Visual Art, Archaeology and Gestalt

Leonardo

Visual Art, Archaeology and GestaltAuthor(s): Robert WengerSource: Leonardo, Vol. 30, No. 1 (1997), pp. 35-46Published by: The MIT PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1576374 .

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GENERAL ARTICLE

Visual Art, Archaeology and Gestalt

Robert Wenger

INTEGRATED AND EXPANDED VIEWS The artifact at the moment of discovery is like a stone thrown into a quiet pond. Although the striking of the stone against the water appears to be an isolated event, it creates a sphere of influence that quietly expands outward to affect the entire

pool. The continuum of experience cannot be adequately represented by a static event or object isolated in time and space. It is best understood as a whole that is different from the sum of its parts. The image of artifact and quiet pond reflects my personal phenomenology about the passage of time, which is

partially based on my summer work as an archaeological excavator. During the winter months, I teach a course in basic de-

sign and a notebook-journal course on visual thinking called "Visual Inquiry." On the basis of my work as an art educator, artist and archaeologist, I have become interested in an ex-

panded and integrated view of art and science [1 ]. This expanded and integrated view is not predicated on

disciplines or destinations, but on a curiosity about how

things fit together. At this fundamental level of inquiry, there is a desire, if not a demand, for order. Order is a necessary condition for any kind of clarity and understanding. Appre- hending visual order is one of the most fundamental ways of

understanding the outer-as well as the underlying-structure and meaning of things [2]. In this kind of research environment, there are no proprietary rights to a particular idea or creative pathway. There is no vertical hierarchy of established routes. In this expanded field of thinking, visual experience and perception are the natural connecting forces that

integrate art, archaeology and Gestalt. Visual perception is the bedrock on which many ideas inevi-

tably build their foundation [3]. The use of imagery and visual thinking processes are primary ways of exploring, express- ing and communicating the known and imagined properties of a system, theory or general phenomenon [4]. Visual ways of

thinking and learning move across, between and through dis-

ciplinary commitments. This connection through vision creates a kind of "theoretical convergence" that defines contem-

porary views of interdisciplinarity. A visual interdisciplinarity is not a subject matter or body of content; it is a process of inte-

gration and synthesis that is based on perception. Vision is a natural connecting force that can reestablish relationships that have been obscured by arbitrary disciplinary divisions [5].

DEFINING GESTALT Gestalt is a kind of psychological thinking that is primarily concerned with how the mind unifies and orders the percep-

tual environment [6]. Research

by Gestaltists Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang K6hler, Kurt Koffka and others helped establish "laws" of perceptual organization that are the same foundation

principles found in design think-

ing throughout the visual arts. The Gestalt principles of similar-

ity, continuity, proximity, closure and

figure-ground are the primary fac- tors and forces that create and

ABSTRACT

Archaeological excavation has much in common with the visual arts. Archaeological excavators and visual artists are involved in a process of image formation. They not only document and repli- cate the appearance of things, but also make ideas, concepts and experiences visible. The Gestalt principles of similarity, proximity, continuity and closure provide a way to understand how the mind orders and groups the complex visual relationships that are created and observed in a given field or environment. Gestalt research into figure-ground relationships finds correspondence in the archaeological concept of object-context. These ideas find a philosophical correspondence in the imagery and teachings of Taoism. Together they offer an interdisciplinary way to think about the shapes, patterns and structure of time and change.

emphasize visual units, groupings and organized wholes within a given perceptual setting. The degree of visual order or disorder perceived within a setting is dependent, to a large degree, on the recognition, interpretation and communication of these unifying principles.

In Language of Vision, a book clearly indebted to Gestalt scholars, artist Gyorgy Kepes presented the very act of perceiving as a creative act. The creative act is a process of forming and integrating experience into unified entities or Gestalt wholes. Gestalt, then, is part of a language of vision present in the simplest forms of mark-making as well as the complex configurations found in a work of art or archaeological artifact [7]. In art, a unified entity or whole can be a singular composition as well as the individual graphic elements that make up the totality of the creative work. In archaeology, a singular artifact can be viewed as an object whole with its own particular attributes. These archaeological object wholes, however, are also contextually enfolded within the larger whole of the archaeological setting. This archaeological idea of whole-parts and object-context is not unlike the relation-

ship between an artist's singular achievements-which in turn form a body of work-and the cultural surroundings in which they are contextually enfolded.

A Gestalt whole is a configuration or arrangement in which

singular things as well as combinations of things can assume

shapes [8]. Apprehending the visual order or disorder

present in these configurations is a matter of perceiving and

interpreting the relationships between the parts and between the parts and the whole. As a result, a Gestalt configuration is an idea or experience that is so unified as a whole that its attributes cannot be ascertained from a simple summation or

Robert Wenger (art educator, archaeological excavator, artist), Department of Fine and Applied Arts, School of Architecture and Allied Arts, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, U.S.A.

LEONARDO, Vol. 30, No. 1, pp. 35-46, 1997 35 ? 1997 ISAST



examination of the parts in isolation. The fundamental Gestalt idea that a whole is different from the sum of its

parts is a holistic theory that can be applied not only to the visual arts and ar-

chaeology, but to any physical, psychological or symbolic configuration.

WHOLE AND PARTS

Following a high ridge line of volcanic

outcrops in southwestern Oregon along with two other archaeological surveyors, I recently visited what are thought to be several Native American "vision-quest" sites. Our 1994 re-survey was conducted to access any changes that might have affected the site since it was recorded by US Forest Service surveyors in 1980. On

top of these high basalt outcrops, indigenous peoples erected more than 100 small rock piles, or cairns, that are

thought to mark spots where individual

requests were made for spiritual guidance. The cairns may signify a wish

granted or a request in the making, since for some Native American peoples it is the physical effort of stacking the

rocks that will hopefully attract the spirit associate [9]. At other sites along the

ridge line, rock cairns are thought to mark and attend cremation locations.

Together, these vision-quest and cremation cairns define the foci for a land-

scape much more vast than is immedi-

ately apparent to the eye. They are

symbolic figures that rest upon a spiritual field [10].

Some of the rock cairns are quite obvious, consisting of two or more basaltic rocks placed on top of one another to form a simple triangular shape. Other

placements are more subtle, consisting of only one rock whose color and position are not consistent with the geologic surround. To abstract artists such as

Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee, these

vision-quest cairns would be compositional elements within a larger structural form and whole. As a graphic sign, the cairn visibly "speaks," yet is pro- foundly silent [11]. In the landscape set-

ting of the vision-quest site, the whole is

something quite different from any of the parts or features experienced in isolation. The basalt outcrop, panoramic

. A

Fig. 1. The excavation unit "crops" ^?'~

~~ ii:. : and composes the - i. ., ~ archaeological set-

'e r j -ting, just as this photograph crops and

^ ::* ' '

.composes the landscape panorama. As

*. * - an enclosure, the unit isolates phe-

:. i :: . ...... ' nomena from the .. .. '",,::' .. E overall surround. As

. .-:-: :;,: .'. a tool of order and inquiry, it acts as a

.,. " i .:. " blank piece of pa- ..'..^ ./i:,F:' :. per placed before

. &. . .-, ;' the artist to receive

_it -' rzt4 ideas, thoughts and

impressions.

landscape and rock cairns contribute to the site's overall presence and purpose as a place of pilgrimage and reverence. Even the heat of the sun must be ac-

knowledged as part of the surveyors' un-

folding experience. Although a complete scientific survey

would photograph, measure and map all appropriate features, there is para- dox, if not futility, in trying to map and

capture in a frame an experience that is

essentially unbounded. The whole of the vision-quest site is clearly different- and probably greater-than a sum of its individual marks and features. The ex-

perience of the relationships between

things is qualitative and not quantitative. Perception is based on the interdepen- dence of every part within the whole [12]. According to the Gestalt way of

thinking, this kind of setting and experience is not a perceptual mosaic in which the pieces and parts merely add up to some whole [13]. To the Gestalt theo- rist, the pieces and parts of experience are both determined by and dependent on the whole. The properties of the

parts are dependent on their context within the whole of the visual field or

setting [14]. If the stillness of the vision-

quest site is broken, a different aesthetic order is created. If parts of this site are altered or new features added, the whole also changes. Contemporary sur-

veyors, for example, may unknowingly alter the very landscape they are aiming to explore. New pathways to the site are created through the soft volcanic pum- ice. It is possible that these new pathways will obliterate the subtle prehistoric traces that originally led to the summit.

