Indigenous Americas

Context - Inca

• Beach (trade) & mountain landscape

• Spiritual belief in mountain spirits (apu) and water spirits (qucha)

• Traded across long routes - offering of trade commodities was a sign of submission

• Divine rule of KINGS

• Human sacrifice to appease the gods

“Chavin de Huantar” Peru; 900 BCE; Stone and Granite

Look at notes for info.

“El Lanzon” - “The Great Spear”

Anthropomorphic

Convergence of 2 rivers

SACRED

Visuals: Low relief carving (background is carved out, but not deeply)

“Machu Picchu” Peru; Inca; 15th cent.; Granite

• terraced construction, geometric w/o mortar

• Buildings of the elite have nicer stones that fit together

• 16 fountains = controlled rainwater

• INCA TERRACES - engineering innovation

• 700+, stone quarried from 20 miles away, 4 of which is uphill

• Irrigated the water safely away

• Preserved stone foundation from sliding off the mountain

• Observatories to monitor stars & apus/ancestors

• INTIHUATANA STONE - SUN CLOCK TO TELL ASTRONOMICAL TIME → tracks summer solstice (like STONEHENGE)

• CONTEXT: Built by Pachacuti, convergence of 2 rivers

• FUNCTION: observe planets & stars, track summer solstice, summer domestic & sacred site (like Great Mosque of Djenne), King bathed in fountains before ritual

“Cusco” Inka, Peru, c. 1440 CE

• capital city - “naval” (life-giving) of the universe

• Convergence of 4 main highways

• Organized into rectilinear (straight lines) quarters, represented status

• Labor taxation, sent to the capital or build highways

• QORIKANCHA - aka “Golden Courtyard”

  • filled w/ GOLD - represents the sun/offerings (resemblance to the sun)

  • AXIS MUNDI

  • Temple of the Sun

• Santo Domingo - Spanish convent built on top

• Ashlar Masonry - tight joints, precision cuts

  • irregular, interlocking shapes

    • makes it EARTHQUAKE-PROOF

  • built w/o MORTAR

Santo Domingo - Spanish Convent built on top of the Qorikancha

“Maize Cobs” Inka, c. 1440 CE, metal

• located in garden of Qorikancha

  • mini llamas, corn, flowers - all metal

• Abt 10 in. tall

• Gold, silver, copper alloy

• Represented Inka cosmos

• Symbol of success & environmental control

• Maize - brews ceremonial chicha beer consumed at political feasts

• Stolen & melted down by the Spanish conqusitadors

“Al-Toqapu Tunic” Inka, 15th century, Camelid fiber & cotton

• BLUE dye + complex weaving process = expensive (shows social pwr.), technical skill (high trained aclla women)

• RED dye = social power

  • made from cochineal insect

  • took a lot of time to make this, shows power to control these resources & labor

• Spun by “chosen women (acclla) drinking corn beer in ritual

• (like Ahu’ula) Geometric pattern - told story of the wearer/spoke of a personal narrative of the wearer

• Black & white pattern - Incan army

• Worn in political meetings - listen quietly & obey ruler’s directive

• FUNCTION & CONTEXT: offering of trade commodities symbolizes worship of King or subjugation/submission * taxation; expensive materials/process + the ability to control these resources = social/political power; camelid fibers from mountains, cotton from beach → indicates power over nature AND these geographic territories; worn by royal household or burned to honor sun god, Inti

Context - MAYA 4th - 5th Cent.

• many smaller cities - geometric grids

• 15-20 M ppl.

• Complex writing system - pictographs

  • CARVVED royal history, took time (showed dedication) & more permanent

• obsessed w/ kings, King’s deeds, ancestral lineage, and divinity

• Women held power/status in court, King’s wives & mothers

“Yaxchilan, Maya” Chiapas, Mexico; 725 CE; Limestone

Successful trade site → sacred ceremonial site

Built by Bird Jaguar II, honors late father Shield Jaguar (Yaxchilan was built by Bird Jaguar II. It was built to honor or his late father, Shiled Jaguar. By building this, he connects himself to his father and traces his lineage back to earlier powerful rulers. In doing so, he confirmed his royal history and right to rule)

Located along a river

stone W/O MORTAR

Stairs - climbing up to the sky/gods

Maze-like paths (like Chavin)/hallways (dark)

Narrow doors = limited to the elite & little light (rituals done in the dark)

