FOLK ART

any of the art produced by so-called primitive or by nonliterate peoples or by those who work outside the accepted traditions of a particular culture. Applications of the term folk have become problematic. On the face of it, the word has a simple definitioni.e., the common people, especially those of rural areas. But, like all class distinctions, folk carries with it the complications of historical context and point of view. Such a designation formerly implied a high degree of cultural insularity, but mass culture has since penetrated virtually every social and geographic area of the industrial world. Romantic and often patronizing views of folk life have further distorted popular perceptions. A relative and subjective concept like folk, while academically useful, resists a consensus of interpretation. Anthropologists and folklorists have classified as folk art a broad range of materials, from the arts of primitive or nonliterate peoples to those of the nonelite within literate cultures, the latter variously known as folk, visionary, outsider, or naive. The folk art rubric has also been extended to include all manner of traditional or nostalgic artistic productions, even the self-consciously quaint. For the purposes of this article, the folk arts may be considered to encompass the traditional, typically anonymous arts produced by members of a nonruling, relatively nonaffluent, often rural and uneducated stratum of industrial society. As expressions of community life, the folk arts are distinguished from the academic or self-conscious or cosmopolitan expressions that constitute the fine arts and decorative arts of the elite. As nonrepresentative of their respective societies as a whole, they are distinguished from the arts of nonliterate cultures. They are also to be differentiated from the so-called popular arts, which appeal to a mass audience and typically depend upon the mass media for their dissemination. While in popular usage the term folklore refers almost exclusively to a single aspect of folk art, the oral literary tradition, scholars use it to embrace all of the artistic genres of folk culture. In the context of this article the terms folklore and folk art are interchangeable. The first part of this discussion treats folklore as an academic field, viewed from humanistic, anthropological, and psychological perspectives. The functions of folklore and the role of the folk artist, as interpreted from these viewpoints, are also examined. The remainder of the article considers the origins, formal characteristics, and distribution of the various genres of folk art: oral literature, music, dance, and the products of material culture (i.e., the visual arts). The Editors of the Encyclopdia Britannica Additional reading Folklore A. Aarne, The Types of the Folktale, 2nd rev., trans. and enl. by S. Thompson (1961), the standard index and reference work for the most widely distributed European folk narratives; F.J. Child (ed.), The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, 5 vol. (188298), the classic assemblage of 305 ballad types, with variant texts and learned headnotes; W.A. Clouston, Popular Tales and Fictions, 2 vol. (1887), an early discussion of the wandering and migrations of folktales between India and Europe; M.R. Cox, Cinderella (1893), the first comparative study of an international folktale, bringing together 345 variants, and contributing to the thesis of diffusion rather than independent invention of complex tales; L. Degh, Folktales and Society (1969), a depth field study of storytelling behaviour in a Hungarian peasant community, with biographical portraits of leading folk narrators; R.M. Dorson, American Folklore (1959), an historical presentation of various folk traditions in the U.S., The British Folklorists: A History, and (ed.), Peasant Customs and Savage Myths: Selections from the British Folklorists, 2 vol. (both 1968), a history of the concept of folklore as it emerged in England with the 16th-century interest in antiquities and came to fruition among Victorian private scholars in the late 19th centurythe volumes of selections present illustrative writings of the folklorists discussed in the history, and Folktales of the World (1963 ), a series of authoritative volumes each of which is prepared by an eminent folktale scholar from the country represented; A.B. Friedman, The Ballad Revival (1961), interest in the ballad in England by antiquaries, poets, and the public treated in terms of literary history; Jacob Grimm, Teutonic Mythology, trans. by J.S. Stallybrass, 4 vol. (188388), the encyclopaedic and influential work in which Grimm expounded his theory of the degeneration of an ancient high pantheon of Germanic deities into the extant fairy tales and witch beliefs of the contemporary peasantry; F.R.S. Raglan, The Hero: A Study in Tradition, Myth, and Drama (1956), a highly controversial explanation of all mythic narratives as following a uniform pattern derived