Almost 50 years ago, Desmond Morris published “The Biology of Art: A Study of the
Picture-Making Behaviour of the Great Apes and its Relationship to Art” (Methuen & Co,
1962), summarising what was known of painting apes (gorillas and chimpanzees, but also
Cebus monkeys) and describing his ‘experimental’ approach to ape painting. Comparing
apes’ works with contemporary non-representational art, and with children’s drawings, Morris
identified six “biological principles of picture making,” and expressed the hope that working
with “carefully selected teams of apes and monkeys” “a great deal more about the mystery of
the process of artistic creation could be unraveled”. However, Morris’ hoped for Institute for
the Study of the Biology of Art was never built, although apes have continued to paint (eg, at
Perth Zoo); moreover, non-primates have taken up brushes – Sydney’s Museum of
Contemporary Art will shortly host paintings by Thai elephants- and monkeys, “sculpture” –
Cebus monkeys modify clay shapes and may use tools, or paint, to mark them (Westergaard
and Suomi, 1997). But are apes’ artistic efforts merely evidence of Morris’ first principle of
Self-rewarding Activation (what might, to-day, be called “environmental enrichment”), or do
any or all of his other principles also apply?