AN EXPANDED VIEW OF ART

At the base of the dark gray basalt out-

crop are ancient pictographs painted in red ocher. These fading images contrast

sharply with contemporary images drawn in white spray paint with a blue tint. Im-

ages made with the same kind of paint appear at a similar site along the same

ridge line. One of these images in particular commands attention. It is a 3-foot-

high stick figure whose color and scale seem disproportionate to the ancient surround. At another site is a spray painted circle with an arrow that points to a crev- ice in the basalt rock where a shaft of

light enters from the west. Given the relative inaccessibility of the site, it is quite possible that these newer pictographs in

contemporary materials are not intrusive

graffiti, but signs of the spiritual continu-

ity of the present-day Native Americans

36 Wenger, Visual Art, Archaeology and Gestalt



of the area, who acknowledge and pro- tect these specific locations and may, in fact, actively pursue their own spiritual and religious quests there.

If this is indeed the case, then these vision-quest sites are open artistic works of changing parts and wholes [ 15]. They give tangible expression to my personal definition of art as visual inquiry. Ac- cording to this view, the contemporary vision-quest artist would use whatever materials are at hand to express and clarify meaning. In this particular example, the context and meaning of the spray-painted imagery would be valued more than the refinement of the materials or the technique used to express the idea. It is likely that maintaining the spiritual continuity of the site would be more important than celebrating the specific vision-quest images themselves.

This emphasis on continuity, context, openness, substance and meaning is an important part of visual inquiry. This definition supposes that, by giving a visible form to thinking and feeling, the vision-quest artist attempts to gain clarity and understanding about phenomena and how things fit together. Clarity and understanding-and not the objects or artifacts that reflect the inquiry-are the goals. As visual inquiry, art is simply a way of knowing, understanding, integrating and synthesizing experience. The actual process of making artifacts or art objects is not a central issue. The emphasis is on usingartifacts and objects as landmarks to facilitate the mapping of the creative and spiritual journey. In this expanded view, artifacts and art objects are valued because they precede, rather than conclude, the results of the investigation. By themselves, they are of secondary importance to the clarity and understanding that comes from the overall inquiry.

ART LIES HALFWAY BETWEEN MAGIC AND SCIENCE Visual art, archaeological excavation and Gestalt scholarship are based in vision. At this fundamental level of inquiry, they are parallel ways of knowing. According to anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss, the scientist creates events that "change the world" by way of their structure. The mythmaker creates structures that reveal something about events. By constructing an "object of knowledge," the artist partakes of both of these modes of creativity. The observer of the artistic object is witness not only to a particular answer and conclu-

in ut $ .?;?T.?C?

?r ;Z 'r *:

s**r.. . :...

.I: ???1?* :?1.:...

:

p?:?::? il?. ;. ;:: :: .. irl:.

Fig. 2. The Gestalt of art and archaeological excavation refers to the act of perceiving visual relationships as well as the process of giving these relationships a structured form. Like the visual artist who arranges graphic elements on a piece of paper, the archaeological excavator creates and interprets the visual patterns that emerge from the ground.

sion, but also can feel somewhat like its creator, since he or she can see in the object possible ideas that the artist has "abandoned" by "excluding them from his own creation" [16]. If one takes into consideration the overwhelming possibilities that life experience might suggest, the artistic event is also an interdependent piece of other wholes. Artists and mythmakers create "miniaturiza- tions" or "small-scale models" of experience that are illusions of a whole. The miniaturization and reduction in scale of the true dimensions of life's possibilities contribute to the illusion. A miniaturization or model of experience makes life's possibilities easier to grasp and comprehend. As a small-scale model, experience becomes like subject matter. As subject matter, life's possibilities become less imposing and, subse- quently, easier to manipulate, analyze, evaluate, criticize and control.

The graphic artist or painter, for example, often approaches phenomena with some sort of prepared field, such as a piece of paper or stretched canvas. In archaeology, this process begins by out- lining a grid with string on the surface of the landscape.

GRIDS OF STRING AND PAPER The archaeological grid is not unlike a blank piece of paper placed before the artist to receive ideas, thoughts and im-

pressions. This grid of string creates a square or rectangular enclosure that isolates phenomena in an excavation from the overall surround. In a more philosophical view, the archaeological square prior to excavation is "closed," "receptive" and in a "state of rest." When opened, it reflects the immensity of experience that lies outside its borders [17]. As a framing device, the archaeological grid fragments the selected prehistoric or historic setting into a number of interdependent pieces. This tempo- rarily limits the geographical area of the investigation and initially reduces the scale of the archaeological record to a manageable size. Depending on how much of the past remains hidden from view, this isolated portion of the archaeological record may act as a facsimile or miniaturization of the unexcavated portions of the site. In larger, more complex sites, archaeological grids may be added sequentially to form a larger square, or block excavation. Although more of the site will be excavated contiguously in this way, the parts will never add up to a whole. The archaeological whole in this case can only be an aspiration. It will always remain just out of reach. The larger block excavation, for example, will now become a small-scale model, facsimile or miniaturization of other sites within the next-larger geographical area or time frame. In this sense, every archaeological part within the whole of the site is

lWenger, Visual Art, Archaeolog) and Gestalt 37



enfolded into larger object wholes which in turn are nested within other wholes in an ever-increasing dimension in both space and time.

By being part of a Cartesian system of identical points and coordinates, the archaeological grid facilitates the catalog- ing of visual relations and connections. This rigid lattice of points and coordinates is not unlike the lines of latitude and longitude that circle the earth. Car- tesian precision allows for objects found in one area at a particular depth to be compared to other evidence found in another location within the same site or at a nearby geographical location. Ide- ally, the same measurements should be obtained by any number of different in- vestigators [18].

The string grid also acts as a guide that helps maintain the straight side walls of the excavation unit. These straight side walls of the excavation unit serve a purpose similar to the straight edges of a blank piece of paper. The straight edges yield parallelism and right-angled relations. This is a paro- chial rather than a cosmic system designed around a center. The resulting verticals and horizontals offer the most convenient form for ordering things in

Fig. 3. In this view of excavations at a coastal shell midden, the visual field can appear quite chaotic.

sc _ fia akiSome parts of the site have already been heavily eroded by wind, water, and visitors' pathways. Shells, rocks, and

i other debris lie scat- ; -co i;y o tered without obvi-

ous context over the a-t we - c. t surface of the ...sty.f ceri aground. The

s l i t fo excavator's challenge - 'a ' '- !t' is to re-establish the

li e ancient order by not- de ping the similarity,

continuity, proximity, and degree of closure in the visual elements that remain. Note the outline of a small circular hearth in the lower right next to the measuring stick and sign board. An outline of shell is left where hearth rocks once rested.

space. This facilitates a kind of measurable clarity that is a necessary part of maintaining the context and integrity of all objects and artifacts found during the excavation [19]. Straight side walls provide a way to maintain the volumet- ric consistency of excavated soils. Volu- metric consistency is especially important when comparing the relative density of certain artifact and faunal remains. Straight side walls provide a measurable context for every object and artifact recovered during the excavation. The location of each piece of archaeological evidence, for example, is plotted on a site map that indicates vertical depth and horizontal position. Horizon- tal position is measured relative to the four side walls of each excavation unit. Vertical depth is measured from the ground surface or an established datum. Without a measurable context, archaeological objects have no scientific value.

