A Study of the Textile Art in its Relation to the Development of Form and Ornament | Page 4

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