CHAPTER 30 BEFORE AND AFTER THE

CONQUISTADORSNATIVE ARTS OF THE AMERICAS

AFTER 1300

Mictlantecuhtli and Quetzalcóatlilluminated page from the Borgia Codexfrom Puebla/Tlaxcala, Mexicoca. 1400-1500mineral and vegetable pigments on deerskinapproximately 10 5/8 in. x 10 3/8 in.

Borgia CodexA 15th-century Mayan

book, one of a group of codices treating primarily ritual subjects.

Only 500 years ago where the huge megalopolis of Mexico City sprawls today, there was a large, shallow freshwater lake: Lake Texcoco. On the largest of the many islands in this lake there was the Aztec capital of Techochtitlan which was conquered and largely destroyed by the Spanish in 1521.

Great Temple Aztec (Reconstruction Drawing)Tenochtitlán, Mexico Cityca.1400 - 1500

In the center of the city was the Great Temple, a temple-pyramid honoring the Aztec god Huitzilopochtli and the local rain god Tlaloc.

It symbolized the victory of Huitzilopochtli over his sister and 400 brothers, who had plotted to kill their mother. The myth signifies the rise of the sun at dawn and the sun’s battle with the forces of darkness, the stars and moon.

Techochtitlan was laid out on a grid plan in quarters and wards, reminiscent of Teotihuacán.

Coyolxauhquifrom the Great Temple of TenochtitlánMexico City, Mexicoca. 1469stoneapproximately 10 ft. 10 in.

Stylistic attributes

The relief has a complicated composition and a dreadful, yet formal, beauty. Within the circular space, the design’s carefully balanced, richly detailed components are placed so that they seem to have a slow turning rhythm. The carving is on a single level, a smoothly even, flat surface raised from the flat ground.

Huitzilopochtli chasing away his brothers and dismembering Coyolxauhqui, the moon goddess.

Coatliquefrom Tenochtitlán, Mexico City, Mexico1487-1520andesite11 ft. 6 in. high

Coatlicue, also known as Teteoinan, "The Mother of Gods“ is the Aztec goddess who gave birth to the moon, stars, and Huitzilopochtli, the god of the sun and war.

INKA ART

Quipu was a record-keeping device made of fiber with a main cord and other knotted threads hanging perpendicularly off it. The color and position of each thread, as well as the kind of knot and location, recorded numbers and categories of things (people, llamas, crops).

Clothing communicated the social status of the person wearing the garment. Some believe that bands of small squares of repeated abstract designs in Inkan clothing had political meaning, connoting membership in particular social groups. Such motifs completely covered the Inka ruler’s tunics, perhaps to indicate his control over all such groups.

Machu PichuPeru15th century

The major significance of Machu Picchu is that it is completely invisible from the valley below. The accommodation of its architecture to the landscape is so complete that Machu Picchu seems almost a natural part of the mountain ranges that surround it.

Wall of the Golden Enclosure (surmounted by the church of Santo Domingo), Inka, Cuzco, Peru, fifteenth century.

The Temple of the Sun in Cuzco was constructed and decorated as the stones were laid in regular horizontal courses. The interior was veneered with sheets of gold, silver, and emeralds. The remaining hewn stones, precisely fitted and polished, form a curving semi-parabola and were set for flexibility in earthquakes.

SOUTH AMERICA

TAIRONA ART

pendant in the form of a bat-faced manfrom northeastern Colombiaafter 1000gold5 1/4 in. high

CHAVÍN ART

NORTH AMERICAKivaThe spiritual center of Anasazi life, the male council house. They were decorated with elaborate mural paintings representing deities.AnastaziThe dominant culture of the American Southwest during the centuries preceding the arrival of the Europeans. They built great architectural complexes like Chaco Canyon and Cliff Palace.KatsinaBenevolent supernatural spirit personifying natural elements and living in mountains and water sources.

ANASAZI ART

Cliff DwellingMesa Verde National Park, Coloradoca. 1150-1300

Two groups that belong to the so-called Pueblo Indians:Hopi of northern Arizona

Rio Grande Pueblos of New Mexico

Canyon DwellingsHovenweep National Monument, Utah/Colorado borderca. 1150-1300

NAVAJO ART

The purpose of Navajo sand painting was that the temporary paintings, constructed to the accompaniment of prayers and chants, are an essential part of ceremonies for curing disease.