Grids of string or blank pieces of paper are visual conventions. They help order, control and emphasize the unfolding of experience. As tools of order and inquiry, they can fragment and iso- late the unbounded setting in the same way that a photograph crops a landscape panorama (Fig. 1). Grids of string or

blank pieces of paper can also formally frame objects and events in a way that can suggest that phenomena exist in a world of their own [20]. The archaeological grid acts as a container that receives the archaeological evidence. In turn, the archaeological evidence is expressed as figures upon an earthen background. This is not unlike the situation of painted and drawn graphic composi- tions that are contained within the surfaces of paper and canvas.

GESTALT AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL COMPOSITION

Artifacts and other graphic elements within the archaeological grid are the primary visual indicators of activity and meaning. Throughout the excavation, the archaeologist is presented with a complex visual language of texture, pattern, color and shape. Enclosed and bounded by the vertical walls of the excavation unit, stone and bone tools in a variety of shapes, colors and sizes rest on the ancient surface. Soils discolored and stained from human occupation present an array of different patterns and textures. All of these visual elements per- tain to experiences and events that have already unfolded. Hundreds, if not thousands, of years after the fact, the excavator is often presented with past experiences that have become naturally dispersed and displaced through time. The extent to which the excavation ech- oes the events and experiences of the past depends on how the visual patterns and structures are interpreted and com- municated.

The Gestalt of art and archaeological excavation refers to the act of perceiving visual relationships, as well as to the process of giving these relationships a tangible and structured form [21]. In an effort to approximate the original structure and design of past events, the archaeological excavator must carefully reveal and interpret the patterns en- countered during excavation. These past events are reflected in the arrangement and structure of the material evidence that remains. Like the visual artist who arranges graphic elements on a piece of paper, the archaeological excavator creates and interprets the visual patterns that emerge from the ground. Because of this process, the archaeological image is created as much as it is found. The process is not unlike one described by artist Paul Klee when he suggested that art does not render the vis-




ible world as much as it makes phenomena visible [22]. The archaeological excavator, for example, makes phenomena visible by removing the soil that covers artifacts and buried surfaces.

Through drawing, diagramming, pho- tography and other graphic means, the

archaeologist reproduces the appearance of the graphic elements that

appear during the excavation. The ar-

chaeological arrangement or composition that results is based on the elements that are left in place, such as artifacts, as well as the elements that are finally discarded-for example, intrusive elements such as recent rockfall and other debris. Determination of what is intrusive or indigenous to the excavation is a learned but essentially aesthetic process of making choices (Fig. 2). Split and fractured rocks from an abandoned hearth, for example, have a different texture than do errant and unmodified river cobble. The excavator must be able to tell the difference between an occu-

pation surface, or living floor, and one that reflects a geological discontinuity.

The archaeological setting, like an artistic composition, is not merely an accu- mulation of material objects or graphic elements. Within the boundaries of the

archaeological grid, each piece of material evidence acts in concert with the immediate setting and overall surround to form a configuration of visual forces [23]. Anthropologist H.G. Barnett views this configuration of visual forces as an

"integrated activity system" that is first

perceived as a homogeneous entity without parts. Upon analysis, the parts come into consciousness, forming other wholes that carry their own specific properties and sets of relations. Like the

spiritual whole of the vision-quest site, a Gestalt configuration does not have to assume a tangible shape-it can be an idea or feeling. A visible frame of reference and "segregated whole," on the other hand, give experience a tangible form [24]. A configuration of visual forces is based in perception and follows the "laws" of perceptual organization established through Gestalt research. In this sense, the principles of Gestalt lie halfway between art and science.

GESTALT SIMILARITY In a typical archaeological site along the

Oregon coast, the major visual compo- nents are mounds of discarded shells and hundreds of fire-blackened river cobbles used in processing shellfish.

Looking at this site from a distance,

thousands of individual shells combine in perception to form one continuous whole. The whole of the site is seen before the individual shells even come into consciousness [25]. As the observer moves closer, the visual field seems more chaotic. Some parts of the site have al-

ready been eroded heavily by wind, water and visitors' pathways. Shell, rock and other cultural materials lie scattered without obvious context over the

ground surface. Faced with such visual

complexity, the excavator begins a search for the most stable and least disturbed arrangements within the ar-

chaeological whole. The challenge is to re-establish the ancient order by noting the similarity, continuity, proximity and

degree of closure in the visual elements that remain (Fig. 3).

GESTALT CONTINUITY AND PROXIMITY In excavation and the visual arts, elements that are similar in color, shape, texture or directional orientation are seen as belonging to the same unit or

group [26]. Visual elements that are dis- similar command attention. Throughout the history of this coastal site, discarded shells were deposited on top of older

piles. Each deposition event has a

unique rhythmic movement and directional orientation. Based on the way they were discarded, shells line up like iron

filings do under the influence of a mag- net. These wave-like patterns create a lin-

Fig. 4. In this dia- grammatic tracing - of a partial cross- , ' ": . section of a coastal shell mound, individual shell deposits are indicated by differences in texture. The whole of the cross-section is formed by a number of contiguous parts. This contiguous relationship through time pro- vides a visible continuity to different shell gathering epi- sodes. Breaks within this continuity suggest the presence of change in an otherwise smooth pro- gression of events.

ear continuation that binds thousands of individual shells together in discrete bands. Within the larger whole of a shell mound itself, these individual bands of shell come to the forefront of consciousness [27]. Each of these smaller shell bands shares an edge or boundary with the deposits directly above and below. This contiguous relationship suggests an almost simultaneous occurrence in time. Breaks in this continuity may be indicated by thin dark bands of water-worn

pebbles or coarse sand. These accents of

dissimilarity suggest the presence of

change within an otherwise smooth pro- gression of events (Fig. 4). If the observer moves close enough, he or she will note subtle differences between shell

types that suggest even finer strati-

graphic divisions. In such a coastal site, the composition changes for every sea- son the site was inhabited. To the faunal

expert, similarity and dissimilarity in shell species indicate subgroups within the larger whole. Similarity in species may indicate that shellfish were har- vested in one location during one seasonal gathering episode. Among similar shell species, the textural dissimilarity between whole or crushed shell may indicate a different deposition sequence.

The same kind of compositional observations are made when examining one of the most common-yet least examined-features in an archaeological site: the rock cluster. At this coastal site, the "hearth-rocks" that were used to cook and process the shellfish appear

Wenger, Visual Art, Archaeology and Gestalt 39



widely scattered. In ancient times, intact hearth areas were often dismantled to

gain access to the prepared food. In other situations, rocks were taken from

previous hearths to construct new ones. To the excavator, there seems to be no obvious clustering or piling that would

suggest that these rocks once formed several discrete cooking areas.

Because of their overall similarity in

shape, size and color, the rocks are

grouped together in perception to form a separate whole or structure called a scatter. Like that of the shell deposits, this image is formed not by visually add-

ing up the individual rocks as separate facts, but by perceiving them simulta-

neously as one unit or group.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL TERMS: GESTALT IDEAS At a site in the Willamette Valley in Or-

egon, archaeologistJohn R. White iden- tified no less than 12 different rock cluster variables and attributes that operate within the context of the Gestalt prin-

ciples. White's cluster variables include

shape or configuration, rock size, depth, associations, number of rocks, rock

types, size, location within the site, ratio of thermally affected to non-affected rock, placement, cluster fill and density. He found that clusters that seem to have a similar alignment, directional movement or orientation will also tend to form a subgroup within the whole. Tex- tural differences between angular basalt and smooth cobble rock will likewise be

distinguished in perception. Based on these attributes, White was able to iden-

tify 24 rock clusters and their associated functions. These included communal and individual ovens, communal and individual oven "lids," fire pits, central and noncentral hearths, inundation debris, cobble-discard piles and a pile of discarded dirt from some kind of prehistoric digging. In his cluster analysis, the variable described as density, concentration or tightness closely corresponds to the Gestalt principle of proximity [28].

All other attributes being equal, it is the space between the rocks that may

suggest the presence of a subgroup that

might define a discrete cooking area within a scatter. Visual elements will appear to be grouped together or segregated, depending on their relative proximity to one another [29]. When the

space between individual elements is

great, events and experiences may appear segregated, discontinuous or unresolved. When the space between individual elements is small, events and

experiences may appear unified and continuous. In some cases, a few millimeters' difference in proximity can suggest association or disassociation with other elements. Patterns that are tightly joined, for example, can suggest that experiences and events accumulated rapidly.

