Magical Art — Art as Magic

Author(s): Christer Lindberg

Source: Anthropos , 2016, Bd. 111, H. 2. (2016), pp. 601-607
Published by: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/44791287

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 Berichte und Kommentare 601

Pickering, W. F. lyior, Edward B.

S.
1992 Introduction. Old Positions and New Concerns. Journal1874 Primitive Culture. Researches into the Development of
of the Anthropological Society of Oxford 23/2: 99-110. Mythology, Philosophy, Religion, Language, Art, and
[Special Issue: Anthropology and Missionaries. Some Custom. 2 Vols. New York: Henry Holt.
Case-Studies] 1 883 Anthropology. In: H. H. Godwin- Austen, J. K. Laughton,
and D. W. Freshfield (eds.), Hints to Travellers, Scientific
Plotnicov, Leonard, Paula Brown, and Vinson H. Sutlive (eds.) and General; pp. 222-243. London: Royal Geographical
2007 Anthropology's Debt to Missionaries. Pittsburgh: Dept. Society. [5th Ed., Rev., and Eni.]
of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh. (Ethnology
Monographs, 20) Van Der Geest, Sjaak
1990 Anthropologists and Missionaries. Brothers under the
Powdermaker, Hortense Skin. Man (N. S.) 25: 588-601.
1 966 Stranger and Friend. The Way of an Anthropologist. New
York: W.W.Norton. Van Der Geest, Sjaak, and Jon P. Kirby
1992 The Absence of the Missionary in African Ethnography,
Read, C.H. 1930-65. African Studies Review 35/3: 59-103.
1906 Anthropology at the Universities. Man 6/38: 56-59.
Werner, A.
Rivers, W.H.R. 1921 Review of E. W. Smith and A. M. Dale 1968. Man 21/73:
1910 The Genealogical Method of Anthropological Inquiry. 125-126.
The Sociological Review 3/1: 1-12. Whiteman, Darreil L.
Rosenstiel, Annette 1983 Introduction. Missionaries, Anthropologists, and Episte-
1959 Anthropology and the Missionary. Journal of the Roy- mologa In: D. L. Whiteman (ed.); pp. 7-8.
al Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland
Whiteman, Darrell L. (ed.)
89/1: 107-115.
1 983 Missionaries, Anthropologists, and Cultural Change. Wil-
liamsburg: Dept. of Anthropology, College of William
Schapera, Isaac
1959 Edwin Wilhams Smith: 1876-1957. Man 59/332: 213. and Mary. (Studies in Third World Societies, 25; Anthro-
pologists and Missionaries, 1)
Schmidt, W.
Young, W. John
1910 Nochmals: Puluga, das höchste Wesen der Andamanesen.
Man 10/38: 66-71.
2002 The Quiet Wise Spirit. Edwin W. Smith, 1 876-1957, and
Africa. Peterborough: Ep worth Press.
20 1 3 A Hostile Tribe Made Him Their Chief. Edwin W. Smith
Schumaker, Lyn
2001 Africanizing Anthropology: Fieldwork, Networks, and (1877-1957) and Anthropology. Social Sciences and
the Making of Cultural Knowledge in Central Africa: Missions 26/2-3: 226-252.
Durham: Duke University Press. Young, Michael W.
Smith, Edwin W. 2004 Malinowski. Odyssey of an Anthropologist, 1884-1920.
1934 Anthropology and the Practical Man. (Presidential Ad- New Haven: Yale University Press.
dress.). Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of
Great Britain and Ireland 64: xiii-xxxvii.

