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

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface. 1
Mental attitude of primitive people. 1
Primitive culture, historical growth. 4
The object of the investigation is a study of dynamic conditions of art growth 7
Acknowledgments . 8
I. Introduction. 9
What is art?. 9
Technical perfection in art. 10
Emotional appeal of contents of art colors. 12
Historical notations. 13
II. The formal elements in art. 17
Virtuosity. 17
Regularity of form and virtuosity. 19
Lack of virtuosity and artistic form. 22
Lack of effect of artistic form. 25
The plain, strong line and regular curve. 31
Symmetry .. 32
Inverted symmetry. 36
Rhythm. 40
Marginal designs. 55
Decoration of prominent places. 60
Conclusion . 62
III. Representative art. 64
Representation and representative art. 64
Primitive symbolic and realistic representation. 69
Influence of technique upon style of representation . 81
IV. Symbolism. 88
Wide distribution of symbolic interpretation . 88
Lack of stability of explanation . 102
Lack of coherence in symbols. 106
Design names. 109
Studies in conventionalization. 113
Geographical distribution of explanations of similar designs. 118
Reading in of meanings. 121
Development of geometrical form according to representative tendencies 124
Stability of patterns of action as against instability of interpretation . . . 128