FORECASTING THE FUTURE

Many of the patterns in an archaeological excavation continue unseen, below and beyond the string and wooden stakes that act as a temporary frame of reference. Many patterns extend into

parts of the site that will never be exca-

Fig. 5. To the excavator, a semicircle of stones presents a circular hearth only half exposed. Wholeness is suggested by the continuity of the visible parts. The image on the left shows a 1-x-3-m portion of a prehistoric hearth as it was first excavated. The image on the right shows the same portion after rocks were removed to expose the original rock-lined pit. The other half of the circular hearth was subse-

quently excavated.




vated. During archaeological salvage ef- forts, for example, an excavation may be limited to only those areas that will be

impacted by development or construc- tion. Other areas of an archaeological site may remain unexcavated to preserve the site in its natural state. This will con- serve the archaeological record for future generations that may improve meth-

odology. For these and other reasons, much of the past remains hidden from view. Excavators must imagine visual patterns continuing beyond the present unit or layer being documented. They must fill gaps in incomplete shapes, patterns and intervals. The ability to envision beyond the information given cor-

responds to inference, interpolation and the Gestalt principle of closure [30].

At one prehistoric site, an initial test excavation revealed an intact hearth in the form of a semicircle of large basalt rocks. The rocks that formed the other half of the semicircle remained embed- ded in the unexcavated portion of the site (Fig. 5). To the excavator, a semicircle of stones would probably repre- sent a half-exposed circular hearth. Wholeness is partially suggested by the sense of motion that the visible parts ex- hibit as they continue laterally into unexcavated portions of the site. The

ability to envision beyond any archaeo-

logical surface, similar to that of fore-

casting the weather, is a matter of observ-

ing present patterns and inferring which of those patterns are likely to continue into the future. In this particular ex-

ample, the prospects were excellent that if one were to continue to excavate, one would find the other half of the semicircle. Throughout the excavation, the observer looks for visual configurations that form the most complete and least disturbed relationships. This attempt at closure is a natural tendency in perception to move toward the most stable and least disturbed form. A closed area seems more stable and complete than one that is open and without definite boundaries. In terms of the hearth, the excavator partakes in a kind of filling-in in which the forces of perceptual organization naturally move toward spatial order and stability. The semicircle of stones presents a pattern that "feels" in-

complete. This incompleteness creates a kind of psychological tension that will remain until the Gestalt of the hearth is closed-either in the imagination or

through continued excavation [31]. For some, the principles of closure and inter-

polation define intuition, forecasting and even precognition [32]. This kind of

Fig. 6. Based on a Celtic motif, this design exhibits the visual alternation between figure and ground and between object and context. As the white "cross" form takes precedence in perception, the black "cross" form moves to the background and the periphery of consciousness. Alternately, by visually attending to the black form, one sees it "advance" to become a figure resting within the context of a white background.

forecasting ability involves perceiving with all of the senses the entire field of forces that charge the archaeological surround.

THE FIELD OF VISUAL FORCES On the basis of Michael Faraday's ideas about electromagnetic fields, Gestalt scholar Wolfgang Kohler experimentally considered the possibility that every ob-

ject creates a "functional halo," or field, that physically extends well beyond each

object to interact with other features in the perceptual surround. The visible hearth rocks, for example, are only the focal points of the action. Each rock has its own electrically charged field of color, texture, shape and area that extends outward to influence the whole of the archaeological surround. To the Ge- stalt way of thinking, closure may be an

electrically charged memory trace in which the brain seeks the simplest and most stable form with which to close in-

complete figures [33]. For others, closure is more a matter of a hypothetical guessing and inference based on a learned experience [34]. In terms of an intuition or inference of wholeness, closure may require some past experience with certain kinds of shapes or configurations. In this case, the excavator would need to have had some prior experience with circularity. A sense of wholeness

may also require a sensitivity to a variety of resonating energies and forces

throughout the perceptual field. If there are functional electromagnetic halos

that surround objects, then they must also surround the unseen and unexcavated portions of the hearth. In either case, the accuracy of the excavator's inference, hypothesis, imagination or experience is quite easy to

prove or disprove, because the confirm- ing patterns, if present, have already unfolded. They lie just beyond the surface

presently being excavated.

GESTALT FIGURE AND GROUND

Stability and completeness of the ar-

chaeological field require that phenomena be visibly detached from their sur-

roundings as "segregated wholes," or

figures, as they are in many perceptual experiences. A figure can be any structure, idea, behavior, singular graphic element, archaeological artifact or ar-

rangement of artifacts that stands out from the perceptual background. The

background, ground or field is the place or area where the figure resides [35]. In Gestalt theory, our perception of im-

ages, objects, or things requires that

they be distinctly outlined against the

perceptual background. If, for whatever reason, the relationship between a-thing and its surroundings is absent or un- clear, then meaning is compromised. Things just do not make sense [36]. If there is no clear separation between a

figure and its background, a kind of visual ambiguity may result that conceals, confuses or camouflages (Fig. 6) [37].

A Gestalt configuration is a basic unit of perceptual experience that is determined by the arrangement of individual

objects or elements upon some field or

background context. When viewing a

configuration, we never experience just the object or just the background context, but the interrelationship between the two. Gestalt figure and ground complement one another with respect to the whole of perceptual experience.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL OBJECT AND CONTEXT In the same way that a Gestalt figure is

dependent upon its ground, archaeo-

logical research depends on the balanced relationship between the artifact and its background context. This is because each artifact or object within a

given setting is dependent on and affected by the conditions present in the environment or background setting of which it is a part. This background context determines how the figure is per-




Fig. 7. A mano (stone grinding slab) and a metate (stone grinding tool) appear as first excavated. The light-colored half was excavated first and has dried in the sun. The dark half was last to be excavated and retains moisture from the soil. Mano and metate were part of an uninterrupted continuum. Their excavation and removal from the site is an abstraction and withdrawal from experience. This abstraction and withdrawal, however, is a way to give the past a tangible form.

ceived [38]. During excavations at a prehistoric dwelling in the Oregon desert, archaeologist Robert Musil was very ex- cited to discover a particular style of obsidian projectile point or dart, whose

morphology was similar to that of speci- mens from 7,000 to 4,000 years before the present. Dart points are thought to have been used with spear-throwing sticks called atlatl, which predate the bow and arrow. Because this older-style projectile point lay in direct association with a living surface consisting of hearth, storage-pit and grinding-stone artifacts, it was inferred that the dwelling itself could be of similar antiquity. It was be- lieved that information from a site of this

age would make a significant contribu- tion to the prehistory of Oregon. Dates obtained from charcoal in the hearth, however, showed that the living surface itself was only 2,000 years old. Based on this evidence, this older-style projectile point is now considered to be an ex-

ample of a continuation of the older-

style shape into later prehistoric periods [39]. In this example, the artifact as isolated figure produced great excitement and even greater expectations. The artifact in relation to its background context elicited a much more subdued response.

As an aesthetic handmade object, this obsidian artifact has a visual presence that naturally commands attention. It

immediately draws the eye because it in- troduces an accent of dissimilarity amid

relatively similar shapes and textures. As the projectile point becomes the focal

point of the excavator's attention, the

background setting of which it is a part moves to the periphery of consciousness. If the excavator concentrates on the

background setting of living surface, hearth or storage pit, the form of the

projectile point momentarily "disap- pears" into the perceptual background. This visible alternation between appearance and recession of a visual element is a perceptual phenomenon that has been demonstrated empirically through Ge- stalt experiments with reversible, or am-

biguous, figure-ground images (see Fig. 6) [40]. It is an aspect of Gestalt perception experienced by the archaeologist as well as the weekend artifact collector.

