ART ERUVIAN 4 435 1ELP FOR STUDENTS OF DESIGN ye 2 * welt ‘ . Ce ment ? o = — ~s a th Wed em . RRS «oe ee pen — wh Son & Sh me SS ~ este os Perr ae oe X 4 Shans = = DEERE i Cem ako fa oad So = Sr ro - “Prams ~~. Sar Deen ; as er les parmhacn eran gents, < — de oe a ete = RRS bos . eter Ae eS ene SST. Caer mestreny 2! BS oe mecca ants Sanya) Be Shots Saisisba ys soovvsaes e>| athe me et NERS RC Sy TN, — a pee ee teag’ Ol ” = meighieilalns-« al sd, SRE der Le meade aS Wea * rion Say. ERASE : DY Strertarcsnncs Re Se Sermons 6 Gece trae (OED Sar BF encticctatine eo eee er“ aeaake- > r a3 ROE nd ~ 9 i oe x é cs <8 : erie wat Bieotyren fear : 3 _ a = outs? be ‘ if pareeeneyy « — ft Sine i ~ — : ; Ray =. . enn nee oe ‘ : ‘ Ps neal q - is SNS : ge Pr aaa ¥ sige oh . ea ae Bess, = ee enced > ERT : ; F a & 2 Temi sine Fes ‘ ; - ene Ens = bree a ysis i aes = re : ir ; i 4 ; ‘ : 3 % 4 : o ani ero ‘ y eS. fee sain ye i A J hat eye eS yt ; 2 No. 46e cs eat y _ MARCH, 1925 - \ ‘ . bs A ‘ ‘ POTTERY VESSELS FROM NAZCA, PERU PERUVIAN ART AS SHOWN ON PE SHEES AND POTTERY BY CHARLES W. MEAD _ FOURTH, ENLARGED EDITION The American Museum of Natural History GUIDE LEAFLET No. 46 NEW YORK, MARCH, 1925 PRINTED AT THE MUSEUM “=e . o 4 PERUVIAN ART A HELP FOR STUDENTS OF DESIGN By CHARLES W. MEAD Assistant Curator, Department of Anthropology INTRODUCTION The Museum’s collections of textiles and pottery vessels from pre- historic graves in Peru provide an opportunity for the study of primitive art that is not excelled, if, indeed, it is equaled in any other field.. The great beauty of the color schemes and the wonderful number of curious conventionalized animal figures, especially in the textiles, make these exhibits particularly valuable to the student of design. That this opportunity exists and that the Museum authorities as a part of their educational system are providing all the assistance and comfort possible to visiting artists and students are fast becoming known, as shown by the fact that for quite a number of years an average of one hundred and fifty a month have availed themselves of this privilege, while during the last few years that number has been doubled. As a large part of the students of design who make use of these textiles expect later to obtain positions in textile houses, carpet, rug, or wall paper manufactories, or to enter into some other business where designers are employed, it will interest and encourage them to know that many textile houses have lately put upon the market silks and other materials decorated with designs inspired by the figures and color schemes of the prehistoric Peruvians. Our large textile manufacturers have, year after year, sent their best artists to Paris for designs, having no idea that such a wealth of material, eminently suitable for decora- tion, was waiting for them in the Museum so near at hand. In the past five years many of these textile manufacturers have visited the Museum and have become aware of the existence of these col- lections. Having once seen them they were by no means slow in recog- nizing their value and in sending their artists to copy the color schemes and create designs from the decorative figures of the ancient Peruvians. Having satisfied themselves of the commercial value of the Peruvian collections to them, they naturally began to look about for the decora- tive work of other primitive peoples and today their designers may be seen at work in many of the Museum halls. 3 AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLET In a Guide Leaflet it will not be possible to go far in the peculiar art of the Peruvians, and but comparatively few of the innumerable designs can be shown. ‘Their color schemes, which excite the wonder and admiration of artists, must be seen on the original webs, but enough designs can be reproduced to show the general character of this side of their art. It always gives an added zest to the work when we know something about the material from which we are drawing and for this reason it will not be out of place to say a few words about the history of these cloths. They all come from prehistoric graves; many of them were found still on the mummies when the burial places were excavated. A greater part of them came from the coast region which is a desert tract except for the valleys of the small rivers rising in the Cordillera and flowing into the Pacific Ocean. These valleys were very fertile and there the people lived and buried their dead in the dry nitrous sand outside. Rain is all but unknown in this region, which accounts for the wonderful state of preservation in which these webs have come down to us. The first question that naturally suggests itself to the visitor is— How old are these things? This question cannot be definitely answered. All that can be said is that they antedate the Conquest (1532); that they belong to different epochs, and that the oldest in all probability date back several thousand years. In two papers published by the Museum, my associate, Mr. M. D. C. Crawford, has given the results of his studies in the technique of Peruvian textiles. To these anyone interested in that subject is referred.! | It is a very common mistake to speak of such a collection of Peruvian textiles as the work of the Incas, for by far the greater part of them were made by the so-called Megalithic people who ruled the country many centuries before the rise of the Inca empire. Four motives continually occur in Peruvian decorations: the human figure, the bird, the fish, and the puma. These were everywhere em- ployed throughout the country in designs which varied somewhat in the different localities, showing that their arts had developed along slightly different lines. In studying the designs more space will be given to the figures de- rived from the fish than to those from the other motives. The reason 1Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, Vol. 12, Parts 3-4. : 4 PERUVIAN ART for this is that the designs from the other three motives very rarely show degeneration to the extent that their identity is not apparent, while many of the fish figures have progressed so far that to recognize the motive one must be familiar with some of the stages through which it had passed in reaching its present form. The writer does not wish to convey the idea that degeneration of any animal form constantly progressed, step by step, at every repetition losing a little more of its realistic appearance until its character could not be recognized.