Folkloric Art: A Unique Kind of Beauty

Folklore as Art and Utility

The arts of primitive peoples indicate that for the majority of individuals the appreciation of beauty is instinctive, regardless of their mental abilities. The idea of producing objects for practical daily use that are also beautiful is as old as life itself. The primitive man used to decorate his hunting spears by carving geometric shapes like parallel or intersecting lines, triangles or animal figures. With the emergence of agriculture and the resulting stability, new kinds of applied folkloric art emerged. There was a need to cope with the expansion of cultural awareness resulting from the growing commerce and the abundance of agricultural products. The rich domain of folkloric arts was interwoven with objects of daily use like furniture, jewelry, food containers and cosmetic articles. Folklore artists confer more value on these objects, which become both beautiful and instrumentally useful. Folkloric art is a mixture of utility and the aesthetic values of creative arts.

Throughout history, folkloric art has run parallel to formal art. Arab traditions are rich in folklore whether in literature, song, music, plastic or decorative arts where the skills and talents of folklore artists are blended with ease and simplicity of execution.

Folkloric art has always been a kind of a healthy current whereby people preserve their artistic conscience and aesthetic appreciation, particularly in the eras of political decline when the influence of official artistic traditions wanes and the semi-official or folkloric arts are on the ascendance.

Folkloric art tends to cherish and glorify heroism. In Arabic folklore, heroes of folk stories and legends have become paragons, like Abu Zeid Al-Hilali and Antara Ibn Shaddad who are always depicted as mounted knights with mighty drawn swords. Such legacies which have continued for thousands of years draw on the figures and subjects of traditions, myths, tales or mysterious memories passed from one generation to another over so many years that their exact origin may have become untraceable.

Different figures in folkloric art may stand for a national myth or legend or for an instinctive belief or emotion. Colors may have specific symbolic meanings in relation to human instincts.

Characteristics of Folkloric Arts

• Folkloric arts use local materials and units drawn from the surrounding environment. By tracing the origins of folkloric arts in a certain region, one may detect the fundamental roots of art that seem to have been lost because of the wide gap between the present and the past which are markedly different.
• Folkloric arts reflect a communal rather than an individual spirit. A folklore artist deals only with subjects drawn from inherited legacies, which satisfy the needs of his society in a sense. Folklore painting for instance is an expression of an intellectual rather than a visual reality. It is a kind of non-verbal definition of things. A painting of this genre tends to incorporate a set of scenes as if to tell a story. It combines visible and invisible elements as long as they are within the range of human knowledge. Folkloric art, however, does not bother with the rules of perspective.
• Folklore artists depend on two main decorative elements. The first is the simple geometric units, which are often dictated by the kind of artifact produced, and the material used by the artist. In other words, they are the outcome of technique and craftsmanship. The second element is the simple organic patterns that depend on few softly curving lines like small branches or simply structured floral shapes, or the movement of rippling waves.
• Since man seems to have an innate desire to decorate things, folkloric decorative elements designed by various peoples in various places tend to be eye-catching by virtue of their color, shape or sound. Jewelry is a fine representative example. The shape of the kirdan, the traditional folkloric necklace in the Arab region, immediately recalls the pectoral, which covers the chest. It is usually made of rows of colored beads or wrought and inlaid gold plates. Decorative elements used in jewelry are generally geometric shapes like lines and triangles strung with fine gold or silver threads.
• Mural painting is another important form of folkloric art. Other exemplary artifacts in this regard include rugs, mats, chains, pottery, jugs adorned with geometric shapes, clothes and jewelry decorated according to the character of the local environment and the materials available. In a rural environment where different kinds of clay may be available, folkloric art tends to focus on pottery items, which are very useful as domestic utensils in a typical peasant house. In this setting, wool and cotton may also be spun manually. Colors are drawn from the natural surroundings and are often dark. Simple decorative elements like broad lines are used profusely. In the desert or in a Bedouin community, articles made from palm fronds are more typical of the place where palm trees are one of the main sources of raw materials for folk crafts. Finely designed boxes, chairs, beds and small tables are made from palm fronds painted with lively colors. The fronds may be used to decorate other products as well. In a pastoral setting where animal husbandry is the main occupation, the predominant folk craft is the making of rugs and carpets from sheep wool, which is spun and decorated with colored geometric shapes.

The originality and the spontaneity of folkloric art recommends it to the highly cultured minds, which always find it to be a source of inspiration. It is believed to be deeply rooted in the environment and in the local traditions and legacies. It derives from the need of the ordinary people to live and enjoy peace and love