The perceptual alternation between

object and context or figure and ground is, in part, what makes the archaeological artifact so seductive. To the artifact collector, a background context of soil is not as visually interesting as objects fash- ioned by hand. In archaeology, however, the artifact is "collected" only after care- ful documentation of the background context of which it is a part. If an artifact were collected as some kind of trophy without context, it would carry no scientific meaning or value.

ABSTRACTIONS FROM EXPERIENCE At another site in the Oregon desert, a

uniquely shaped "metate," or stone

grinding slab, was found buried beneath sagebrush and sand. Resting flat-sided

upon the metate's surface was a basalt mano, or grinding tool. For a thousand

years, the mano and metate layjust as the owner had last placed them. The winds of the desert had swirled around these

objects until both were buried (Fig. 7). At this particular site, changes were im-

posed upon the landscape. Because of these disruptions, the relationship between mano and metate would become

dissipated and silent. After remaining undisturbed for so many years, the excavators were hesitant to remove the mano from the metate's surface. In an effort to better understand the relationship of the

parts to the whole, the excavators separated the mano and metate from their

prehistoric context, severing a very close bond between them. As the mano was gently lifted from the metate's surface for scientific safekeeping, an outline of sand was left marking the place where the mano had once rested. The outline was created by sand swirling against the mano's form. The sand could not en- tirely penetrate beneath the mano, so an

empty space remained, signifying the area of contact with the metate's surface. This empty space was a sign of the mano's passing. An archaeologist's brush

swept the outline of sand away, and there was a silence, as if no relationship had ever existed [41].

The relationship between mano and metate was part of an uninterrupted continuum; the past experiences of which

they were a part can only be inferred. This whole is something quite different from any combination of evidence en- countered through excavation. Although the physical relationship of the mano to the metate was carefully documented, their separation from one another was a withdrawal from past experience. The

figure of the mano was literally removed from the background context of the metate. In turn, mano and metate to-

gether were physically removed from the overall archaeological surround. The

separation of an object from its context or a figure from its ground is a drawing away and abstraction from experience. Objects removed from their context become different objects [42].

This separation can alter the very ex-

perience one is trying to understand. In

42 Wenge, Visual Art, Archaeology and Gestalt



archaeology and visual art, the processes of abstraction, removal and distancing can also lead to a special kind of clarity and understanding. The character of the archaeological setting, for example, is revealed by the disruption of its "timeless tranquillity" [43]. As the archaeo-

logical excavator breaks the surface of the ground, the archaeological setting becomes divided into a number of inter-

dependent pieces. This disruption or addition, as the

case may be, is the beginning of a process that gives the past a tangible form. This kind of abstraction and drawing away is a means for introducing order and "controlling the uncontrollable" [44]. Abstraction is a fundamental part of all image-making. It is an idea and a

process that finds expression in the im-

agery and teachings of Taoism.

SUFFERING IN THE WORLD

OF APPEARANCES

To the Taoists, the continuum of experience has no appearance: it is not available to sense perception [45]. The unin-

terrupted continuum of experience and the passage of time can be revealed only through a process of abstraction, in which images become individuations of the continuum and its laws [46]. For those who must work and even "suffer" in the world of appearances, abstraction is the only way to give the continuum of

experience a tangible form [47]. The well-known Taoist image and symbol called T'ai-chi tu, or yin-yang, is such an

individuation (Fig. 8). It is a perfectly balanced symbol of possible interactions between white/black, light/dark, negative/positive, concave/convex and figure/ground. It is a configuration of visual forces that also finds correspondence in archaeological ideas about the

inseparability of object and context. This graphic image is a sphere of influ- ences. The black and white parts amid the whole are designed so that the eye cannot take possession of one shape or value at the expense of the other. In this

image, there is a visible alternation between the observer's apprehension of the black shape and the subsequent appearance of the white shape. In perception, this alternation or sequential oscillation between the parts occurs almost

simultaneously [48]. This alternation between the two shapes occurs as a result of a shared boundary/edge that is somewhat ambiguous. This boundary/ edge is at once both concave and convex [49]. It is not unlike the edge of a coin that joins the opposites of heads and tails into a unified whole, or the outline of sand that marked the mano's passing. It seems that boundaries, edges and

spaces between things provide the kind of contrast necessary to give the passage of time a tangible form.

To the Taoist philosopher of time and

change, movement is key [50]. As the dark shape in the T'ai-chi tu symbol becomes the object or figure of attention, the light shape momentarily moves to the background or periphery of the observer's consciousness. This alterna-

tion, oscillation and near-simultaneous

appearance of dark and light forms approaches and suggests the Taoist ideal of wholeness, unity and oneness. Time and

change are reflected in the visible conti-

nuity and alternation between light/ dark, concave/convex, figure/ground, and object/context [51]. If sequences of

images are to produce the illusions of movement and change over time, they must appear almost simultaneously, as

they do when a film is projected. Gestalt observations of this "stroboscopic effect" were crucial to the development of Ge- stalt theory [52]. Perhaps this perceptual effect is the conceptual envy of the

archaeological excavator, whose layer-by- layer drawings approach a film-like con-

tinuity. Perhaps the importance placed upon the artist's retrospective body of work is indirectly based on a desire to see some kind of animated whole.

Alternation, oscillation and near-si-

multaneity also correspond to states of awareness that have been noted in the

study of ecstatic and meditative transfor- mations. In these two kinds of transfor- mative states, there is a kind of expansion and contraction of time and space that corresponds to the perceptual ex-

pansions and contractions found in the

configurations of concave/convex, figure/ground and object/context. Simul-

taneity seems to occur at the edge or

space between the expansion and contraction of these configurations. At this

juncture there is no sense of chronologi- cal time, only a sense of timelessness. This sense of timelessness is best under-

Fig. 8. The well-known Taoist image shown at left can be seen as a perfectly balanced symbol of interaction between light and dark; black and white; positive and negative; concave and convex; figure and ground; and object and context. Perceptual correspondence with this

image is apparent in reversible figure-ground images such as the example on the right, which is based on the letter E. As the mirror-image letters grow closer together, they form the letter H. At this point there is an alternation between the figure of the H and the ground, formed by the doubled letter E. This figure-ground fluctuation is based on the Gestalt principle of proximity, and is conceptually equivalent to the sequential unfolding of archaeological grids across the landscape and the vertical unfolding of individually excavated 10-cm levels or layers. These, in turn, are conceptually equivalent to the unreeling of a film. The smaller the spaces between individual frames of reference, the greater the possibility of apprehending a sequence of images simultaneously.

/^mmry,




stood and expressed through creative

interpretations based on metaphor, sign and symbol [53]. This view might com-

plicate an empiricist's view and interpretation of history [54]. To the empiricist, the objects and events of past experience are seen as pieces of a puzzle. If

enough of the material evidence of the

past can be documented, these puzzle pieces might add up to form a whole.

Archaeologists and historians would

probably agree, however, that the whole of past experience cannot be measured

by a simple summation of the visible evidence. Because so much of the past is

missing, the whole will always be some-

thing different from the archaeological parts documented in isolation. Archaeo-

logical, artistic or Gestalt wholes require that the elements of the dualities ob-

ject/context and figure/ground have

equal strength [55]. Equal strength among the parts of a whole creates the illusion of simultaneity and timelessness. This is an ideal rather than a perceptual reality. In his analysis of the T'ai-chi tu

symbol, Rudolf Arnheim finds no

greater perceptual support for the Tao- ist cosmological belief that the continuum of experience cannot be represented by a static event or object isolated in time and space [56]. It is best understood as a whole that is different from the sum of its parts.

References and Notes

1. Adam Lucas discusses an expanded field of scientific thinking that reflects an "organismic philosophy of nature." A. Lucas, "Art, Science and Tech- nology in an Expanded Field," Leonardo 26, No. 4, pp. 335-345 (1993).

2. "Order is a necessary condition for anything the human mind is to understand.... But it is hard, perhaps impossible, to find examples in which the order of a given object or event is limited to what is directly apparent in perception. Rather, the per- ceivable order tends to be manifested and understood as a reflection of an underlying order, whether physical, social, or cognitive." R. Arnheim, Entropy and Art: An Essay on Disorder and Order (Ber- keley, CA: Univ. of California Press, 1971) pp. 1-2.

