Boas, Franz: Primitive art (Oslo , Leipzig [u.a.], 1927)

Representative art

69

Neither primitive man nor the child believes that the design or the
figure he produces is actually an accurate picture of the object to
be represented. A round knob on an elongated cylinder may re-
present head and body; two pairs of thin, straight strips of rounded
cross section, arms and legs; or
in a drawing a circle over a rect-
angle may suggest head and body;
straight lines, arms and legs;
short diverging lines at the ends
of arms and legs, hand and feet.
The break between symbolic
representation and realism may
occur in one of two ways. The
artist may endeavor to render the
form of the object to be repre-
sented in forceful outline and
subordinate all consideration of
detail under the concept of the
mass as a whole. He may even
discard all details and cover the
form with more or less fanciful
decoration without losing the ef-
fect of realism of the general
outline and of the distribution
of surfaces and of masses. On a b
the Other hand, he may endeavor FiS-63- Carved figure, Philippine Islands;
, . ... b, Marble figure represending harpist,'Thera,
to give a realistic representation & ^ F ’
of details and his work may consist of an assembly of these,
with little regard to the form as a whole.
An excellent example of the former method is the Filipino wood
carving, fig. 63 a. Head and chest show the concentration of the
artist upon the delimiting surfaces and an utter disregard of detail.
The same method is used in the figure of a harpist belonging to the
ancient art of the Cyclades (fig. 63 b).