Smith, Edwin W., and Andrew M. Dale

1968 The Ila-Speaking Peoples of Northern Rhodesia. 2 Vols.
New York: University Books. [1920]

Spencer, Baldwin
Magical
1932 Spencer's Scientific Correspondence with Sir J. G. Frazer Art - Art as Magic
and Others. Ed. by R. R. Marett and T. K. Penniman. Ox-
ford: Clarendon Press.
Christer Lindberg
Stipe, Claude E.
1980 Anthropologists versus Missionaries. The Influence of
Presuppositions. (With Comments and Reply.) Current
Anthropology 21/2: 165-179. We might label as "art" those artifacts that engender
a strong emotional effect in their societies of origin.
1987 Criticisms of Missionaries. Anthropological versus
Such
World- View Issues. In: K. J. Franklin (ed.), Current Con- objects have a symbolic content, and in addi-
cerns of Anthropologists and Missionaries; pp. 55-66.tion, the reaction to their meanings or significance
Dallas: The International Museum of Cultures.
must somehow be pleasurable, or at least engaging.
Stocking, George W., Jr. To apply this definition cross-culturally, it is neces-
1983 The Ethnographer's Magic. Fieldwork in British Anthro-
sary to identify the aesthetic component in the eval-
pology from Tylor to Malinowski. In: G. W. Stocking,
uations
Jr. (ed.), Observers Observed. Essays on Ethnographic
and choices people make beyond the prac-
tical or intellectual reasons they have (Sturtevant
Fieldwork; pp. 70-120. Madison: University of Wiscon-
sin Press. (History of Anthropology, 1) 1986: 25). Speaking about what once was called
Turner, Frank M. "primitive art," we can note a substantial change in
1993 Contesting Cultural Authority. Essays in Victorian Intel- perception of tribal objects. "To think of arts as
our
primitive is equivalent to regarding a mouse or dog
lectual Life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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 602 Berichte und Kommentare

gonquians as the
as a primitive stage of Chippewa,
the Cree, and Winneba-
elephant
go, amongmade
portant statement whom it probablyby originated,
the spread- anth
Linton alreadyingin widely to1941" (Covarrub
the north, west, and south, from the
the end of theMackenzie
1800s, they
Valley of the Rocky were
Mountains so far as s
traditional to New Mexico (Covarrubiasbut
knowledge 1967: 276-279). Both
estheti
grotesque, and naive. The
realistic and geometric famous
motifs were painted and em- art
Warburg was one
broidered on of the
clothing. Micmac few
and Maliset, for ex- who
tive American ample,
art workedin his
in the four studies.
ritual colors of red, white, B
and 1930s, black, and
Native yellow (Glenbow Museumarts
American 1988: 25). beg
ed both as cultural
Embroidery cansymbols
be regarded as pre-European and
only es
pieces. The opposition between
in the Pueblo area. In the east, embroidery seems to cr
breaking downbe post-European,
as modern artists
which is most obviously the case m
return to primitivism, i.e.,
with commercial silk or cotton the art o
threads embroidery
on items of skin
oped" state whether inand clothing (Feest 1992: 153 f.).tech
subject,
"That tribal artWith the arrival of the Europeans, new
influenced materials
Picasso an
colleagues in significant ways
were introduced such as cloth, metal, bright paint is b
But that it caused no
pigment, dyed wool fundamental
yarn, mirrors, hawk bells, brass c
rection of modern art
