File:The American Museum journal (c1900-(1918)) (17537296624).jpg

Title: The American Museum journal
Identifier: americanmuseumjo04amer (find matches)
Year: c1900-(1918) (c190s)
Authors: American Museum of Natural History
Subjects: Natural history
Publisher: New York : American Museum of Natural History
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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PRIMITIVE ART 19
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probably an outgrowth of the embroidery in porcupine-quills which was characteristic of the Indians before they came in contact with the whites. The forms which are the constituent elements of decorative motives are very simple and characteristic. They consist throughout of regularly arranged triangles and rectangles, mostly in brilliant and strongly contrasting colors, and often also show- ing sections of varying color. Sometimes the decoration is applied to the whole surface, sometimes only a particular part of the object is decorated. Much of the painting is done on rawhide, but most of the embroidery is made on soft skin. The background of the painting is usually rawhide, while the beaded designs are often set off against a background of white or colored beads. The manner of combination of triangles and rectangles is so peculiar, that decorated objects obtained from the Plains Indians can readily be distinguished from objects from any other part of the world. Although there is a certain sameness among all of them, each tribe has certain peculiarities of its own. The most characteristic form, which occurs over and over again in Indian decorative art, is the somewhat pointed triangle, either divided into halves of different color, or including an- other triangle of different color. This form is generally explained as the tepee, the tent of the Plains Indians. Another form which is almost as frequent is a very obtuse triangle, often with a small rec- tangle in the middle. This is in- terpreted as a hill, while the center figure is often called a cave in the hill. We find also very often de- signs consisting of parallel lines, sometimes broken up by equidistant short patterns of different color. These lines are generally interpreted as trails; and breaks in the lines, as camping-sites or other interruptions of the con- tinuous trail.

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