MONROE TSA TOKE ON INDIAN ART

Due to his retiring nature and feeling that he might not

be understood, the Indian ceases to exhibit any of what

little work he may have done. Consequently the public,

or rather those who appreciate art, were led to believe

that none of the fine arts existed among the Indians.

One may learn much about the Indian through a study

of his art, for by his art the Indian expresses much of his

life of which the other races of people know little or

nothing.

To the majority of the public he is just an Indian, with

an expressionless mask-like face. To the average person

the Indian is usually conceived and portrayed in his war

paint and feathers, carrying the suggestion that nothing

would be more pleasing to him in the olden days than

to create war and bloodshed, slaughtering, scalping his

enemies and leaving everything around him in ashes.

They think he wanted to attack helpless humans. Let

this be as it may, but aside from this, did you know that

behind the stoical mask there is a soul with the same

impulses and longings, the same thirst for the higher

things in life - probably with a more devout spiritual

feeling than many of the white men? He appeals to all

xv