from ancient sacrificial fertility rituals; Y.M. Sokolov, Russian Folklore, trans. by C.R. Smith, (1950), a history of Russian folklore research given from the Soviet viewpoint regarding folklore as an expression of the class struggle; S. Thompson, Motif-Index of Folk-Literature, rev. ed., 6 vol. (195558), the major reference work in comparative folklore; J. Vansina, Oral Tradition (1961), presentation of an historical methodology for the African historian enabling him to use oral historical chronicles and genealogies as legitimate source materials; D.K. Wilgus, Anglo-American Folksong Scholarship Since 1898 (1959), a judicious appraisal of the recent schools of interpretation in ballad and folk-song studies. Folk art in general Mamie Harmon, Giuseppe Cocchiara, and Alessandro Marabottini Marabotti, Folk Art, in the Encyclopedia of World Art, vol. 5, col. 452483 (1961), present a broad, book-length theoretical survey focussed on visual art. A comprehensive work focussed on literature is Maria Leach (ed.), Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend (1949). Bruno Nettl, Folk and Traditional Music of the Western Continents (1956), offers much general theory in the course of treating his specific subject. Folk literature The best general treatment of the borderline between folk literature and sophisticated literature is H.M. and N. Chadwick, The Growth of Literature, 3 vol. (193240). S. Thompson, The Folktale (1946), gives an introduction and extensive bibliography for the field of oral narrative literature. For myths of all parts of the world, see Mythology of All Races, 13 vol. (191632), valuable information, though some of the bibliographies are out of date. The Journal of Folktale Studies (3/yr.), and FF Communications (irreg.), are of primary importance. They include articles in English, French, and German. FF Communications is undoubtedly the leading series for all aspects of folklore. A good recent series of folktale collections in English is Folktales of the World ed. by R.M. Dorson. Important also is the much larger series in German, Mrchen der Weltliteratur. For the folktales of the ancient world good introductions are W.M.F. Petrie (ed.), Egyptian Tales Translated from the Papyri, 2 vol. (1899); and S.N. Kramer, Sumerian Mythology: A Study of Spiritual and Literary Achievement in the 3d Millennium B.C., rev. ed. (1961). The standard Renaissance collection is The Pentamerone of Giambattista Basile, ed. and trans. from the Italian of Benedetto Croce by N.M. Penzer, 2 vol. (1932). The commentaries on these tales are especially valuable. The new translation of Grimm's folktales, German Folk Tales by F.P. Magoun and A.H. Krappe (1960), is convenient for English readers. For folktales of the North American Indians, the American Negroes, and the peoples of Oceania and Israel, the following works are standard: W. Matthews, Navaho Legends (1897); S. Thompson (ed.), Tales of the North American Indians (1929, reprinted 1966), an anthology with exhaustive comparative notes, valid until about 1926; M. Jacobs, The Content and Style of an Oral Literature: Clackamas Chinook Myths and Tales (1959), tales of a vanishing North Pacific tribe; W.A. Lessa, Tales from Ulithi Atoll: A Comparative Study in Oceanic Folklore (1961); K. Luomala, Voices on the Wind: Polynesian Myths and Chants (1955); R.M. Dorson, American Negro Folktales (1967); and D. Noy and D. Ben-Amos (eds.), Folktales of Israel (1963). Types and classifications of folktales and legends are: A.A. Aarne, The Types of the Folktale, 2nd rev., trans. and enl. by S. Thompson (1961), a standard list of tales of old world provenance; S. Thompson, Motif-Index of Folk Literature, rev. ed., 6 vol. (195558); and R.T. Christiansen, The Migratory Legends (1958), a classification of European legends. A good example of a survey of tales of a particular country is S. O'Suilleabhain and R.T. Christiansen, Types of the Irish Folktale (1963). A general introduction to folk song is G. Herzog, Song: Folksong, and the Music of Folksong, in Funk and Wagnall's Standard Dictionary of Folklore, vol. 2, pp. 10321050 (194950). A comprehensive introduction and listing of all the classical fables is in B.E. Perry, Babrius; and Phaedrus (1965). The proverb, the riddle, and the charm are treated in A. Taylor, The Proverb (1962), English Riddles from Oral Tradition (1951); and W.R. Bascom, Ifa Divination: Communication Between Gods and Men in W. Africa (1969). Important also is the work of L. Degh, Folktales and Society (1969), a study of a Hungarian storyteller; A. Dundes, The Study of Folklore (1965); V.A. Propp, Morphology of the Folktale (1958); and T.A. Sebeok, Myth: A Symposium (1965), a collection of theoretical treatments of mythology. An outstanding discussion of narrative folk song is A.B. Lord, The Singer of Tales (1960). A model historical and geographical study is W.E. Roberts, The Tale of the Kind and the Unkind Girls (1958). Folk music Among the scholarly