The following article was written for the Crimson by Frederick R. Pleasant, a Graduate student associated with the Fogg Art Museum.

The exhibition of African and Oceanic Art which the Fogg Museum presents through the cooperation of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, brings an artistic experience far deeper than the mere sight of the exotic by-products of savagery. It presents a manifestation of art which can materially richen our appreciation of all forms of art and our understanding of the varieties of human adaptation to the physical and spiritual problems of existence.

But in judging the art of any primitive group; certain general characteristics must be borne in mind. The exact style of the art depends upon the usable materials which the tribe has at hand. Again, since the structure of any primitive group rests on unity and slow growth, its art development is usually so slow that the initial result of working certain materials with certain tools has a lasting effect on the art character.

USE WOOD AS MEDIUM

In the case of Africa and Oceanic, the traditional material is wood, so that the sculpture exhibits the characteristics of wood-thinking peoples, who have acquired a mastery over their medium permitting expression to the limit of their spiritual needs.

The moving spirit, is, however, difficult to grasp. The conditions of life have developed in primitive man a set of human reactions and adjustments so alien to our intellectual solutions that we can never completely understand them. His art is also so much the outgrowth of the traditional imaginative system of the group that we find its determining factors far removed from our own.

REPRESENT NATIVE GODS

In Oceania and Africa, sculpture serves mainly for the representation of native gods or ancestral spirits who are thought of as forces for good or evil in the tribal life. There is no incentive to represent these gods in terms of exterior reality as we know it. Primitive man tends to think of matter as something which can conceivably change its nature in almost any particular, and in ways that originate in the most accidental associative processes.

That persistent concern with the exterior characteristics of nature which has governed later European art does not interest the savage. It is the idea, such as he envisions it, that is, of dominating importance. Artistically, this quality of the inner idea is far removed from that of Greek sculptors like Polycleitus and Lysippus, but is nearer to the spirit of the Chinese Hsieh Ho, to whom inner quality and rhythmic vitality was a necessity for any worthy art. The obvious exaggeration and distortion, which appear to be a part of the search for this inner idea, have, of course, had their influence on certain phases of modern sculpture and even painting; the remarkably simplified planes and contours, the stylized treatment of details, have had probably a more deep and fruitful influence on all contemporary sculpture.

FAR FROM REALISTIC

In this exhibition certain pieces, such as the Maori ancestor god or the New Ireland cult mask, bear a definite relation to the ethnic type, yet are far removed from realistic sculpture as we understand it. Others, such as the Congo chief's stool or the Congo woman holding a bowl, bear an even remoter resemblance, though dynamic and significant works of art.

Technically this inner quality is manifested in a tremendous vitality expressed with an understanding of the values of rhythm and mass. And there is a often fine organic unity which shows in a plastic sense, surpassing that of most civilized peoples. This is attributable to the wooden medium which of its nature gives a flexibility lacking in stone. The surfaces in particular are of unusual quality and reflect the laborious workmanship involved in the creation.