Geometrical & Symmetrical (Math was a gift from the Gods)

Structure 23 - honors Lady Xoc & Shield Jaguar

• commemorates important women and displays ancestral lineage

“Lady Xoc’s Ascension” Lintel 25, Yaxchilan

Visuals: Lady Xoc summoning the vision serpent, blood-letting tools in LX’s hands, hieroglyphic texts = husband, Sheild Jaguar, taking throne on Oct. 28th 681 CE, HIGH RELIEF (shadows - supernatural; rituals in the dark); once brightly painted

Context: Placed above doorway (a lintel, looking UP at it, at something superior), pain/blood loss + hallucinogens = visions of serpents, located in structure 23, rulers believed to be descendents of the gods

Function: makes the political event SACRED (lintel), document of history

BELIEF → RITUAL PRACTICE

Maya believed gods sacrificed divine blood to create humans → maya expected to make sacrifies in return * order in universe

Bloodletting connected royal to sacred sphere * divine realm → Bloodletting at an event made it sacred, legitimized king’s rule

Context - Aztec Empire

18th century Mexica

Sacred time (big on time)

Spiritual belief - violent gods destroyed world 4 times (b/c ppl. didn’t sacrifice enough) → adopted gods of conquered people

Ritual practice - sacrifice & bloodletting (sacrifice of typically royal blood) to please gods, monitor time

Conquered by Spanish - final culture of Mesoamerica

“Ruler’s Feather Headdress” Mexico, Aztec; 1500; feathers & gold

Gift from Moctezuma II to Cortes (confused Cortes with Quetzalcoatl, gives him the throne)

After Spanish invasion, feather workers turned their skills to feather paintings of Christian Subjects

Quetzal bird - animal based media, only 2 long feathers, lived in Yucatan Peninsula - trade & control over territory

BIG IDEA: CULTURES INTERACT: Gift from Moctezuma to Cortes because of confusion. Cortes accepts the gift but later betrays the Aztecs, leading to Spanish colonization. After colonization, the feather workers use their skills for feather paintings of Christian subjects.

“Templo Mayor” Aztec; 14th-15th cent; Tenochtitlan, Mexico

Navel of the world; *AXIS MUNDI, laid out like cosmos

Ceremonial center of capital

Right = god of RAIN (life)

Left = god of SUN (light)

two temples/gods combine to represnet BURNT WATER - warfare (how Aztecs builds empire)

JADE DEATH MASK - follows OLMEC tradition

THE RITUAL:

The sun rises btwn TWO PYRAMIDS - during summer solstice

Each morning, sacrifices are thrown down stairs to the Coyolxauqhui stone

Flower Wars - ritual warfare → to collect/obtain more sacrifices

TENOCHTITLAN (Aztec City) - divided into 4 quarters, Templo Mayor at center

• JUST LIKE

  • CUZCO

  • White Temple & Ziggurat (Uruk)

  • Buddhist monuments

“Coyolxauhqui” Templo Mayor; Aztec

Means “She of Golden Bells”

Moon Goddes fighting mother, Coatilcue (Earth) → she gets killed by Sun/Warfare God (brother - Huitzilopochtli)

Moral - DONT CHALLENGE THE GODS

Shape of a circle to REPRESENT THE CIRCLE OF LIFE & SUN AND MOON CYCLE

Also meant to look like rolling down hill - arms rotating

Torn flesh, exposed bone

RITUAL:

Reenact Moon Goddess’ fight w/ Warfare God (brother) *history

Human sacrifice (usually war captives) thrown from top of stairs

Lands on Coyol stone → bleeds into relief channels of stone

Feeds the deity

THE SUN COMES UP

“Aztec Calendar Stone” Templo Mayor, Basalt

World created 4 times previously - Sun gods sacrifice themselves to create the world

• 5th sun god refuses to move across the sky unless blood is sacrificed in his honor

4 squares = 4 prior sun gods

Night sun in the underworld (center) fighting w/ earth god

Calendars on outer bands

Tongues at center was KNIFE

High relief channels → gathered/held blood

Dedicated to Moctezuma II before his death

• function as an altar

SPIRITUAL BELIEF → RITUAL PRACTICE

Gods are violent → Human sacrifice to please gods

Sacred time → Track time in artwork; * circles

Stories of Gods → reenact divine historical events

Divine Rule → bloodletting ceremonies by ELITE

“Great Serpent Mound” Mississippian culture; Ohio; 1070 CE; Earthwork

VISUALS:

Rattlesnake, “circle” in its mouth

Nat’l Mat’ls found on site

1300 feet long

Context: Head aligns w/ summer solstice, tail with winter solstice; believed snakes were a deity of the underworld; no written language; agrarian community

Function: Egg could be the SUN - documenting the solar eclipse → explains nat’l phenomenon; aligns w/ star constellations pointing true north

“Mesa Verde Cliff Dwellings” Ancestral Puebloan; 450 CE; Colorado; Sandstone

ADOBE dwellings continuously built over 500 years, mostly DOMESTIC

Built into the cliffside → gave protection from the backside and it was cooler

Accessed via ladders → securiy & defense; residents could easily pull up the ladders to prevent invaders

150 rooms, 125 people lived there → extra rooms for gatherings

Circular rooms - KIVA

• circular rooms for GATHERING

• pottery firing

• cooking

• ritual/ceremony

• COMMUNAL

Wall Murals

Visuals: SHOWS NATURAL PHENOMENA → wind, rain, agriculture; GEOMETRIC LINES

“Seed Jar” Ancestral Puebloan culture

AESTHETIC expression → made to look pretty

domestic

UTILITARIAN - designed for function/everyday use → stored seeds for planting

“Black-on-Black Ceramic Vessel” Julian and Maria Martinez; Puebloan; New Mexico; 20th Cent.; Blackware Ceramic

Hand-formed (traditionally by Maria)

Smooth

Acllas - utilitarian seed jars → decor

New glaze technique - Kapo Black (Julian)

• innovation

• creates abstracted clouds, birds, rivers, corn * natural phenomena (tradition)

• smudging ash + polish = matte & gloss

Signed neighbors’ pots - spread good fortune, communal

• helped them to sell the pots for a lot

Audience - 1950s Americans who loved Art Decor.

Grandchildren still mkaking pots

“Bandoolier Bag” Lenape Tribe; Delware; 1850; beads on leather & cotton

Indigenous -

• animal hide

• blue - celestial sky / red - underworld

• fringe

Different/European -

• beads (Venice, trade)

• based on military bag shape

• shows trade relationship (social power)

Change: porcupine quill beads → Italian beads (vibrant)

Made by WOMEN, used by MEN (complemented ceremonial clothing)

Initially just sacred garment → later utilitarian, added pocket

VISUAL: symmetrical, abstract, white beads = contour line contrast, CURVILINEAR, fringe creates texture AND movement

CONTEXT - PRAIRIE STYLE

Indian Removal Act of 1830

• forced migration, forced tribes to intermingle

Many tribes created bags - different patterns would be used to separate tribes or estabish social status

“Kwak’wakawak Transformation Mask” Canada; 19th cent.; Wood, Paint, String

POTLACH CEREMONY:

• ceremonial gift giving, loan w/ interest - social power

• Winter → night → by fire (spirits most active)

• Anthropomorphic - face of ancestor (open); closed = eagle spirit

• Open & close - in motion

• Ends in 1950s - Europeans horrified (the ceremony could be brutal because they beat people up)

FORMLINE STYLE:

• colors - red, turquoise, and black

• Bilateral symmetry

• Oval eye shapes

• Red Cedar wood material

“Painted Elk Hide” ATTRIBUTED to Cadzi Cody; Shoshone People; Wyoming; 1900

Traditional - ANIMALS (buffalo, horse)

Repetition - likely used stamps

Contents “reaffirmed Native History”

• rituals/objects no onger seen

Sold in reservation souvenir shop - audience = Non-Native Americans, AMERICANS

Affects of relocation to reservation = lost their culture

“Trade (Gifts for Trading Land with White People)” Jaune Quick-to-See Smit; 1992; mixed media

500+ anniversary non-celebration of Colombus invasion; had to make the choice to move to survive

Triptych - medieval Europe altar piece

• made artwork movable/nomadic

Smith-Flathead Indian Nation

Char-Koosta - Flathead newspaper, current native life

• tobacco, casino, alcohol

“TRADE” Smith 1992

Objects hanging above:

• Kitsch (tacky and commercial)

• cultural misappropiation

Red = blood, sacrifice, and anger

Canoe = indigenous

Shoshone Grandmother gave nickname “Quick-to-See” - ability to understand things quickly

Goal - educate and highlight native artists