tacks, glass beads, etc. Inis equally
the process of time, many tru
decorative patterns
17). James Clifford argues found in early quillwork
that sur- com
vived the transfer to beadwork,
primitive and modern art while are new designs
not at
historical interaction.
were adapted to the traditional
"Actually compositions of re- the
gional
ern artifacts are art styles (Ewing 1982:
similar only26). If you compare
in that
an objectillusionism
ture the pictorial made in the 1800s with one made or in 1900 scul
ism that came and toagain indominate
1950, you can find variations in Wester
design,
after the Renaissance" (Clifford
technique, and material, but the basic form is intact. 1
What has beenThese labeled
Algonquian tribes, asas well as primitiv
the Montag-
to a magical worldview
nais and Naskapi, also made utensils
in and which
vessels of o
songs, and even bent (agrostis)
words and sewn birchbark
possess decorated with a so
protective powerscrapedordesigns the
representingability
silhouettes of animalsto ca
and plantlike curvilinear,
other person. While ritual symmetric has designs. Such
been
ater to some extent by constitute
vessels of scraped birchbark anthropoloone of many
lels between thetraits these peoples have in common with
function of Siberia
relig
arts has been so(Covarrubias
to1967: a274). The connection tolesser
much the Old d
World can also be traced via
ly if we are to consider prehistoricpropert
the art from
Western art to be
the Old Bering "magical"
Sea culture, which is characterized in th
"primitive art."by Tribal
complex, streamlined forms, elaborate
art is usuallyharpoon
some Indian tribes inof unknown
heads, winged objects North use, handles, Amer
and
tures from Oceania (particularly
other objects in animal, human, or abstract shapes. t
and New Guinea), andwith
These are decorated African
engraved lines in fluid, soci
goń, Yuro, Guro,curvilinear
Dan, designs; circles and ellipses, sometimes
Yoruba, Fang,
Wogo. My articlesurmounting
will low, rounded
primarilyelevations that suggest deal
eyes; small
tive American art circles at the
(not theinner angle of two con-
achievem
porary Native verging lines; sweeping parallel
artists). AsUnes thebristUng with
arts an
tive North America are far more rich and diverse spurs or flanked by fine broken or dotted Unes (Co-
than the pieces from the Zuni of New Mexico, varrubias
the 1967: 143). The wide spectra of Native
American symbolism range from realistic render-
Northwest Coast Indians, or the Inuit, that usually
are identified as the Native art of America, a brief
ings of natural subjects and conventional render-
ings - including the many where formahzation has
presentation of artistic styles and traditions seems
necessary. been carried so far that the subject is almost unrec-
Perhaps the most typical of North Americanognizable - to invented and totally abstract geomet-
ric shapes (Spinden 1931: 4).
arts, unknown in the rest of the world, is porcupine
quillwork. It includes several different techniques The "X-Ray Style Art," in which internal fea-
by which the quills of the American porcupine are tures appear is clearly associated with shamanism.
worked into two-dimensional designs. This art had The skeletal structure and interior organs of the ani-
its greatest development among such northern Al- mal are represented, with special accent on the "life-