"Scientists do tolerate uncertainty and frustration, because they must. The one thing that they do not and must not tolerate is disorder. The whole aim of theoretical science is to carry to the highest possible and conscious degree the perceptual reduction of chaos that began in so lowly and (in all probability) unconscious a way with the origin of life." C. Levi- Strauss, "Science of the Concrete," in C.F. Jopling, ed., Aesthetics in Primitive Societies: A Critical Anthology (New York: Dutton, 1971) pp. 224-225.

3. Artist and writer Gyorgy Kepes offers his assess- ment of the nature and value of visual experience: "Every properly functioning human being trans- forms the visual signals that he receives from outside into structured, meaningful entities. Without the perceptual ordering of his sense responses into images of things in space, man cannot orient him- self. Without shaping his physical environment in accordance with these images, he cannot survive." G. Kepes, ed., Education of Vision, Vision and Value Series, Vol. 1 (Taiwan: Central Book, 1965) p. i.

4. Psychologist Rudolf Arnheim has long been an advocate of visual thinking as a primary mode of discovery. Visual form, according to Arnheim, is "the principal medium of productive thinking." 'Vi- sual thinking calls, more broadly, for the ability to see visual shapes as images of the patterns of forces that underlie our existence-the functioning of minds, of bodies or machines, the structure of societies or ideas." R. Arnheim, Visual Thinking (Berke- ley and Los Angeles, CA: Univ. of California Press, 1969) pp. 295, 315.

5. J.T. Klein, Interdisciplinary History, Theory, and Practice (Detroit, MI: Wayne State Univ. Press, 1990)

p. 239. In a publication entitled Notebooks of the Mind, au-

thor VeraJohn-Steiner examined the role of visual- ization among experienced thinkers in the arts and sciences. "These individuals share with others outside their professions a reliance upon mental pic- tures as record of their past, and the reliance upon more generic images as kernels of their understanding of biological and physical processes." V. John-Steiner, Notebooks of the Mind (New York:

Harper & Row, 1985) p. 109.

6. The idea that a visual environment has "Gestalt qualities" was first introduced by psychologist Chris- tian von Ehrenfels as a way of defining the overall aesthetic characteristics of a perceptual scene. Pri- mary research by Max Wertheimer around 1912, with subsequent work by Wolfgang K6hler and Kurt Koffka, helped establish the Gestalt principles of perceptual organizatioii and the school of thought now known as Gestalt psychology (K6hler, p. 46).

"Now the term (Gestalt) usually means the whole effect, the structure of total arrangement of things, rather than parts. Thus, artists often squint to view their work or look at it from far away in order to see the general layout instead of the details. The usual synonyms for Gestalt are 'structure' or 'organization."' R. Behrens, Illustration as an Art (NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1986) p. 198.

Author Gaetano Kanizsa notes the difficulties in defining Gestalt. "There is a terminological problem that may seem insignificant at first sight but that has led to considerable confusion: there is no adequate translation in English (nor in French or Italian) of the German word 'Gestalt.' Unfortu- nately, it has long been translated as "form," a word whose inadequacy has led to numerous ambigu- ities. 'Gestalt' ought to be translated as 'organized structure,' as distinguished from 'aggregate,' 'heap,' or simple 'summation.'" G. Kanizsa, Organi- zation of Vision: Essays on Gestalt Perception (New York: Praeger, 1979) p. 56.

7. "To perceive an image is to participate in a form-

ing process; it is a creative act. From the simplest form of orientation to the most embracing plastic unity of a work of art, there is a common significant basis: the following up of the sensory qualities of the visual field and the organizing of them." G. Kepes, Language of Vision (Chicago, IL: Paul

Theobald, 1947) p. 15.

8. "But in all cases they are unitary activities until an analysis of them causes their whole properties to dissolve into a lesser unit-plus-relation structure.

"As a result, not only things but combinations of things have shape." H.G. Barnett, Innovation: The Basis of Cultural Change (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1953) p. 419.

9. Because there is often no direct physical evidence of function other than the piles of stones themselves, it is impossible to determine with absolute certainty whether a rock cairn is related to a vision-quest, cremation, or other kind of activity or

purpose. Cremation cairns may have some associate human remains, but these are not excavated or otherwise disturbed. Determination of a vision-quest or cremation site is usually inferred through ethno- graphic evidence or direct communication with the

peoples who may continue to use such locations for

spiritual and religious purposes.

10. According to Alan Watts, the mythic world of man and nature is divine and whole. "It is this as-

sumption into a universal wholeness which gives the individual a significance in the mythic vision far beyond anything that he may have in the factual vision. This is why the lives, the occupations, and the artifacts of so-called primitive peoples are so deeply permeated with ritual. This is notjust formal polite- ness or good taste, just as the symbols upon their artifacts are not decoration. It is the recognition that all which happens here is a reflection, or dra- matization, of what happens in divinis. " A.W. Watts," The Two Hands of God: The Myths of Polariy (New York: George Braziller, 1963) p. 15.

11. Kandinsky thinks of the geometric point "in relation to the greatest possible brevity, i.e., to the highest degree of restraint which, nevertheless, speaks. Thus we look upon the geometric point as the ulti- mate and most singular union of silence and speech." W. Kandinsky, Point and Line to Plane, 2ind Ed. (New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation for the Museum of Non-Objective Painting, 1947) p. 25.

12. "Configured wholes are, we may say, 'made up' of parts. But no amount of adding incremeiits to or subtracting bits from elements will ever add up to the attributes of a totality. The problem is not a quantitative one. It is a matter of relatioiis." See Barnett [8] p. 429.

13. "The older psychology, now coiidemned to death, is blamed not only for being atomistic. In de- scribing it the publications of leading Gestalt psychologists also make use of such expressions as 'associationist,' 'positivistic,' 'summative-aggrega- tive,' 'mosaic-like,' 'additive,' 'piecemeal,' 'mecha- nistic' and 'mechanical.' Each of these character- izations is supposed to hit upon a weakness of the older psychology." D. Katz, Gestalt Psychology: Its Na- ture and Significance, Robert Tysoin, trans. (New York: Ronald Press, 1950) p. 3.

14. Bruno Petermann and other Gestalt schola-s have suggested that the "'whole' determines the 'parts' . . .the parts are not determined in their own right, but 'adjust themselves in accordance with their situation in the whole unit.'" B. Petermann, The Gestalt Theory and the Problem of Configuration, Meyer Fortes, trans. (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, aind Co., 1930) p. 46.

15. ". .. the situation of art has now become a situation in the process of development. Far from being fully accounted for and catalogued, it deploys anid poses problems in several dimensions. In short, it is an 'open' situation, in movement. A work in progress." U. Eco, The Open Work, Anna Cancogni, trans. (Cam- bridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press, 1989) p. 23.

16. See Levi-Strauss [2] pp. 239-242.

17. In Chinese philosophy, the creative principle is represented by the circle and the receptive principle by the square. "The Receptive is closed il a state of rest, and in a state of motion it opens; therefore it creates that which is vast." R. Wilhelm, The I Ching, or Book of Changes, 3rd Ed., Bollingein Series 19, Cary F. Baynes, trans. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press, 1967) p. 301.

18. "In the scientific context, horizontal and vertical lines form a grid; they create Cartesian space, an effective way to organize an area.... Within this space, science endeavors to identify the general laws that govern the movement of stars as well as atoms.... Within this grid marked by co-ordinate signposts, every point is the same as anly other point. Every object is held in precise numerical relationships with every other object; the space itself becomes an object, independent of the observer's eye." G. Careri, "Horizontal and Vertical Lines in Science and Art," Leonardo 16, No. 4, 310 (1983).

In Chinese philosophy, the grid has these attributes: "Straight, rectangled, and vast are attributes of the earth, which is symbolized by the square." H. Wilhelm, Eight Lectures on the I Chi.g, Bollingen Series 62, Cary F. Baynes, tranis. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press, 1960) p. 61.