periodicals devoted primarily to folk music, the most important are the International Folk Music Council Yearbook (1969 ), formerly the International Folk Music Council Journal; Ethnomusicology (1953 ); and the Journal of American Folklore (1888 ). General works on folk music of Europe and the Americas are Bruno Nettl, Folk and Traditional Music of the Western Continents (1965); Werner Danckert, Das europische Volkslied (1939); the lengthy and subdivided article on the folk music of many countries in Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th ed. (1955); and George Herzog, Song, in Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend (1950). An important survey of the world's folk music in its relationship to certain characteristics of cultures is Alan Lomax, Folk Song Style and Culture (1968). Walter Wiora, Europischer Volksgesang (1952), provides an anthology of formal and melodic types in folk music; Europische Volksmusik und abendlndische Tonkunst (1957) explores the relationships between folk and classical music throughout European history. Bela Bartok, Hungarian Folk Music (1931), is a classic study of one folk music style. A.B. Lord, The Singer of Tales (1960), deals with the epic traditions of eastern Europe. C.J. Sharp (comp.), English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, 2 vol. (1932), is the pioneer collection of Anglo-American song; the total tune repertory of the most important traditional ballads in England and North America is published in B.H. Bronson, The Traditional Tunes of the Child Ballads, 4 vol. (195970). The best general survey of Anglo-American folk song is R.D. Abrahams and G. Foss, Anglo-American Folksong Style (1968). The history of folk music research is treated in D.K. Wilgus, Anglo-American Folksong Scholarship Since 1898 (1959). The modern urban folk song movement has given rise to a series of popular folk music periodicals, most of them ephemeral; notable American examples include Broadside (1962 ), and Sing Out! (1950 ). Folk dance V. Alford and R. Gallop, The Traditional Dance (1935), authoritative, popular account of Europe's ancient ritual dances; C.M. Barbeau (comp.), Roundelays: Folk Dances and Games Collected in Canada and New Zealand (1958), children's mimed rounds from French Canada, with descriptions, music, and bilingual texts; E. Burchenal, Folk-Dances from Old Homelands (1922), descriptions of European folk dances, for use in schools; N. Chilkovsky, American Bandstand Dances in Labanotation (1959), notations of jazz dances, for reconstruction by experts in the Laban system of notation; L.K. Czarnowski, Dances of Early California Days (1950), splendid historical account, with descriptions and music, for use in schools; A.S. Duggan et al., The Folk Dance Library, 5 vol. (1948), descriptions of dances from European and North American nations, with diagrams, music, and historical background, for school use; D.N. Kennedy, England's Dances (1949), survey and interpretation of British ritual and folk dances; G.P. Kurath, Iroquois Music and Dance, U.S. Bureau of American Ethnology Bull. 187 (1964), and Music and Dance of the Tewa Pueblos (1970), analysis of dances and music, with many notation scores, interpretations, and background notes, not for reconstruction; La Meri, Spanish Dancing (1948), skilled presentation of Spanish folk dances, with regional distinctions and some analysis of movement routines; J. Lawson, European Folk Dance (1953), analysis of regional European steps and rhythms, with examples, useful facts, and questionable hypotheses; L. Lekis, Folk Dances of Latin America (1958), exhaustive, annotated bibliography, with reliable comments on meanings and forms; M. Mayo, American Square Dance, rev. ed. (1948), a practical book for folk dance groups, with careful instructions and some music; C.J. Sharp (ed.), The Country Dance Book, 6 pt. (190922), exhaustive treatise on British folk dances by a scholarly pioneer, with diagrams and music; H.L. Spreen, Folk-Dances of South India (1945), unusual, exotic material for schools, with movement descriptions, music, and bilingual texts; Maria Leach (ed.), Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend, vol. 1 (1949), definitions and scholarly interpretations. Visual arts of the folk tradition H.T. Bossert, Ornamente der Volkskunst (1949; Eng. trans., Folk Art of Europe, trans. by Sybil Moholy Nagy, 1953, reprinted 1964), selection by the author from his Volkskunst im Europa (1926), a major compilation of folk designs, largely from textiles; D.P. Branch, Folk Architecture of the East Mediterranean (1966), includes Greek islands, central and southern Italy, with photos and diagrams; R.F. Bussabarger and B.D. Robins, The Everyday Art of India (1968), with glossary; Alfonso Caso and D.F. Rubin et al., Arte popular de Mxico (1963), a special issue of Artes de Mxico, authoritative for crafts; E.O. Christensen, The Index of American Design (1950), selections from a Federal Art