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 Berichte und Kommentare 603

historic cultural
line" leading from the development in the muck of Key nec
animal's
Marco, in the swamps
heart, or sometimes its of thestomach
Florida Keys. In 1895, or
of animal painting and
Frank Hamilton Cushing engraving
discovered hundreds of re-
across Siberia markable
into America
wooden objects: as a
masks, statuettes, painted
that included boards, shamanism, social
carved tablets, boxes, stools, spear-throw-
emonials, and ers, hafted adzes, saber clubs with shark's teeth, ca-
mythological ideas
prominent feature noe models, etc.
not Many ofonly
these shrank beyond
in rec- rock
decorative arts of the North American Pueblos and ognition in drying, but enough were saved to give
Plains tribes. In the Trans-Pecos region of Texas,us insight into a new aspect of Indian art: sculptures
of animals - pumas, deer, wolves, frigate birds, and
more than two hundred sites with pictorial represen-
tations of humans and animals are scattered in can-
alligators (Covarrubias 1967: 264-267).
yons and along cliffs above the Rio Grande, Pecos, Pottery - the oldest continuing artistic tradition
and Devil rivers. Some of these petroglyphs and in North America - is found in the Southwest among
rock paintings are clearly associated with shamanic
the Zuni, Acoma, Hopi, and other Pueblo tribes. All
rituals. As we will see, however, the act of paintingNative American pottery is made by hand, without
appears to be more significant than the result. The the use of the potter's wheel. The artist applied the
oldest pictographs in the so-called Pecos River Styledesign directly on the surface of the vessel, without
may date back some four thousand years or more. first making drawings (Maurer 1986: 153). Thus,
The most prominent motifs are anthropomorphic the aesthetic and technical quality of the object
figures, many of whom have sticks, staffs, clubs, became a visual metaphor for a spiritual attitude,
a mental state of being. Most Pueblo art has reli-
or an atlatl connected to the right hand for hunting.
The spiral is very common in Southwestern rock art,gious significance and is centered in the cult of dei-
probably symbolizing journeys to the centre. Otherties of the heavens, of maize, and of the Makers of
possible interpretations are emergence, migrations,the Rain, as well as of their spokesmen or messen-
whirlwind, water, and solstice markers. Whirlwinds ger spirits called katchinas. The rain-magic designs
were widely believed to carry ghosts, and the sha- of the Pueblo Indians are painted on pottery recep-
man's supernatural ability to fly was sometimes re-tacles and embroidered on clothing, which, there-
ferred to as "whirlwind power" (in an altered state fore, have the value of constant prayers. They are re-
rotation is one principle of mental imagery). Celes-peated on altars and altar screens. They are involved
tial phenomena, such as eclipses and planets, were in color patterns for the four cardinal points of the
depicted, but archaeoastronomical theories about earth as well as for the above and the below. The
the use of these places for solstice observation are
katchinas are also impersonated by dancers wear-
ethnographically unsupported. ing masks made of cylinders of leather and painted
The "California Tradition" of primarily painted with distinguishing marks of the specific katchinas,
art depicted circles, dots, disklike forms, ladders,
and with additions of gourd, wood, cloth, feathers,
parallel lines, diamonds, zigzags, handprints, stick-
and branches of pine. These masks and the geomet-
figure humans, and lizards. Geometric designs haveric headdresses of wood, which top them, are sacred
both a less visual resemblance to the things they (Covarrubias 1967: 225 f.).
portray and more power to portray several things Another important craft in the Southwest, and
at once. Most of the Colorado River rock art con- particularly in California, was basketmaking. The
sists of such geometric motifs and images that major
can basketry technique here as well as on the Up-
per Missouri is plaiting. Sometimes, such as with
be understood as depicting the mythical creation of
the construction of the Navajo ceremonial or wed-
the world. Mural painting with charcoal and mineral
ding tray, the construction was strictly regulat-
pigments, in the fresco-secco manner, is limited to
ed according to ritual requirements. Thus, the rim
the Pueblo area (the only one that had plaster walls).
The earliest known Pueblo murals date from around coil must always end in a direct line with the spirit
a.D. 1000, but it was in the period between 1300path that interrupts the interior design of the sa-
and the Spanish conquest that the art form reached cred mountains of the world. As exit and entry for
its highest development. Pueblo mural painting has
the supernaturais, this pathway must face the east
continued to the present, mostly in connection within times the basket is used ceremonially (Fürst and
ceremonial activities (Feest 1992: 90f.). Fürst 1982: 49).
In the southeastern part of the present-day Unit-An outstanding example of the Northwest Coast
art is the famous Seattle Totem Pole, carved in the
ed States, the general similarities in iconography
between the southern and the Mexican death cults mid-nineteenth century and erected in the Tlingit
village of Tongass, southeast Alaska. Totem poles
have been widely debated. Lesser known is the pre-

