Among the Plains Indians, two separate strains of decorative art evolved, the figurative, representational art created by the men of the tribe, and the geometric, abstract art crafted by the women. According to Dunn and Highwater, the artist’s governed both the kind of article to be decorated and the style to be followed in its ornamentation. Thus, the decorative works created by tribesmen consistently depict living creatures (men, horses, buffalo) or magical beings (ghosts and other supernatural life-forms). Those created by women, however, are clearly nonrepresentational: no figures of men or animals appear in this classically geometric art.
Art historians theorize that this abstract, geometric art, traditionally the prerogative of the women, predates the figurative art of the men. Descending from those aspects of Woodland culture that gave rise to weaving, quillwork, and beadwork, it is a utilitarian art, intended for the embellishment of ordinary, serviceable objects such as parfleche (生牛皮) boxes, saddlebags, and hide robes. The abstract designs combine classical geometric figures into formal patterns: a ring of narrow isosceles (等边的) s arranged on the background of large central circle creates the well-known "feather and circle" pattern. Created in bold primary colors (red, yellow, blue), sometimes black or green, and often outlined in dark paint or glue size, these nonrepresentational designs are nonetheless intricately detailed.
Although the abstract decorations crafted by the women are visually striking, they pale in significance when compared to the narrative compositions created by the men. Created to tell a story, these works were generally heroic in nature, and were intended to commemorate a bold and courageous exploit or a spiritual awakening. Unlike realistic portraits, the artworks emphasized action, not physical likeness. Highwater describes their as follows: "these representational works were generally drafted by a group of men--often the individuals who had performed the deeds being recorded--who drew on untailored hide robes and tepee liners made of skins. The paintings usually filled the entire field; often they were conceived at different times as separate pictorial vignettes documenting specific actions. In relationship to each other, these vignettes (小插图) suggest a narrative."
The tribesmen’s narrative artwork depicted not only warlike deeds but also mystic dreams and vision quests. Part of the young male’s rite of passage into tribal hood involved his discovering his own personal totem or symbolic guardian. By fasting or by consuming hallucinatory (幻想的) substances, the youth opened himself to the revelation of his "mystery object," a symbol that could protect him from both natural and supernatural ers.
What had been in the early 1700s a highly individualistic, personal iconography changed into something very different by the early nineth century. As Anglos came west in ever greater numbers, they brought with them new materials and new ideas. Just as European glass beads came to replace native porcupine quills in the women’s applied designs, cloth ually became used as a substitute for animal hides. The emphasis of plains artwork shifted as well: tribespeople came to create works that celebrated the solidarity of Indians as a group rather than their prowess as individuals.
From the first paragraph, we can infer that this passage is about ______.