Project study covering pre-1700c. 1900; H.J. Hansen (ed.), Europas Volkskunst und die europisch beeinflusste Volkskunst Amerikas (1967; Eng. trans., European Folk Art in Europe and the Americas, 1968), country by country, chiefly European, with over 600 illustrations; M. Harmon et al., Folk Art, Encyclopedia of World Art, vol. 5, col. 451506 (1961), a worldwide sampling of the arts, with extensive bibliography to c. 1960; Stella Kramrisch, Unknown India (1968), an exhibition catalog of ritual and tribal folk art; Frances Lichten, Folk Art of Rural Pennsylvania (1946), German-American motifs and products; Jean Lipman, American Primitive Painting (1942), pioneering study of folk painters; P.S. Lord and D.J. Foley, The Folk Arts and Crafts of New England (1965), over 500 illustrations of crafts; Hugo Munsterberg, The Folk Arts of Japan (1958), includes the modern folk-art movement and living folk arts; Bernard Rudofsky, Architecture Without Architects (1969), on primitive and vernacular styles all over the world; R.T. Wilcox, Folk and Festival Costume of the World (1965), over 150 regions, 111 plates, and bibliography. Folk dance Although the term folk dance is most commonly applied to the gay, recreational dances of various nationalities, its precise meaning is the subject of much debate among scholars and has not been fully resolved. Furthermore, scholars and dancers differ in what they admit under the label of folk dance. One may see folk dance as the traditional dances of a country that evolve spontaneously from the everyday activities and experiences of its people. Another may define it as embracing only dances with magical and economic functions, or as comprising all nonprofessional dances. The discussions dwell upon the confusion between such terms and concepts as folk dance, primitive dance, ethnic dance, and stage dance and on the distinction between folk dance and modern recreational forms of ballroom dancing. Remnants of primitive dance persist in Africa, Oceania, and South America, among peoples who have retained some degree of their traditional religion and ways of life. Such dance throws light on the origins of dance of the Western world. In its retention of its original functions, primitive dance is distinct from the dances of more developed cultures, which may fluctuate between ritualistic and recreational purposes. The term ethnic dance seems flexible. Some authorities see no difference between the terms ethnic dance and folk dance. The eminent American dancer Ted Shawn, however, would have ethnic dance subsume folk dance as a subspecies. He considers pure, authentic and traditional racial, national, and folk dance to be ethnic; he calls the theatrical handling of them ethnologic, and he refers to the free use of these sources of creative raw material as ethnological. Although these distinctions are not hard and fast, they reflect the trend of much ethnic dance toward professionalization. In still another view, folk dance is the dance from which the art dance of a nation inevitably grows, both in technique and in spirit. This concept is particularly applicable to such nations and regions as Japan, India, and Andalusia, where art forms of the dance were a natural outgrowth of the traditional dances. Purists are disturbed by a trend toward the deliberate staging of folk dances, and especially by their increasing professionalization: they might call the adaptations folkloric. Professional dance and secular folk dance have been distinguished as one might separate art from craft, even when the scenarios and choreography of modern dance and ballet adopt materials from folk dance or the larger field of folk culture. Most scholars, however, exclude from folk dance the dances of the commercial theatre, television, and film. Though they generally consider jazz dancing an American folk style, they would exclude formal choreographies in jazz style. These selected points of view indicate the fluctuating boundaries of folk dance, especially in reference to its functions. Although patterns and movement styles are significant, the function and locale of folk dances have greatest weight in distinguishing them from primitive and theatrical manifestations. Frequently the dances of rural peoples reveal their ritual origins on certain occasions, though they also serve recreational purposes. The origins may be very ancient. Generally, but not always, dances favoured in urban centres have secular purposes and may be of recent, perhaps consciously creative, origin. As in the case of folk song, the origin need not be anonymous, though usually it has been lost in the passage of time. Folk dances have grown out of creative inspiration, and they continue to sprout from the imaginations of individuals and groups, people of all classes who sense the traditions and the aspirations of their environment. Nature and functions of folk dance Functions Many folk dances best reveal their ancient functions when performed in their