"To survey and control the earth we must reduce its formations to the formal abstractions of geom- etry, and translate it into the flat and dry symbolism

44 Weslnge Visual Art, Archaeology and Gestalt



of maps. But as Korzybski so often repeated, the

map is not the territory." See Watts [10] p. 14. "All routine or periodic phenomena, from the

marching of men to the sequence of our personal habits, are embodied in time configurations. Grouping in this dimension, like that in any other, is indicative of a need to reduce diversity and confusion. Regularity in events, like stability in things, is a comforting solution. The temporal frameworks which we impose upon the stream of natural events testify to the importance of this factor." See Barnett [8] p. 420.

19. Rudolf Arnheim, The Power of the Center (Berke- ley and Los Angeles, CA: Univ. of California Press, 1982) pp. vii-viii.

20. M. Shapiro, "On Some Problems in the Semiotics of Visual Art: Field and Vehicle in Image- Signs," Semiotica 1, No. 3, 225 (1969).

21. According to author Gaetano Kaniza, the term Gestalt is "appropriately translated" when "the accent is on the concept of 'organization' and of a 'whole' that is orderly, rule-governed, nonrandom. This concept is opposed to that of a merely arbi-

trary, random, and unstructured grouping. But in addition to its being used to describe the product of a process of organization, the term 'gestalt' also indicates the structural properties of the process itself." See Kanizsa [6] p. 56.

22. P. Klee, The Inward Vision: Watercolors, Drawings, Writings, Norbert Guterman, trans. (New York: Abrams, 1959) p. 2.

23. "To perceive any object or event means to see it as a configuration of forces, and an awareness of the universality of such configurations is an integral part of all perceptual experience." R. Arnheim, To- ward a Psychology of Art: Collected Essays (Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: Univ. of California Press, 1966) p. 243.

24. See Barnett [8] pp. 411-447.

25. "These Gestaltin are in no wise less original than their parts. 'Frequently the whole is appre- hended before the parts come to consciousness at all' (v. Wartensleben, loc. cit.). Hence pure descrip- tion of experience can no longer be oriented by the con-

cept of sensation (in its descriptive form). It will have to commence with the Gestalt and its properties." See Petermann [14] p. 30.

26. "Similarity of the individual objects as to shape or color, or both, facilitates their appearance as one

group. But again, when some of the individual ob-

jects are similar or equal in such properties, while further objects, again similar or equal to one another, have other shapes or colors, then the whole

assembly tends to split, that is to appear as a combination of two sub-groups." See K6hler [6] p. 57.

"When more than one kind of element is present, those which are similar tend to form groups. Group- ing may also occur when only certain parts of elements have similar color or form. An object often

appears unitary because all areas of its surface have similar color; this similarity may be due to natural or artificial causes." See Katz [13] p. 25.

27. Katz expresses this principle as the law of common movement. "Elements are grouped when they move simultaneously and in a similar manner." See Katz [13] p. 27.

28. J.R. White, "A Closer Look at Clusters," Ameri- can Antiquity 45, No. 1, 66-73 (1980).

29. "Although grouping may occur when the distances between the member-objects are considerable, the grouping is facilitated when the distances are smaller. Moreover, when a number of individual

objects are nearer to one another than they are to other objects in the environment, then not one but two such groups tend to be formed." See K6hler [6] p. 56.

"Other things being equal, in a total stimulus situation those elements which are closest to each other tend to form groups." See Katz [13] p. 25.

Proximity grouping is "a special case of similarity grouping in which it is predicted that things which occur together in space will appear to belong together and those which are separated in space will

appear to belong apart. It is grouping by similarity of location." R. Behrens, Design in the Visual Arts

(NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1984) p. 56.

30. "In the secondary process there are two ways of

going beyond the information given. The first consists of making an identification or recognition. As- cribing a given object to a set of functionally equivalent objects allows one to know something more about the object itself. In this sense we can say that categorizing is the simplest way of going beyond the information given. The second way of going beyond the information given is literally called making an inference. This may be of a statis- tical or of a formal type, and consists of interpolat- ing the missing elements when two or more of the elements are given." See Kanizsa [6] p. 5.

The principle of closure is "a unit-forming factor or principle of perceptual organization in which it is predicted that patterns which are incomplete will tend to be completed (by the viewer) in the process of being perceived." "The artist creates clues and gaps. The primary task of the viewer is to re-create those parts which might best resolve the gaps. The closure principle predicts that clues and hints will cause the mind to try to solve the unresolved, to fin- ish what is not complete, to see as continuous units things which have been broken or which are in part concealed." See Behrens [29] p. 63.

In The Sphinx and the Rainbow, Gestalt, intuition and closure are discussed as being part of the mind's forecasting ability. "This Gestalt intuition, in other words, is an intuition that detects gaps, miss-

ing pieces, or hidden relationships within the pat- terned pressures of the whole array of perceptual information. It is a closing of gaps or rounding off of the jagged edges of perceived wholes." D. Loye, The Sphinx and the Rainbow: Brain, Mind, and Future Vision (Boulder, CO, and London: Shambhala Pub- lications, 1983) p. 52.

31. "The Gestaltists have developed the concept of 'closure' to account for the psychological straining toward the completion of a configuration .... When this missing part is realized, the Gestalt is closed; and the subject thereupon experiences a relaxation of the tensions that were occasioned by the incompleted process." See Barnett [8] p. 434.

In experiments with a series of successive yet in-

complete figures, subjects felt a certain amount of confidence that the patterns and designs were lead-

ing up to some sort of closure. "Something that must be called 'an impression of completeness'- or even of 'rightness'-seemed to spread over the whole perceptual situation, setting the attitude of the subject into one of ease and finality." F.C. Bartlett, Remembering: A Study in Experimental and So- cial Psychology (New York: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1932) p. 25, quoted in H.G. Barnett, Innovation: The Basis of Cultural Change (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1953) p. 434.

"Forces of organization driving toward spatial order, toward stability, tend to shape optical units into closed compact wholes. Confronted with a complex optical situation, the beholder searches for the form with the most stable unity, or with the least disturbed relationship to the environment." See

Kepes [7] p. 51.

32. Loye sees forecasting as related to the spatial processing abilities of the "right brain." This activity is closely related to the Gestalt principle of closure. The Gestaltists "labored mightily to show that we were governed by the kind of instantaneous, holistic

pattern detection we know is right-brain oriented." In other words, this kind of Gestalt intuition oper- ates within us through our sensitivity to what both physicists and Gestalt psychologists have called the forces of a field. See Loye [30] pp. 48-51.

33. In "The Field of a Precept," a chapter in his book Dynamics in Psychology, K6hler acknowledges the mathematical and magnetic field theories of C. Maxwell as a basis for figure-ground relationships.

"Since it is the presence of the figure which causes this current we are justified in saying that its flow constitutes a functional halo or field of the figure. It was our intention to explain the fact that percepts seem to interact over distances." W. K6hler, Dynam- ics in Psychology (New York: Grove Press, 1940) p. 80.

34. Gestalt scholars do not readily acknowledge the role of experience in certain perceptual matters. R.L. Gregory suggests that experience plays a very important role. R.L. Gregory, "The Confounded Eye," in R.L. Gregory and E.H. Gombrich, eds., Il- lusion in Nature and Art (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1973) p. 288.

Anthropologist Barnett questions and supports the role of experience in certain perceptual matters. See Barnett [8] pp. 439-448.

"It is easy to overestimate the significance of laws illustrated by artificially and ingeniously contrived figures; they are so far removed from the actual en- vironmental conditions to which adjustment must be made. Like optical illusions, point and line figures are instructive and fruitful for Gestalt theory. But how many individuals have ever really fallen victim to such an optical illusion in ordinary experience?" See Katz [13] p. 24.

Recent research in neuroscience has concluded "that one exposure to an image, such as a word or a specific picture, reduces the time required for the brain to recognize the same image on a second exposure, a phenomena called priming." R. Guard, "Sci- entists 'Photograph' Brain's Memory Formation," in Eugene Register Guard 992, pp. 1-4, section A.

