Cross-Species Comparison in the Evolutionary Study of Art: A Cognitive Approach to the Ape Art Debate

Abstract

Aside from humans, artistic behavior has been attributed to species varying from bowerbirds to elephants. The most notable case are nonhuman primate species, and chimpanzees in particular. Some researchers have stated that the latter provide us with a window to the evolution of human art via the phylogenetic tree. However, little argumentation has been developed to substantiate these claims. This article undertakes a joint examination of empirical studies on ‘ape art’ and literature on human artistic cognition, with a focus on the capacities of intentionalist thinking, symbolism, and aesthetic sensitivity. Although aesthetic sensitivity turns out to be a potential parallel between human and nonhuman cognition with regard to art-making, little or no evidence surfaces to support the presence of intentionalist thinking and symbolic cognition among, for example, chimpanzees, in their response toward painting and drawing material. As a result, few reasons remain to consider chimpanzee painting and drawing as art. The evolutionary study of art is therefore unlikely to prosper much through primatology and comparative psychological analysis of humans and their primate cousins. Several implications of the present analysis are discussed.