Art of the Americas

Postclassical Mesoamerica

(1200-1521) Historically, most art that survives had a religious/ ritual function

Quetzalcoatl

* Benevolent feathered serpent god of the wind, arts and knowledge common
* God to many Meso-American (pre-Aztec) peoples (Maya later)

Tlaloc

God of rain, fertility, and water

Mictlantecuhtli

God of the dead/underworld

Name of the Mesoamerican gods are in what language?

Nahuatl

Mixteca

Puebla and Aztec sites in Mesoamerica

* Teotihuacan
* 2 hours northeast of Mexico city
* Also known as the “Temple of the Sun (foreground) and Moon (background)
* 100 BCE - 700 AD
* 180 ft high
* Meso-American
* “Birthplace of Gods”
* Parts were vacated really quickly by wealthy/priestly
* Lower class possibly outcasted the wealthy/evidence of fire
* Important historical site

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* Mictlantecuhtli and Quetzalcoatl,
* illuminated page from the Borgia Codex
* c. 1400-1500. Mexico.
* Mineral and vegetable pigments on deerskin
* approx 10”x10

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* The gods of life (Quetzalcoatl) and death (Mictlantecuhtli) above an inverted skull symbolizing the Underworld

Why did the Spanish burn a lot of the Mayan books?

Thought it was “superstition and lies of the devil”

* Temple of Quetzalcoátl (benevolent feathered serpent god)
* Xochicalco, Mexico
* Meso-American (Pre-Aztec).
* c. 800 CE

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* Religious/Ritual site
* Had a ball court

Where is Quetzalcoatl carved on his temple?

Along the sides, considered a “relief sculpture”

Relief Sculpture

Figure is relifed into the flat surface of the wall

Ball Court

* Game like soccer
* Tried to get the balls through the hoop without hands (hips or forearm)
* Losing would result in death
* Symbolizing cosmic struggle
* Found in most sacred sites

Aztec Empire (The Mexica)

1325-1521

Huitzilopochtli

• Eagle/hummingbird god of war, sun and human sacrifice

• Patron god of the Aztec and of Tenochtitlan

Coatlicue

• She of the serpent skirt, mother of Huizilopochtli (god of the sun

Coyolxauqui

Sister of Huitzilopochtli, goddess of the moon and the 400 stars

• Boturini Codex, 19th C. reproduction after original

• c. 1530-1541.

• 18 feet long; 22 panels.

• Chronicling the Aztecs 200 yr. journey from Aztlan to the Valley of Mexico

• The founding of Tenochtitlán, folio 2 recto of the Codex Mendoza, Aztec,

• c. 1540.

• Ink and color on paper

How did the aztecs settle?

• According to Aztec legend, an eagle landed on a cactus on
  an island in the midst of Lake Texcoco, where the god of
  war instructed them to settle.
  - Eagle: Huitzilopochtli
  - Serpent: Quetzalcoátl

Tenochtitlan

• Aztec capital

• 1325-1521 CE

• One of the 3 largest cities in the world

• In the center was the Temple Mayor and the “sacred precinct

Temple Mayor

• 2 temples up top

  • North one was dedicated to Tlaloc (Rain god)

  • South one was dedicated to Huitzilopochtli (Solar god)

• 2 steep staircases led up the west face

• Sacrificial victims would climb the stairs to Huitzilopochtli’s temple where priests would throw them over stones and cut them open

• The body would then be thrown down the staircase and dismembered

• Dismembered heads would have been kept on a skull rack in the plaza

Tzompantli Altar

• Altar of the skulls

• Detailed the side walls with stucco-covered and painted carved human skulls

• 1502

• Coatlicue (She of the Serpent Skirt),

• Aztec, from Tenochtitlan, Mexico City,

• c. 1487-1520.

• 11’6” high.

• The Temple Mayor, built for Huitzilopochtli, commemorated the god’s victory over his sister and 400 brothers who had planned to kill their mother Coatlicue to prevent him from being born.

  
  

• Coyolxauhqui (Moon goddess of the bells),

• from the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan, Mexico City,

• c. 1469.

• stone.

• 10’ 10”

• After bodies were killed and thrown down the stairs they would land on this platform

Spanish conquest of the Aztecs by…

• Spanish Conquistador Hernán Cortés: 1519-152

• The Spaniards arrived on the first day of the year that
  the return of Quetzalcoatl (god of life) was predicted.

Inca

1200-1532

Viracocha

• creator god/ substance from which all
  things are created

Inca expansion

• Approx 130 years

• At it’s height, extended 2,500 miles from present day Equador to southern Chile

• Ruled as many as 12 million people who spoke at least 20 languages

• “Land of the Four Quarters”

Quipus

• Form of communication/writing for the Inca

• Messengers would relay information from checkpoint to checkpoint

• Each knot/string color coded something important such as..

  • census

  • history

  • poetry

  • astronomy

  • tribute

Cusco

• “Navel of the world”

• Inca capital

• Designed by Inca Pachacuti (1438-1471)

• Shaped like a puma

  • Head of the puma was fortress Sacsayhuman

  • Belly was the giant plaza at the center town

• Temple of the Sun (Coricancha) dedicated to Inti, the sun/ Santo Domingo Convent,

• Cusco, Peru

Inca Masonry

• The masonry of the Inca is so carefully constructed, without mortar

• it is impossible to insert a sheet of paper between two stones.

• The Inca had no iron tools or wheeled vehicles, yet they managed to quarry and move stones that weighed more than 100 tons.

• The work was carried out by individuals fulfilling labor obligations to the state (mita).

  
  

Machu Picchu

• 1450

• Built by Pacacutec Inca Yupanqui

Mount Huayan Picchu

• Young Mountain

• Behind Machu Picchu

Hiram Bingham

• During 1911-1912 claimed to have found Machu Picchu

• National Geographic helped support his discovery and published it for their first magazine

• Temple of the Sun

• Solar Observatory

• Priests house to the right of it

• Below the temple, support and stairs are carved into the natural rock

Inca Artifacts

• Spanish melted almost every Inca artifact of silver or gold

• Inca valued silver and gold cuz it reminded them of the moon and sun

Aftermath of Spanish Conquest

• Native American populations declined sharply due to disease from Europeans

• Populations declined up to 90%