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 604 Berichte und Kommentare

are monumental carvings

and punished those who broke the taboos represe
that he
crests derived had
fromordered. myths and leg
by specific kinshipThe artisans were designers as well From
groups. as artists. to
Northwest Coast house builders,
mythological characters canoe makers, to- on th
carved
Raven, the culture
tem-pole carvers, hero who
bark and wool weavers, box mak- relea
the Moon to their places
ers, and chest painters, inthethe
they all understood re- sk
light; the Womanlations ofMother
space and form, the two ofprinciples of
Frogs h
her Frog Husband; Mink,
design. As we know, every design problemthe begins comp
another image with
of an effort to achieve fitness between
Raven; the two enti- whale
ach lived Raven and
ties: the Mink,
form in question eating
and its context. The form t
lowed; and "Raven-at-the-Head-of
is the solution to the problem; the context defines
grandfather of the problem. But, design
Raven and does notmytholog
refer to form
Raven clan. The poles
alone - it has also the task ofwere
achieving harmony erecte
or
ration of special
perfect balance
events of form and itsas contextfrontal
(Glenbow
grave markers, Museum or 1988: as repositories
220). Highly developed as well was
and served to identify
the inlay technique in which thinthe pieces of groups
stone or
haliotis shells
their prerogatives. are set in shallowthey
Thus, depressions on the were
surface of wooden and
narrative in character butbone objects. Inlay with Eu-
symbolic o
ed by narratives (Feest
ropean trade material occur in1992:
the Midwest and in 172).
The Northwest the Coast
Great Lakes area. Mosaics,
artmainly ismade of tur-
dotted w
ism. It is possible to
quoise, jet, classify
and shell the
had a limited distribution in the way
animal is represented and
Southwest, where it apparently further
was introduced by
Mexican civilizations
with the carver's intuitive (Feest 1992: 104). feeling
ebb and flow of Mostsculptured
of the so-called tribal art objects havesurface
prob-
Social factors determined
ably represented qualities at a number of the
cultural pro
works in the north, where
levels, but not always most
intended to serve aesthet- art
ic ends. Objects used by shamans
express social positions. In are quite
the often sou
tion was more crude religious and spir
and unfinished in appearance. Furthermore,
Museum 1988: there
212). The
is strong evidence guardian
that our classification of the
symbolized by large
masks.
collections of richlyWhen in the
decorated Indian apparel
shamans addressas exclusively
the"ceremonial"
masks, is an ethnocentric
they mis- pr
after the other,take, obstructing our understanding
thereby payingof the Indian's atten
ferent guardian relationship
spirits. to his environment
The (Ewing spirits
1982: 18). a
responsible for Tribal the art is ancuring of
endless incantation which disease
was given
of spirit helpers or
visual forms guardian
and serve as recording events of impor-spiri
of Native American tance for the social spirituality
group, keepers of tradition, and an
in one form or another across the continent. The in a way symbolize the group itself by codifying the
quality and whereabouts of these guardian spirits sentiments of people. Nevertheless, many "art" ob-
varied rather much, but the important is, that theyjects, such as the tadpole painted on the prayer-meal
were asked to serve the individual Indian just as the
bowl of the Zuni, are an attempt to make decorative
shamanic guardian spirit served the shaman. art Thean instrument of magic. The tadpole, through an
similarities between the two complexes are obvi- association of ideas, expressed the desire for rain,
ous. There is the same preparation for the recep- which in turn meant good crops (Appleton 1950: 1).
To quote Claude Lévi-Strauss (1943: 181):
tion of the spirit power: fasting and asceticism (such
as self-torture), isolation in nature or in a shabby
lodge, endurance and defense against wild animals, A vase, a chest, a wall are not important pre-existing ob-
jects which are subsequently decorated. They acquire
waiting for a vision of the desired spirit, usually ap-
their definitive existence only through the integration of
pearing as an animal, or, less frequently, as a ghost.
the decoration with the utilitarian function, the chests of
The spirit may bless its client with whatever pow-
the Northwest Coast art are not merely containers with
ers it prefers, and of course, always using a power
carved animals. They are the animal itself, keeping active
that it is competent to handle. These powers maywatch over the ceremonial ornaments which have been
span from general good luck in fishing and love to
intrusted to its care.
more serious aims such as warpath and long expe-
ditions. The spirit demanded that his prescriptionsThe power of animals was conjured into cloth-
concerning dress and food rules should be followed
ing through the incorporation of their physical mat-

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 Berichte und Kommentare 605

