Includes bibliographical references (page 18).

"In this book three distinguished scholars discuss a problem basic to the understanding of primitive art: the relation of the traditional techniques of an art to the development of style and the expression of the individual artist. Margaret Mead writes of the Mountain Arapesh of New Guinea, and how a people 'who have no distinctive style of decoration' appropriate and adopt the work of their neighbors. She documents and illustrates the making of a bark painting 'tracing the actual steps, the shifts and changes of plan between the painter and his helper.' Junius B. Bird studies the techniques of Peruvian textiles and analyzes 'the many and varied ways in which fabrics can be created' and how 'each technique is a medium in itself, providing a challenge to the ingenuity, imagination, and skill of the artist', whose influence may extend beyond textiles to other media where such controls do not exist. Hans Himmelheber describes the methods and intentions of African sculptors in general, and how they vary from tribe to tribe. He then follows in detail the working methods of three invidiaul artists of the Dan and Kran in Liberia, pointing out the differing reasons for which they work and how each has developed his own method and manner of expression. These three papers, constituting the third volume in the lecture series of The Museum of Primitive Art, are illustrated by many photographs and drawings"--Publisher's description, p. [2] of dust jacket.

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