A Study of Spiritual Expression in Totemic Art: Based on a Multidimensional Analysis of Sublime Beauty, Humanistic Beauty and Artistic Beauty

Totemic art, as the fundamental medium of the spiritual realm of primordial societies, employs its distinctive symbolic system to communicate and articulate humanity’s spiritual understanding and sacred quest for nature, the cosmos, and the essence of existence. This article centers on totemic art, which, through the three dimensions of sublime beauty, humanistic beauty, and artistic beauty, establishes a spiritual dialogue system between primitive tribes and supernatural forces. The core principle is the aesthetic metamorphosis of the spiritual realm through material carriers. It explores how it functions as a potent medium for articulating both personal and communal spirituality: sublime beauty manifests and materializes the intangible divine force through the “presenting the unpresentable,” thus establishing the spiritual basis of primal reverence; Humanistic beauty, rooted in familial connections, the celebration of life, and community unity, facilitates the awakening and elevation of both individual and collective consciousness, promoting the integration and symbiosis of personal spirituality and communal sanctity; Behind the evolution of styles and the characteristics of anti-aesthetics in the artistic beauty, there remains the fundamental logic of serving spiritual expression. Research indicates that totemic art serves as the fundamental aesthetic practice of primitive societies for comprehending the world, engaging with the divine, and achieving mental tranquility. The three dimensions of its spiritual expression collectively form a spiritual monument of early human civilization.