Chapter 26: Art of the Americas

Key Notes

• Time Period
  • Chavín: 900–200 BCE (Coastal Peru)
  • Mayan: 300–900 CE and later (Belize Guatemala; Honduras, Yucatan)
  • Ancient Puebloans: 550–1400 CE (Southwestern US)
  • Mississippians: 800–1500 CE (Eastern US)
  • Aztec: 1400–1521 CE (Central Mexico)
  • Inka: 1438–1532 CE (Peru)
  • North American Indian: 18th century to present (North America)
• Culture, beliefs, and physical settings
  • The art of the indigenous people of America is among the oldest artistic traditions in the world. It extends from about 10,000 B.C.E. through the time of the European invasions.
  • The art of this area can be divided into many cultural and historical groupings both in North and South America.
  • Ancient Mesoamerican art (from parts of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and Belize) is characterized by architectural structures such as pyramids, a strong influence of astronomy and calendars on ritual objects, and great value placed on green objects such as jade or feathers.
  • Three major cultures of ancient Mesoamerica include the Olmec, the Maya, and the Mexica (also called the Aztecs).
  • There is a great emphasis on figural art in ancient Mesoamerica, including representations of rulers and mythical events.
  • Art of the central Andes (from Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador) shows a deep respect for animals and plants, as well as shamanistic religions.
  • The physical environment of the central Andes (the Amazon, the Andes mountains, and the coastal deserts) plays a large role in art making.
  • Art in central Andes was generally made by groups in workshops, rather than by ­individuals.
  • Themes in Andean art particularly address the earth-bound and the celestial.
  • Native North American art has diverse themes, but many of the artworks concern nature, animals, and large rituals. Respect for elders is a key unifying factor.
  • There is no unifying name for the native people of North America, other than terms that have been imposed by others
• Cultural interactions
  • Mesoamerican civilizations have had a broad impact on the world as a whole.
  • Mesoamerican objects were valued and treasured in Europe by connoisseurs and ­collectors.
  • National museums were opened to promote an understanding of ancient American art.
  • Twentieth-century artists both in Latin America and elsewhere around the world have been influenced by the art of ancient America.
  • Current Native Americans today strongly identify with the cultural achievements of their ancestors. Art forms are maintained and revived.
  • There are exchanges of materials, ideas, and subject matter between Native Americans and Europeans.
• Material Processes and Techniques
  • Mesoamericans and Native Americans use trade materials, animal-based products, and precious stones.
  • Works of art are generally functional.
  • Central Andean artists prized featherwork, textiles, and green stones, and favored works made of metal and bone.
  • Ceramics and wood were considered as occupying the lowest end of the artistic scale.
  • Pyramids began as earthworks and then grew to multilevel structures. Sites were often added to over many years.
  • Most architecture is made of stone, using the post-and-­lintel system and faced with painted sculpture.
  • There are large plazas placed before the ­pyramids.
  • North American Indians produced works which included ceramics, hide paintings, basketry, weaving, adobe structures, and monumental earthworks.
• Audience, functions, and patron
  • The modern concept of art is different than the intended purpose of objects from this period.
  • Objects were created to represent or contain a life force, and viewing was seen as a participatory activity.
  • Art was generally generated in workshops.
  • Rulers were the major patrons. Patrons could also include a family member, a tribal leader, or an elder.
• Theories and Interpretations
  • There are many differences in the cultures of the Americas and therefore many approaches to studying the various art forms.
  • Examination of artwork from this period relies on many sources including archaeology and written accounts by colonists.
  • A multi disciplinary approach is used to examine the works of this period.
  • There are many approaches to Native North American art including archaeology, tribal history, and anthropology.

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Historical Background

• Humans migrated from Asia to America over a span of 30,000 years by crossing the Bering Strait.
• The climate in Mexico and Central America was suitable for raising crops, leading to population growth.
• Local rivalries and jealousies influenced the rise and fall of American civilizations.
• American civilizations varied in terms of cultivation, technology, and lifestyle.
• When European colonizers arrived, they encountered a society that was sophisticated in some ways but lacking in others, such as the absence of functional wheels and the use of refined metals mostly for jewelry.
• Pre-Columbian American society is mostly understood through archaeology, including elaborate burial grounds and the ruins of ancient cities.
• Successive civilizations buried or destroyed the remains of previous civilizations, so only the most durable ruins have survived.