Three stylistic characteristics of sand paintings:

Created from natural materials such as corn pollen, charcoal, sand and varicolored powdered stones.

The paintings are destroyed in the process of the ritual.

Highly stylized: formed by simple curves, straight lines, right angles, and serial repetition.

HOPI ART

Otto Pentewa

Katsina Figurine

before 1959cottonwood root1 ft. high

Pueblo Art

Maria Montoya MartínezJarfrom San Ildefonso PuebloNew Mexicoca. 1939blackware11 1/8 x 13 in.

In 1918 Maria Martinez and her husband, San Ildefonso Pueblos, invented black-on-black ware that was compatible with contemporary Art Deco style. It became highly collectible. She signed her name with her neighbors’ names on the pots so that they might share in her good fortune.

Kwakiutl Art

Eagle Transformation Maskfrom Alert Baylate 19th centurywood, feathers and stringapproximately 1 ft. 10 in. x 11 in.

Two purposes of the masks carved by Northwest Coast artists:Used in healing rituals.Used in dramatic public performances during the winter ceremonial season.

TLINGIT ART

Chilkat blanket with stylized animal motifsearly 20th centurymountain goat’s wool and cedar bark6 ft. x 2 ft. 11 in.

The function of a Chilkat blanket was they are robes worn over the shoulders.Alaskan Tlingit men designed themThey were prestige items of ceremonial dress during the 19th century.

Some recurrent stylistic characteristics found in objects created by the historic inhabitants of the Northwest Coast:Symmetry and rhythmic repetitionSchematic abstraction of animal motifsEye designs

Regular swelling and thinning line

War helmet

collected 1888-1893wood1 ft. high

Haida Art

Reconstruction of a 19th century Haida village with totlem poles

Queen Charlotte Island, Canada

1962

Haida house frontal or “totem” poles serve as expressions of a Clan groups, expressing prestige and family history.

Three types of figures that may be included in such poles:A crest.An animal.A supernatural being who figures in the clan’s origin story.

Yupik Art

Maskfrom Alaskaearly 20th centurywood and feathersapproximately 3 ft. 9 in. high

Face: The spirit of the north windHoop: The universePaired human hands: The wearer’s power to attract animals for huntingRattling appendages: The spirit’s voiceWhite spots: Snowflakes

PLAINS PEOPLES ART

Prior to 1830, artists painted tipis, tipi linings, and buffalo-skin robes with geometric and stiff figural designs. After 1830, they gradually introduced naturalistic scenes, often of war exploits, in styles adapted from those of visiting European artists.

Karl BodmerHidatsa Warrior Pehriska-Ruhpa (Two Ravens)1833watercolor1 ft. 3 7/8 in. x 11 1/2 in.

The pipe, painted buffalo robe, and bear claw necklace shown in Bodmer’s portrait of Two Ravens are symbolic of his affiliations and military accomplishments, his “biography” that could be read easily by neighboring Native Americans.

Two art forms of Plains Indians that flourished during the so-called “reservation period.”Beadwork by women.Painting in ledger books by men.

Honoring Song at painted tipi1880pencil, ink and colored pencil7 1/2 in. x 1 ft.

Jaune Quick-to-see SmithTrade (Gifts for Trading Land with White People)1992oil and mixed media on canvas5 ft. x 14 ft. 2 in.

TIWANAKU ART

Gateway of the Sun

Tiwanaku, Bolivia

ca. 375-700stone9 ft. 10 in. high

Bridge-spouted vessel with flying figures

from Nasca River Valley, Peru

ca. 50-200painted ceramicapproximately 5 1/2 in. high

Look carefully at the figure of Coatlicue shown on page 902 and FIG. 30-4, and write at least one page analyzing it. Use the following terms: material and technique; form and composition; line and pattern; mass and volume. Here are some questions that might help you with your analysis, but do not be limited by them.

How large is the figure? Do you think the figure was designed to be seen frontally or from the side?

What material was used to create it and how might the material have influenced the form? Carefully describe each part, starting from the head and working down.

What type of creature might have served as a model for each part? Note the patterns that the artist has created, and observe which seem to be derived from the creatures that inspired it.

What do you think the sculpture was intended to signify, and how might the various parts have helped to put across that meaning?