that may binding

ter. This magical be termed pictographic. Itor was devoted
associ
be accomplished to the by
stylized representations
working of historic events
the a
by male artists (winter
paint or embroidery on counts).an
A secondobject.
tradition
ing is pleasing could
the be termed visionary (Feest 1992:spirits
animal 50-53). The a
Naskapi and Cree. In
latter goes beyond return,
skin painting and can be defined thes
the hunter with as artgame
that visualizes spiritual
and experiences, that is,
protected
spirits such asobjects
the Cannibal
which represent the supernatural as itGiant
ap-
18). pears in visions. The mythic and
As
the iconography and supernatural
the is vi- und
ogy sualized by painting or by attaching
of
art in small-scale symbols such as
societies ar
bedded in religion, special
feathers, claws, hair, etc. to the objects. attentio
Images have
shamanistic power magical
and because they have a specialparaphern
origin, a special
Shamanism substance, and
forms a a special form. Like souls theybelief
religious can
on religious experience cross time and space and make and an impactsacred
on dis-
on rites that find tance. Likewise, the maker or creator of images in
expressions has cul
shamanistic techniques, in which power in his ability to make invisible forces visible.
sy plays a prominent Thus, it has been widely claimed that By
role. symbolismmea
als, shamanism beginfulfills
in art with a magical purpose.a Yet, valuable
the essence
confirming theof operational shamanism is its vanability and dynamism. validity The
cosmology. Therefore, static characteristics of the visual on arts are, an
therefore, ideo
tive (cultural) level in conflict with the bothdynamic values systems
of shamanism,
another, while on and it is unlikely
an that the institution of shamanism pers
emotional,
psychological) level alone can accountthey for the original are developmentcompof
viding a broader the visual scope
arts (Pasztory 1982:for certain
9). In any case, the
symbolic outlays. underlying logicTogether
is different from ours and the they
tech- b
namic, binary nology system is of another order.of interacti
"To the primitive mind
more abstract religious ... the seen and the unseen worlds form but one,
modality and
shamanistic cosmology. and there is therefore uninterrupted Thus, communication follo
(1993: 6), a shaman between what we willcall obvious be
reality and the mys-
defined
through spiritual tic powers" (Lévy-Bruhl 1923: 98). Magic and
endowment or the spe
is able to act as a mediator between his/her human occult was not extraordinary but ordinary. The sha-
group and the supernatural powers. man was there, and his art helped to make the vi-
Spiritual leaders and shamans made regular pil- sions and guardian spirits visible. While the vision
grimages to rock art sites. These could also serve is a shaman's personal experience, in taking up his
as repositories for ritual costumes, talisman bun- social role he must dramatize the experience in such
dles, and paraphernalia. The most important sites a way to give it public expression.
were sacred places that served as portals to the sa- Symbolizing the relationship between man, spir-
cred realms. During the historic period, Salish madeits, myth, and the natural phenomena involved stag-
their rock paintings in connection with dream fast- ing and pantomime. Describing the Tlásulá ceremo-
ing in which adolescents tried to obtain the vision ny of the Kwakiutl, Holm (1986: 138 f.) writes:
of a guardian spirit. In many instances, shamans All parts of his [the dancer's] performance fit together:
produced figurative art at the conclusion of their his response to the rhythmic batons and drum, and to the
vision quest to illustrate the spirits they had en- stress of the song; the steady vibration of his rattle; the
countered and the events in which they have par- controlled tension of his body, and especially the move-
ticipated. Some figures may illustrate the shaman's ments of his head and headdress - a sudden tilt and tum,
spirit helpers, others his supernatural alter ego. In trailing
a slowly off, then another, reversing; and his proud
altered state of consciousness the shaman had con- expression. All are part of the setting of the headdress
frontlet.
ducted curing, rainmaking, and sorcery. One can
discover panels with detailed scenes, more or less For all its richness, this headdress dance is only a pre-
liminary to the main performance, the display of a mask
like a map drawn from a shamanistic flight. Hidden
representing an ancestral being.
and piled over each other they may never have been
meant for viewing. Thus, the act of painting itselfArt is basically a medium of communication and
must have been of utmost importance, a reconnec- confirms to certain rules which represent the gram-
tion with the forces that made the visions real and mar and syntax of a kind of metalanguage. In brief,
the spirits visible. art is a stylized (distorted) communication that may
If we look at skin paintings, we find a traditionexpress ideas and phenomena that are taboo, such

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 606 Berichte und Kommentare

as incest, sexual deviance,

ways art is a tool to investigate and witchcr
explain real-
that an art object
ity and theis anforexpression
supernatural that matter. But the na- o
ture of art - I believe - must never
stresses the significance of be reduced
an to intim
between the art object
its function. and
The famous philosopher the id
R. G. Colling-
nicative processwood (1995) rejected
the those utilitarian explanations
understanding
based on shared competence
that reduced magic to a practical tool by which man(activ
spectively) by the maker
may manipulate and
events in his own favor. Instead,the
he u
cially since some art
tried to explain objects
magic as are
an organized system for m
relationship expressing
than emotions. No doubt,
being he must have been
representat
In the case of influenced
Native by his French colleague Lucien Lévy-
American pr
those of historic arts,
Bruhl who tried the
to demonstrate the existence ofmoder
a
share the maker's
double causality:competence
the horizontal with the logic we (F
The conceptual are gap
well familiar with and another vertical one,tribal
between be-
has also been nurtured by
longing to the invisible world an inter-
but constantly establ
tween "their world"
vening with the visible.
and our own w
chotomies such as our scientific k
Nothing is purely matter; still less is it purely spirit. All
their religious beliefs, our technolo
things are bodies, or have bodies, and all possess in vary-
magic, and art in opposition to cult
ing degrees the mystic properties which we ascribe to
spirits alone (Lévy-Bruhl 1928: 202).
Instead of imagining the primitives w
ing to be like ourselves and
In the end, art is more than a mediummaking
for com-
should do in their places ... let us on t
munication - art is involving all the senses, not the
deavour to gourd against our own menta
least our capacity to feel and imagine what is be-
discover, by analysing their collective
yond
the connections betweenthe visible. these, what t
of thinking would be (Lévy-Bruhl 19