Patronage and Artistic Life

• Ancient artists were commoners but were employed by the state for their special abilities.
• They were trained in an apprenticeship program and achieved fame through the creation of beautifully crafted items.
• Ancient American artists used a wide variety of materials for their artwork, usually relying on what was locally available.
• They were reliant on objects that were small enough to trade and carry since they did not have draught animals or wheeled carts.
• Aztecs used obsidian, jade, copper, gold, turquoise, basalt, sandstone, granite, rock crystal, wood, limestone, and amethyst, among other materials.
• Tropical cultures used animal skins and bird feathers to produce great works, and featherwork became a distinguished art form.

Key Terms

• Ashlar masonry: carefully cut and grooved stones that support a building without the use of concrete or other kinds of masonry
• Bandolier bag: a large heavily beaded pouch with a slit on top worn at the waist with a strap over the shoulders
• Chacmool: a Mayan figure that is half-sitting and half-lying on his back
• Corbel arch: a vault formed by layers of stone that gradually grow closer together as they rise and eventually meet
• Coyolxauhqui: an Aztec moon goddess whose name means “Golden Bells”
• Huitzilopochtli: an Aztec god of the sun and war; sometimes represented as an eagle or as a hummingbird
• Kiva: a circular room wholly or partly underground used for religious rites
• Potlatch: a ceremonial feast among northwest coast American Indians in which a host demonstrates his or her generosity by bestowing gifts
• Pueblo: a communal village of flat-roofed structures of many stories that are stacked in terraces; made of stone or adobe
• Relief sculpture: a sculpture that projects from a flat background
• Repoussé: (French, meaning “to push back”) a type of metal relief sculpture in which the back side of a plate is hammered to form a raised relief on the front
• Roof comb: a wall rising from the center ridge of a building to give the appearance of greater height
• Teepee: a portable Indian home made of stretched hides placed over wooden poles
• Tlaloc: ancient American god who was highly revered; associated with rain, agriculture, and war
• T’oqapu: small rectangular shapes in an Inkan garment
• Transformation mask: A mask worn in ceremonies by people of the Pacific Northwest, Canada, or Alaska. The chief feature of the mask is its ability to open and close, going from a bird-like exterior to a human-faced interior

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Chavin Art

• Chavín is a civilization in coastal Peru named after its main archaeological site.
• Chavín art features figural compositions combining human and animal motifs.
• Figures often unite various animal forms into one being, and are rendered with monumentality and symmetry.
• Works are carved in low relief on polished surfaces in rectangular formats.
• Chavín architects chose dramatic sites, sometimes on mountain tops, with buildings around a U-shaped plan facing a plaza and an expansive view.
• Stepped platforms support ceremonial buildings.
• The Chavín site seems to be coordinated with an adjacent river, which some say was a reference to water sources and their importance to society.

➼ Chavín de Huántar

• Details

  • 900–200 B.C.E.
  • Stone
  • Found in Northern Highlands, Peru

• Function

  • A religious capital.
  • Temple, 60 meters tall, was adorned with a jaguar sculpture, a symbol of power.
  • Hidden entrance to the temple led to stone corridors.

• Relief sculpture

  • Shows jaguars in shallow relief.
  • Located on the ruins of a stairway at Chavín.

• Images

  

➼ Lanzón Stone

• Details

  • 900–200 B.C.E.
  • Granite
  • Found in Peru

• Form

  • Inside the old temple of Chavín is a mazelike system of hallways.
  • Passageways have no natural light source; they are lit by candles and lamps.
  • At the center, underground, is the Lanzón (Spanish for “blade”) Stone; blade shaped; may also represent a primitive plough; hence, the role of the god in ensuring a successful crop.
  • Depicts a powerful figure that is part human (body) and part animal (claws, fangs); the god of the temple complex.
  • Head of snakes and a face of a jaguar.
  • Eyebrows terminate in snakes.
  • Flat relief; designs in a curvilinear pattern.
  • 15 feet tall.

• Function

  • Served as a cult figure.
  • Center of pilgrimage; however, few had access to the Lanzón Stone.
  • Modern scholars hypothesize that the stone acted as an oracle; hence a point of ­pilgrimage.
  • New studies show the importance of acoustics in the underground chamber.

• Image

  

➼ Nose Ornament

• Details

  • hammered gold alloy
  • Found in Cleveland Museum of Art

• Form

  • Worn by males and females under the nose.
  • Held in place by the semicircular section at the top.
  • Two snake heads on either end.

• Function: Transforms the wearer into a supernatural being during ­ceremonies.

• Context

  • Elite men and women wore the ornaments as emblems of their ties to the religion and eventually were buried with them.
  • The Chavín religion is related to the appearance of the first large-scale precious metal objects; revolutionary new metallurgical process.
  • Technical innovations express the “wholly other” nature of the religion.

