DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42067#0026
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Introduction
Alois Riegl 1 is also inclined to stress the representative character
of the most ancient art forms, basing his argument essentially upon
the realistic paleolithic carvings and paintings. He sees the most
important step forward in the attempt to show the animals in out-
line, on a two-dimensional surface which necessitates the substitu-
tion of an ideal line for the three-dimensional form that is given to
us by every day experience. He assumes that geometric ornament
developed from the treatment of the line, obtained by the process
just mentioned, according to formal principles.
Setting aside the assumed sequence of these two aspects, his view-
point is distinguished from that of the authors referred to before,
by the recognition of the principle of form as against that of content.
The principle of form is still more energetically defended by van
Scheltema, who tries to prove definite developmental processes
through which the formal treatment of North European art has
passed, first in the Neolithic period, then in the bronze age and
finally in the iron age.2
Alfred Vierkandt3 also emphasizes the fundamental importance of
the formal element in the esthetic effect of all manifestations of art.
1 Alois Riegl, Stilfragen, 2nd edition, Berlin, 1923, pp. 2 et seq.
2 F. Adama van Scheltema, Die altnordische Kunst, Berlin, 1923. For a com-
prehensive review of works on primitive art up to 1914, see Martin Heydrich,
Afrikanische Ornamentik, Internationales Archiv fur Ethnographie, Supplement to
Volume XXII, Leyden, 1914; also the bibliography in Eckert von Sydow, Die Kunst
der Naturvolker und der Vorzeit, Berlin, 1923; and Herbert Kuhn, Die Kunst der
Primitiven, Miinchen, 1923. An excellent review of the subject has been given by
Elizabeth Wilson, Das Ornament (Dissertation, University of Leipzig).
3 Prinzipienfragen der ethnologischen Kunstforschung, Zeitschrift fur Aesthetik
und allgemeine Kunstwissenschaft, Vol. XIX, Berlin, 1925, pp. 338 et seq. See
also Jahrbuch fur historische Volkskunde, Vol. II; Vom Wesen der Volkskunst,
Berlin 1926; Rafael Karsten, Civilization of South American Indians, New York, 1926.
Introduction
Alois Riegl 1 is also inclined to stress the representative character
of the most ancient art forms, basing his argument essentially upon
the realistic paleolithic carvings and paintings. He sees the most
important step forward in the attempt to show the animals in out-
line, on a two-dimensional surface which necessitates the substitu-
tion of an ideal line for the three-dimensional form that is given to
us by every day experience. He assumes that geometric ornament
developed from the treatment of the line, obtained by the process
just mentioned, according to formal principles.
Setting aside the assumed sequence of these two aspects, his view-
point is distinguished from that of the authors referred to before,
by the recognition of the principle of form as against that of content.
The principle of form is still more energetically defended by van
Scheltema, who tries to prove definite developmental processes
through which the formal treatment of North European art has
passed, first in the Neolithic period, then in the bronze age and
finally in the iron age.2
Alfred Vierkandt3 also emphasizes the fundamental importance of
the formal element in the esthetic effect of all manifestations of art.
1 Alois Riegl, Stilfragen, 2nd edition, Berlin, 1923, pp. 2 et seq.
2 F. Adama van Scheltema, Die altnordische Kunst, Berlin, 1923. For a com-
prehensive review of works on primitive art up to 1914, see Martin Heydrich,
Afrikanische Ornamentik, Internationales Archiv fur Ethnographie, Supplement to
Volume XXII, Leyden, 1914; also the bibliography in Eckert von Sydow, Die Kunst
der Naturvolker und der Vorzeit, Berlin, 1923; and Herbert Kuhn, Die Kunst der
Primitiven, Miinchen, 1923. An excellent review of the subject has been given by
Elizabeth Wilson, Das Ornament (Dissertation, University of Leipzig).
3 Prinzipienfragen der ethnologischen Kunstforschung, Zeitschrift fur Aesthetik
und allgemeine Kunstwissenschaft, Vol. XIX, Berlin, 1925, pp. 338 et seq. See
also Jahrbuch fur historische Volkskunde, Vol. II; Vom Wesen der Volkskunst,
Berlin 1926; Rafael Karsten, Civilization of South American Indians, New York, 1926.