The double-curve motive in northeastern Algonkian art / by Frank G. Speck.

  • Frank Speck
Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The double-curve motive in northeastern Algonkian art / by Frank G. Speck. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    In conclusion it seems reasonable to suggest from the material at hand that we have, in the double-curve motive, an Wiginally non-symbolic decorative element, a presumably indefinite plant or floral figure, common to all the members of the northeastern Algonkian group both north and south of the St. Lawrence. Pass- ing from this primary area, the motive has been borrowed by other tribes westward, mostly Algonkian, and subjected to local modification. Among the Penobscot and perhaps their eastern neighbours the double-curve has acquired, to a certain degree, a symbolic value due to contact with the more politically complex Iroquois. Further investigation, however, which, it is hoped, this brief paper will stimulate, may nevertheless warrant chang- ing some of these opinions, particularly as regards the existence of symbolism among the tribes east of the Penobscots and the inter-relation between their art as a whole and that of the Iroquois.