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Mayan Art

• Mayan sculpture is distinctive due to the Mayan concept of beauty, featuring an arching brow and continuous bridge between forehead and nose.
• Head braces were used by the wealthy to create this symbol of beauty.
• Mayan sculpture typically features long, narrow faces with full lips and elaborate costumes made of feathers, jade, and jaguar skin.
• Relief sculpture was preferred for narrative art with crisp outlines and little attention given to modeling.
• Mayan sculpture is commonly found on architectural monuments such as lintels, facades, and jambs.
• The chacmool, a half-sitting and half-lying figure with a plate on its stomach, is a common Mayan sculpture.
• Mayan pyramids are accompanied by grand temples with narrow and tall interiors, accentuated by long roof combs.

➼ Yaxchilán

• Details
  • 725 CE
  • limestone
  • Found in Chiapas, Mexico
• Function
  • City set on a high terrace; plaza surrounded by important buildings.
  • Flourished c. 300–800 C.E.

➼ Structure 40

• Details

  • Overlooks the main plaza.
  • Three doors lead to a central room decorated with stucco.
  • Roof remains nearly intact, with a large roof comb (ornamented stone tops on roofs).
  • Corbel arch interior.

• Patronage: Built by ruler Bird Jaguar IV for his son, who dedicated it to him.

• Image

  

➼ Lintel 25, Structure 23

• Details

  • Overlooks the main plaza.
  • Three doors lead to a central room decorated with stucco.
  • Roof remains nearly intact, with a large roof comb (ornamented stone tops on roofs).
  • Corbel arch interior.

• Form and Content

  • The lintel was originally set above the central doorway of Structure 23 as a part of a series of three lintels.
  • Lady Xook (bottom right) invokes the Vision Serpent to commemorate her husband’s rise to the throne.
  • The Vision Serpent has two heads: one has a warrior emerging from its mouth, and the other has Tlaloc, a war god.
  • She holds a bowl with bloodletting ceremonial items: stinging spine and bloodstained paper; she runs a rope with thorns through her tongue.
  • She burns paper on a dish as a gift to the ­netherworld.
  • The depicted ritual was conducted to commemorate the accession of Shield Jaguar II to the throne.

• Function

  • Lintels intended to relay a message of the refoundation of the site—there was a long pause in the building’s history.
  • Shield Jaguar’s building program throughout the city may have been an attempt to ­reinforce his lineage and his right to rule.

• Context

  • The building is dedicated to Lady Xook, Shield Jaguar II’s wife.
  • The inscription is written as a mirror image—extremely unusual among Mayan glyphs; uncertain meaning, perhaps indicating she had a vision from the other side of existence and she was acting as an intercessor or shaman.
  • The inscription names the protagonist as Shield Jaguar II.
  • Bloodletting is central to the Mayan life. When a member of the royal family sheds his or her blood, a portal to the netherworld is opened and gods and spirits enter the world.

• Theory: Some scholars suggest that the serpent on this lintel and elsewhere depicts an ancestral spirit or founder of the kingdom.

• Image

  

➼ Structure 33

• Details

  • Overlooks the main plaza.
  • Three doors lead to a central room decorated with stucco.
  • Roof remains nearly intact, with a large roof comb (ornamented stone tops on roofs).
  • Corbel arch interior.

• Form

  • Restored temple structure.
  • Remains of roof comb with perforations.
  • Three central doorways lead to a large single room.
  • Corbel arch interior.

• Image

  

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Ancient Puebloans

• The Anasazi culture was referred to as "ancient ones" or "ancient enemies" in Navajo language.
• Anasazi is the name used for ancient puebloans known for their detailed pueblos made of local materials.
• Pueblos were made with a core of rubble and mortar, faced with polished stone veneer.
• The size of the overall superstructure was determined by the thickness of the base walls, with some pueblos reaching five or six stories tall.
• All pueblos had a defined plaza that served as the religious and social center of the complex.

➼  Mesa Verde Cliff Dwellings

• Details
  • Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi)
  • 450–1300 C.E.
  • Sandstone
  • Found in Montezuma County, Colorado
• Form
  • The top ledge houses supplies in a storage area; cool and dry area out of the way; accessible only by ladder.
  • Each family received one room in the dwelling.
  • Plaza placed in front of the abode structure; kivas face the plaza.
• Function
  • The pueblo was built into the sides of a cliff, housed about one hundred people.
  • Clans moved together for mutual support and defense.
• Context
  • Farming done on the plateau above the pueblo; everything had to be imported into the structure; water seeped through the sandstone and collected in trenches near the rear of the structure.
  • Low winter sun penetrated the pueblo; high summer sun did not enter the interior and therefore it stayed relatively cool.
  • Inhabited for two hundred years; probably abandoned when the water source dried up.
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Mississippian Art

• Population growth occurred due to increased agriculture and sustained communities in fertile areas.
• Eastern Native Americans were known for their mound-building and created numerous earthworks, some of which still exist today.
• City-states like Cahokia in Illinois were governed by huge mound complexes.
• Other mounds, like the Great Serpent Mound, were built in shapes of uncertain significance.
• Archaeologists are puzzled by many of these mounds, as they could only be fully appreciated from the air or a high vantage point that the mound builders did not have.