native habitat. Outside this context, in a school gymnasium or on a stage, they lose their aura, but on the village green the British Morris dances and the Abbots Bromley Horn dance speak of renewed May Day vegetation and of Paleolithic elk worship. Again, some dances serve various functions. The Spanish Aragonese jota is best known as a rural entertainment for men and women, but it may enliven funerals or appear on American stages. The above British examples reflect the transition from pagan to Christian religions and, in more recent times, the change from the attitudes of village and agriculture to those of town and industry and the consequent changes in social relations. As the English scholar Douglas Kennedy pointed out, when primitive religion weakens, some of the mystery and the magic departs from the dances that express it. The dancer becomes less a medicine maker than a performing artist as ritual changes imperceptibly into art. In short, man's social adjustment to the environment, for purposes of survival, created both the original dance rituals and their subsequent functional or formal changes. Vestigial animal dances echo ancient animistic rites. The Ainu tribes of northern Japan still mime bear and fox hunts, portraying the animals very realistically. In West Africa, an antelope hunt in dance has ritualistic overtones, while monkey mimes are for entertainment alone. The Balkans and Central America represent a far-reaching example of adjustment and change. These far-removed parts of the world share ecological circumstances, notably a basically agricultural civilization. Geographically, both narrow into bottlenecks connecting two continents; both combine high and rocky mountain ranges with agricultural lowlands and uplands; both bulge into peninsulas rich in culture. Both have submerged their ancient religious customs to innovations, those of Roman Catholicism and, in the Balkans, of Islam as well. Yet both have maintained their ancient native customs with such compromises as those to the events of the Christian calendar, Christian names, or Islamic styles. Recently both areas have been receptive to the influx of 19th-century secular European dance forms and have transmuted these importations to suit the native styles. Folk literature Folk literature, as mentioned in the introduction, may also be called folklore. It is, in fact, the lore (traditional knowledge and beliefs) of cultures having no written language, and is, by definition, transmitted by word of mouth. It consists, as does written literature, of both prose and verse narratives, poems and songs, myths, dramas, rituals, proverbs, riddles, and the like. Nearly all known peoples, now or in the past, have produced it. Until about 4000 BC all literature was oral; but beginning in the years between 4000 and 3000 BC writing developed both in Egypt and in the Mesopotamian civilization at Sumer. From that time on there are records not only of practical matters such as law and business but increasingly of written literature. As the area in which the habitual use of writing extended over Asia, North Africa, and the Mediterranean lands and eventually over much of the whole world, a rapid growth in the composition of written literature occurred, so that in certain parts of the world, literature in writing has to a large extent become the normal form of expression for storytellers and poets. Nevertheless, during all the centuries in which the world has learned to use writing, there has existed, side by side with the growing written record, a large and important activity carried on by those actually unlettered, and those not much accustomed to reading and writing. Origins and development Of the origins of folk literature, as of the origins of human language, there is no way of knowing. None of the literature available today is primitive in any sense, and only the present-day results can be observed of practices extending over many thousands of years. Speculations therefore can only concern such human needs as may give rise to oral literature, not to its ultimate origin. Folk music Typically, folk music, like folk literature, lives in oral tradition; it is learned through hearing rather than reading. It is functional in the sense that it is associated with other activities. Primarily rural in origin, it exists in cultures in which there is also an urban, technically more sophisticated musical tradition. Folk music is understood by broad segments of the population, while cultivated or classical music is essentially the art of a small social, economic, or intellectual elite. On the other hand, that widely accepted type of music usually called popular depends mainly on the mass mediarecords, radio, and televisionfor dissemination, while folk music typically is disseminated within families and restricted social networks. But the introduction of songs from folklore into the mass media blurs the distinction, and folk music in earlier times may be discussed