_relieved_ and _flat_. Figures or patterns of a relievo nature arise
during construction as a result of the intersections and other more
complex relations--the bindings--of the warp and woof or of inserted
or applied elements. Flat or surface features are manifested in color,
either in unison with or independent of the relieved details. Such is
the nature of the textile art that in its ordinary practice certain
combinations of both classes of features go on as a necessity of the
art and wholly without reference to the desire of the artist or to the
effect of resultant patterns upon the eye. The character of such
figures depends upon the kind of construction and upon the accidental
association of natural colors in construction.
At some period of the practice of the art these peculiar, adventitious
surface characters began to attract attention and to be cherished for
the pleasure they gave; what were at first adventitious features now
took on functions peculiar to themselves, for they were found to
gratify desires distinct from those cravings that arise directly from
physical wants.
It is not to be supposed for a moment that the inception of esthetic
notions dates from this association of ideas of beauty with textile
characters. Long before textile objects of a high class were made,
ideas of an esthetic nature had been entertained by the mind, as, for
example, in connection with personal adornment. The skin had been
painted, pendants placed about the neck, and bright feathers set in
the hair to enhance attractiveness, and it is not difficult to
conceive of the transfer of such ideas from purely personal
associations to the embellishment of articles intimately associated
with the person. No matter, however, what the period or manner of the
association of such ideas with the textile art, that association may
be taken as the datum point in the development of a great system of
decoration whose distinguishing characters are the result of the
geometric textile construction.