Still, their art References Cited

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 Berichte und Kommentare 607

Fürst, Peter T., in natural Jill

and sciences and
L.in the history of theology.
Fürst
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The article is a result of several years of research.1
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1988 The Spirit Sings. Artistic Traditions of Canada's the
Firstevolutionary theory of human origin is often
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discussed rather unfavorably, textual research re-
Holm, Bill veals that the issue is far more complex than many
1986 The Dancing Headdress Frontlet. Aesthetic Context on
contemporary authors realize. Sharply critical and
the Northwest Coast. In: E. L. Wade (ed.); pp. 133-140.
even dishonoring valuation of theologians' attitude
Hultkrantz, Âke
to human evolution theory has been deeply root-
1993 Indiansk religion. In: J-Â. Alvarsson (ed.); pp. 214-231.
ed in many Czech scholarly publications since the
Lévi-Strauss, Claude Communist era; see for example Soukup (2014: 63-
1 943 The Art of the Northwest Coast at the American Museum
73). Authors of such articles and books unfortunate-
of Natural History. Gazette des Beaux-Arts 24: 175-182.
ly know hardly anything about the works of Czech
Lévy-Bruhl, Lucien
theologians as well as about a majority of issues
1923 Primitive Mentality. London: George Allen & Unwin.
1928 The "Soul" of the Primitive. London: George Allen &presented in this article. The situation is similar in
Unwin. the literature abroad; e.g., Palmer (2007), and Her-
1936 Primitives and the Supernatural. London: George Allen mann and Šimek (2008).
& Unwin.
Mapping the field, only partially explored in the
Maurer, Evan M. context of worldwide theology, one undoubtedly
1986 Determining Quality in Native American Art. In: E. crosses
L. the borders of theology itself, as the gradu-
Wade (ed.); pp. 143-155.
al process of Christian theological reception of the
Pasztory, Esther evolutionary theory of human origin is a phenom-
1982 Shamanism and North American Indian Art. In: Z. P.
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Mathews and A. Jonaitis (eds.), Native North American
ogists,
Art History. Selected Readings; pp. 7-30. Palo Alto: Peek paleoanthropologists, culturologists, politi-
Publications. cal scientists (social Darwinism), religious studies
Rubin, William scholars, as well as experts in the philosophy of sci-
1 984 Primitivism in 20th Century Art. Affinity of the Tribal and
ence and historians of science.
the Modern. New York: Museum of Modern Art. It must be stated beforehand that the author of

Spinden, Herbert J. this article is in no way interested in defending old

apologetics
1 93 1 Indian Symbolism. New York: Exposition of Indian Trib- but solely in fundamentally non-ideo-
al Arts.
logical research of the real forms and nature of the
Sturtevant, William C. studied phenomenon. Therefore, it should come as
1986 The Meanings of Native American Art. In: E. L. Wade
no surprise that the presentation and certain evalu-
(ed.); pp. 23-44. ation of such research is unthinkable without intro-
Wade, Edwin L. (ed.) ducing a broader context determining, in many as-
1 986 The Arts of the North American Indian. Native Traditions
pects, the work of Czech Catholic theologians. At
in Evolution. New York: Hudson Hills Press.
first, we shall discuss the basic polarization with-
in worldwide Catholic theology represented at the
time by the so-called Mivart's proposition. Sec-
ondly, the reception of Darwin's theory by Czech
educated public will be outlined and the reception
by Czech Catholic theologians will be discussed in
detail. On the one hand, chronological borderlines
The Reaction of Czech Thinkers of the analyzed set of texts are formed by the year
1871 when Darwin's famous book was published,
and Especially of Catholic Theologians
and, on the other hand, by the 1930s when the atti-
to the Evolution Theory of Humantude of many Czech Catholic theologians was sym-
Origin in Global Context (1840-1950)
pathizing with Mivart's proposition. In conclusion,
I will summarize and evaluate the findings and will
Ctirad V. Pospíšil attempt to draw suggestions for further work in an-
thropology in a broader sense.

It is more than surprising to find an unexplored topic

after 2010. Yet, the one suggested in the title of thisfindings have been published in Pospíšil (2014). This
1 Some
article has so far been overlooked by experts both
article is a result of the project of G A ČR 0802 IS.

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