Page:Hindu Art - its Humanism and Modernism.djvu/39

 ache works in India. Another characteristic that cannot fail to be noticed is the elimination of details, the suppression of minuter individualities, on the one hand, and, on the other, the occasional elongation of limbs, the exaggeration of features, etc. All this is brought about by the conscious improvising of a new "artistic anatomy" out of the natural anatomy known to the exact science of Ayurveda (medicine). In the swollen breasts, narrowed waists, bulky hips, etc., of Late Minoan or Cretan (c. 1500 ) works which bridged the gulf between the Pharaonic and the primitive Hellenic arts we can see the analogues or replicas of some of the Hindu conventions.

Leaving aside other characteristics, e. g., the absence of perspective, the grouping of color-masses, the free lais-