Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/100

ART. of articles by simply passing systematically from the more general to the more special articles in each branch, each article having a list of refer- ences that will pass the reader along, and the whole series being arranged so as to avoid repe- titions and secure a complete mosaic picture in the end which can be supplemented by the use of the bibliographical lists at the close of the gen- eral articles.

TABLE OF ART HISTORY. ORIENTAL. Babylonian (c. 6000-500 B.C.) Egyptian (c. 5000-50 B.C.) Assyrian (c. 1500-600 B.C.) Hittite (c. 1500-700) B.C.) Phœnician (c. 1500-50 B.C.) Jewish (c. 1000 B.C.-70 A.D.) Persian (c. ? B.C.-600 A.D.) Chinese (c. 2000 B.C.-1800 A.D.) Japanese (beg. c.600 A.D.) Indian (beg. c.500 B.C.)

WESTERN. Pelasgic (c.2500-800 B.C.) Hellenic (c.1000-100 B.C.) Etruscan (c. 1000-200 B.C.) Roman (c.300 B.C.-400 A.D.)

CHRISTIAN. Early Christian (c. 100-800 A.D.) Byzantine (c. 400-1450 A.D.) Romanesque (c. 800-1200 A.D.) Gothic (c. 1150-1450 A.D.) Renaissance (c.1400-1700) A.D.) Modern (c. 1700-present.)

History of. References: Reber, History of Ancient Art, and History of Mediæval Art, German orig., and English trans. (New York, 1887); Schnaase, Geschichte der bildenden künste (best and fullest), 8 vols. (Düsseldorf, 1866-79); Lübke, Grundriss der Kunstgeschichte (Stuttgart, 1873), and English translation, edited by Cook, Outlines of the History of Art (New York, 1878); Von Sybel, Weltgeschichte der Kunst (Marburg, 1888). These works treat the arts as a whole. A series of three handbooks published recently by Longmans, treats each main branch in itself; Hamlin, History of Architecture; Marquand and Frothingham, History of Sculpture; Van Dyke, History of Painting; Georges Perrot, assisted by Ch. Chipiez, has undertaken a Histoire de l'art ancien (Paris, 1881, et seq.) on a large scale, with great success; it has at present reached the Archaic Period in Greece, seven volumes have appeared, as follows: 1. Egypte; II. Chaldée et Assyrie; III. Phénicie et Chypre; IV. Lydie, Judée, etc.; V. Perse; VI. Grèce primitive; VII. Grèce de l'épopée, Grèce archaïque. No corresponding comprehensive work has been undertaken for the period following the Christian era; the nearest approach being Kraus, Geschichte der christlichen Kunst, 2 vols. (Freiburg, 1896). Contemporary literature material for the study of art of the ancient period may be found in Overbeck, Die antiken Schriftquellen (Leipzig, 1868); and for the mediæval period Eitelberger, Quellenschriften für Kunstgeschichte und Kunsttechnik des Mittelalters und der Renaissance (Vienna, 1871-82). For the lives of the great classic artists, consult: Brunn, Geschichte der griechischen Künstler (Stuttgart, 1889), and for those of later artists Dolme, Kunst und Künstler des Mittelalters und der Neuzeit (Leipzig. 1886), and the Künstler Monographien, edited by H. Knackfuss (Bielefeld. 1895, et seq.). The archæological material illustrating the history of art is best presented for the classic period in Darenberg and Saglio, Dictionnaire des antiquités grecques et romaines (Paris, 1893, et seq.); Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (London, 1890), and in Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encyclopädie der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft (Stuttgart, 1884, et seq.). A good example of the publication of a complete corpus of monuments for any one period is Garrucci, Storia dell' arte cristiana, in six volumes (Prato, 1873-81) containing all the known monuments of early Christian art – except architecture.

ART, Primitive. The motives which lead to the production of works of art and the capacity for æs- thetic enjoyment seem to be common to men at all levels of culture. We cannot speak, then, of the origin of art in an absolute sense, but only of the first stages of development both in artistic production and in æsthetic appreciation. It is difficult to tell just what primitive peoples them- selves regarded as heautiful. Even when we have laid before us articles which seem to in- volve appreciation of the beautiful – as, for example. carved figures on weapons and cooking utensils – and even when we read of the war- dance or the corroboree, or of the practices of tattooing or scarring, it is not easy to tell what emotions were aroused in the primitive mind by the contemplation of these things. A sym- metrical spear was more useful than a crude asymmetrical one; a dance may have been in- tended to appease some god or to bring luck in hunting, as the buffalo-dance of some Indian tribes; a series of figures on a bone knife may have been a kind of picture-writing; it may have been a mark of individual or tribal ownership; or the figures on a bit of pottery may have simply copied the woven pattern of a more primitive utensil. So that we must distinguish what was done from utilitarian, or religious, or social motives, or for communication, or from simple habit, from what was the result of æs- thetic impulses. As a matter of fact, it is highly probable that for a long time purely æsthetic impulses and purely æsthetic produc- tions were rare – that a thing was at once use- ful and artistic, or religious and artistic, or social and artistic. It is, then, one of the chief problems which artistic origins furnish, to dis- entangle the æsthetic from the non-æsthetic. For this two things are required. The investi- gator must know the essential ingredients of the æsthetic consciousness, both on its productive and on its contemplative side, and he must know where the most primitive conditions are to be found. The first requirement is psychological. It takes into consideration the elementary æsthetic feel- ings (see ), other feelings, emotions, and organic sensations, and the general and special associative factors (brought from the experiences of the individual and of the social group to which he belongs) in the more complex judgments of taste. The second requirement is anthropological. It asks: "What is a 'primitive people'? What is 'primitive culture'?" – assuming that the most primitive art is to be found on the lowest level of civilization. Perhaps the best guide to the primitiveness of a tribe or race is to be found in its means of livelihood. Hunting and fishing evidently take lower rank than agriculture or cattle-raising. They imply simpler social con- ditions and a lower grade of mental develop- ment. Fortunately, some of the hunting tribes