separately from that of the period after World War II. Moreover, while folk music as defined above exists in all cultures in which there is also a cultivated musical tradition, such as Japan, China, Indonesia, India, and the Middle East, the usefulness of the concept varies from culture to culture. It is most convenient as a designation of a type of music of Europe and the Americas. Origin, functions, and transmission Perhaps the most important characteristic of a folk song is its dependence on acceptance by a communitythat is, by a village, nation, or familyand its tendency to change as it is passed from one individual to another and performed. This process of cultural exchange is known as communal recreation. A piece of folk music is the property of the entire community. But contrary to beliefs promulgated in the 19th century, folk songs are normally created not by groups of people but by individuals. When it is first composed, each song is the work of one composer, though it is recreated constantly by the performers who learn and sing it. The composer may create new songs by drawing together lines, phrases, and musical motifs from extant songs, possibly combined with entirely new ones and with standard opening or closing formulas. In European folk music, a small number of tune types account for most of the repertoire. English folk music, for example, is believed to consist largely of about 40 tune families, each of which descends from a single song. And the majority of English folk songs are members of only seven such tune families. There is frequent interchange of tunes between neighbouring countries. A few tune types are found throughout the European culture area. Each country, however, tends to have a repertory of its own, with stylistic features as well as tunes that are not shared with neighbours. Textual types (such as ballad stories) are more widely distributed than tune types. The 20th century has seen the decline of folk tradition in many areas, particularly those that became heavily urbanized and industrialized. From the Middle Ages until the 19th century, folk music probably had been distributed evenly throughout Europe and the Americas. After 1950, folk music was found most readily in areas that were not heavily industrialized, such as the isolated mountainous regions of North America or of Italy and in the countries of eastern and southern Europe. In the Americas, folk music of European origin became mixed with elements of non-Western music, especially African and (in Latin America) American Indian. Much folk music can be said to be functional in that it is not primarily entertainment or of aesthetic interest but an accompaniment to other activities, particularly ritual, work, and dance. In a traditional folk society, music is a necessity in almost all rituals and festivals. The words of folk song can serve as chronicle, newspaper, and agent of enculturation. In modern industrial nations, folk music is perpetuated by ethnic, occupational, or religious minorities, among whom it is thought to promote self-esteem, self-preservation, and social solidarity. Such functions of folk music have been used by organizations advocating social change, such as the U.S. civil rights and trade unionism movements. Folk music is usually transmitted by word of mouth, or oral tradition. This means that a folk song can change as a result of the creativity of those who perform it or of their particular musical style or of their faulty memory. As it is handed down from generation to generation a folk song develops additional forms, called variants, which may differ markedly from each other. For example, a song with four musical lines (e.g., ABCD) may lose two of these lines and take on the form ABAB. In turn, two new lines may be substituted for the initial two, giving it a form EFAB. Folk tunes also change when they cross ethnic or cultural boundaries. A German variant, for example, may exhibit characteristics of German folk music, while its variant in Czechoslovakia, although recognizably related, will assume the stylistic traits of Czech folk music. The degree to which songs change varies from culture to culture. In some, presumably those that value consistency and object to change, such as western Europe, songs change little and slowly. In others, such as Afro-American cultures, the opposite tendency is found. In spite of its dependence on oral tradition, folk music tends to be closely related to music in written tradition. Many folk songs originate in written form. For many centuries, popular and classical composers have adapted folk music, and in turn, influenced the oral tradition. A modern analogue of written tradition, recording, substantially influenced the oral tradition, as folk singers could hear various arrangements of folk music in private and commercial recordings. Thus, the transmission of folk music has not been an isolated process but one intertwined with other kinds of musical transmission.