35. "Configurations give us the impression of being detached from their surroundings. If a phenomena [sic] fails to evoke the experience of distinctness, it is not a whole.... Any complete idea that embod- ies a configuration in any modality... is complete because it is discontinuous with the ideational set that precedes, coexists, or follows it.... Another

particular aspect of segregation in addition to

shape is what might be called the protrusion or el- evation of a configuration out of its environment." See Barnett [8] p. 437.

See also K. Koffka, Principles of Gestalt Psychology (New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1935) pp. 177-210.

36. "A Gestalt stands out from the background, it 'exists,' and the relationship of a figure to its

ground is what we call 'meaning.' If this relation-

ship is tenuous or non-existent or if, for whatever reasons (cultural, educational, emotional) we are unable to recognize and understand, we say: 'it doesn't make sense.' It is absurd, bizarre, meaning- less." L. Perls, "Some Aspects of Gestalt Therapy," paper presented at the Orthopsychiatric Associa- tion, 1973.

37. R. Behrens, "On Visual Art and Camouflage," Leonardo 11, No. 3, 203 (1978).

38. "Within the Gestalt-totality, the properties of the parts are not determined in their own right, but 'adjust themselves in accordance with their situation in the whole unit"' See Petermann [14] p. 46.

"The figure depends for its characteristics upon the ground on which it appears. The ground serves as a framework in which the figure is sus-

pended and thereby determines the figure." See Koffka [35] p. 184.

39. R.R. Musil, "Archaeological Investigations at the McCoy Creek Site (35HA1263), Harney County, Oregon," Heritage Research Associates Re-

port No. 105, 1991. R.R. Musil, "Adaptive Transitions and Environ-

mental Change in the Northern Great Basin: A View from Diamond Swamp," unpublished doctoral dissertation, Univ. of Oregon, 1992.

40. There is some indication that the reversible figure-ground effect is the result of repeated observations and concentration. See K6hler [33] pp. 68-70.

"The most frequently observed effect of this kind was a displacement of such other objects, a dis-

placement away from the area in which the originally inspected object had been located and, more




specifically, away from the boundary of that first object." See Kohler [6] pp. 99-100.

41. K.A. Toepel, R. Minor and R.L. Greenspan, "Ar- chaeological Testing in Diamond Valley, Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Harney County, Oregon," Heritage Research Associates Report No. 30, 1984.

42. "The appearance of any item in the visual field was shown to depend on its place and function in the total structure and to be modified fundamen- tally by that influence. If a visual item is extricated from its context it becomes a different object." See Arnheim [4] p. 54.

43. With respect to the relations among things, Arnheim suggests that "Pairing affects the part- ners." In an example using contrasting colors, he suggests that "confrontation may single out, high- light, and purify, a particular quality." He uses, by way of example, a haiku by theJapanese poet Basho that describes a frog jumping into a quiet pond. In an interpretation of the poem that could correspond to the interruption of the archaeological setting, Arnheim notes that "silence is sharpened by the opposition of a noise.... The character of the pond is truly revealed to the senses only through the momentary interruption of its timeless tranquillity." See Arnheim [4] p. 60-61.

44. "Here I shall only mention Worringerr's emphasis on abstraction as a general means for introducing lawfulness into the chaotic, for controlling the uncontrollable (or, in my terms, as a means for introducing order with the help of permanent relations between measured events or between parts of an artwork)." G. Careri, "On the Idea of Order in the Natural Sciences and in the Visual Arts," Leonardo 15, No. 1, 21 (1982).

45. "This continuum 'lacks appearance'-that is, it is not immediately accessible to sense perception. But through the dynamism inherent in existence, images are differentiated out of the continuum that by their structure and position partake of the laws of the continuum; they are, in a sense, individuations of this continuum." (After Wang Fu- chih, 1619-1692 A.D.) H. Wilhelm, Heaven, Earth, and Man in the Book of Changes (Seattle, WA, and London: Univ. of Washington Press, 1977) p. 11.

46. "Reflection on the simple fundamental facts of our experience brings immediate recognition of constant change. To the unsophisticated mind, the

characteristic thing about phenomena is their dynamism. It is only abstract thinking that takes them out of their dynamic continuity and isolates them as static units." See H. Wilhelm [18] pp. 17-18.

47. "Rather, it is a book that offers guidance on how to act, and to suffer, in our world of appearances. For those who act and suffer in this world, the rep- resentation is closer than the prototype.... poten- tial formation becomes a shape in space, the image becomes mere space, the process becomes the stage." See H. Wilhelm [45] p. 121.

48. Arnheim offers an in-depth perceptual analysis of the T'ai-chi tu or yin-yang symbol. See Arnheim [4] pp. 222-244. Watts also discusses the T'ai-chi tu, or yin-yang symbol, but in terms of traditional meanings. See Watts [10] pp. 49-71.

49. "Von Hornbostel has emphasized as universal the difference between the concave and convex, the embracing and the aggressive, which correspond to the figure-ground difference. It is as though the dynamics of each field part, the forces to which they owe their existence, were at least vaguely revealed in consciousness, i.e., in properties of the behavioral environment." See Koffka [35] pp. 192-193.

50. To the Taoists, time and change are evidenced by a number of configurations and functional phenomena that correspond to the alternation between figure-ground and concave-convex in the T'ai-chi tu or yin-yang symbol. These include the alternation between firm and yielding, opening and closing, above and below, inside and outside, expansion and contraction, and the appearance and withdrawal of vegetative matter in a seasonal sense. See R. Wilhelm [18] pp. 262-355.

51. In an appendix to Innovation: The Basis of Cul- tural Change entitled On Things, anthropologist H.G. Barnett discusses various shapes and configurations of time that parallel the Taoist idea that the simultaneity of experience is an ideal. "We are thus led to the conclusion paralleling the one arrived at with respect to spatial configurations; namely, that simultaneity is not a fundamental aspect of time configuration. It is as illusory as absolute contigu- ity." Barnett [8] p. 422.

52. See Kohler [33] p. 59.

53. R. Fischer, "A Cartography of the Ecstatic and Meditative States," Leonardo 6, No. 1, 59-66 (1973).

54. "If a continuous boundary cannot be relied upon for the definition of a unit of experience, and if, furthermore, wholes are always subject to decom- position into lesser wholes, often simply by a shift in attention, it does not seem that much is left of stability in the world that we must think of as stable if we are to cope with it realistically.... Lacking this assurance, we might seem to be on the verge of resting the case on subjective judgments and thus abandoning an essential of scientific procedure." See Barnett [8] p. 432.

55. Barnett considers circularity and repetition in a way that corresponds to Taoist thoughts about time and change as the visible alternation between figure-ground and concave-convex. "Circularity and repetition are frequently characteristic of time configurations because they have the utilitarian virtue of regulating and standardizing behaviors into a comparatively few familiar and predictable sets. A comforting feeling of constancy, from which we de- rive much of our sense of security, is thereby gained; and the shocks and frustrations that attend the unexpected and the alien are minimized." See Barnett [8] p. 420.

56. See Arnheim [4] p. 239.

Bibliography

Hall, E.T. The Hidden Dimension (Garden City, NY: Doubleday Anchor, 1969).

McKim, R.H. Experiences in Visual Thinking (Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole, 1980).

Munro, T. The Arts and Their Interrelations, Revised and Enlarged Ed. (Cleveland, OH, and London: Liberal Arts Press by the Press of Case Western Re- serve Univ., 1969).

Rawson, P., and Legeza, Laszlo. Tao: The Eastern Phi- losophy of Time and Change (London: Avon, 1973).

Stern, T. The Klamath Tribe: A People and Their Reser- vation (Seattle, WA and London: Univ. of Washing- ton Press, 1966).

Toepel, Kathryn Ann; Beckham, Stephen Dow; and Minor, Rick. Native American Religious Practices and Uses in Western Oregon, Univ. of Oregon Anthropo- logical Papers, No. 31 (1984).

Manuscript received 13June 1994.




Documents

Visual Art, Archaeology and Gestalt