➼  Great Serpent Mound

• Details

  • Mississippian (Eastern Woodlands)
  • c. 1070 C.E.
  • earthwork/effigy mound
  • Found in Adams County, ­southern Ohio

• Context

  • Many mounds were enlarged and changed over the years, not built in one campaign.
  • Effigy mounds popular in Mississippian culture.
  • Associated with snakes and crop fertility.
  • There are no burials associated with this mound, though there are burial sites nearby.

• Theories

  • Influenced by comets? Astrological phenomenon? Head pointed to summer solstice sunset?
  • Theory that it could be a representation of Halley’s Comet in 1066.
  • Rattlesnake as a symbol in Mississippian iconography; could this play a role in interpreting this mound?

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Aztec Art

• Aztec art is best known for its abundance of gold jewelry, as well as intricately carved jade and turquoise pieces.
• Aztec religion was characterized by violent ceremonies that involved blood-letting.
• This aggressive nature of their religion is reflected in the art, with horrifying stone sculptures of deities such as Coyolxauhqui featuring human remains from sacrifices.

➼  Templo Mayor (Main Temple)

• Details

  • 1375–1520
  • Stone
  • Found in Tenochtitlán, Mexico City, Mexico

• Form

  • Pyramids built one atop the other so that the final form encases all previous pyramids; seven building campaigns.
  • Pyramids have a step-like series of setbacks; not the smooth-surfaced pyramids seen in Egypt.
  • Characterized by four huge flights of very vertical steps leading to temples placed on top.

• Function

  • Tenochtitlán was laid out on a grid; city seen as the center of the world.
  • The temple structures on top of each pyramid were dedicated to and housed the images of the two important deities.

• Context

  • Two temples atop a pyramid, each with a separate staircase:
  • North: dedicated to Tlaloc, god of rain, agriculture.
  • South: dedicated to Huitzilopochtli, god of sun and war.
  • At the spring and autumn equinoxes, the sun rises between the two.
  • Large braziers put on top where the sacred fires burned.
  • Temple structures housed images of the deities.
  • Temples begun in 1375; rebuilt six times; destroyed by the Spanish in 1520.
  • The destruction of this temple and reuse of its stones by the Spanish asserted a political and spiritual dominance over the conquered civilization.

• Image

  

➼  Coyolxauhqui “She of the Golden Bells”

• Details

  • 1469
  • volcanic stone
  • Found in Museum of the Templo Mayor, Mexico City

• Form

  • Circular relief sculpture.
  • Once brilliantly painted.
  • So called because of the bells she wears as earrings.

• Context

  • Coyolxauhqui and her many brothers plotted the death of her mother, Coatlicue, who became pregnant after tucking a ball of feathers down her bosom.
  • When Coyolxauhqui chopped off Coatlicue’s head, a child, Huitzilopochtli, popped out of the severed body fully grown and dismembered Coyolxauhqui, who fell dead at the base of the shrine.
  • This stone represents the dismembered moon goddess, Coyolxauhqui, who is placed at the base of the twin pyramids of Tenochtitlán.
  • Aztecs sacrificed people and then threw their dismembered remains down the steps of the temple as Huitzilopochtli did to Coyolxauhqui.
  • Aztecs similarly dismembered enemies and threw them down the stairs of the great pyramid to land on the sculpture of Coyolxauhqui.
  • A relationship was established between the death and decapitation of Coyolxauhqui with the sacrifice of enemies at the top of Aztec pyramids.

• Image

  

➼  Calendar Stone

• Form: Made of basalt.

• Context

  • Aztecs felt they needed to feed the sun god human hearts and blood.
  • A tongue in the center of the stone coming from the god’s mouth is a representation of a sacrificial flint knife used to slash open the victims.
  • Circular shape reflects the cyclic nature of time.
  • Two calendar systems, separate but intertwined.
  • Calendars synced every fifty-two years in a time of danger, when the Aztecs felt a human sacrifice could ensure survival.

• Image

  

➼  Olmec-style Mask

• Form: Made of jadeite.

• Context

  • Found on the site; actually a much older work executed by the Olmecs.
  • Olmec works have a characteristic frown on the face; pugnacious visage; baby face; a cleft in the center of the head carved from greenstone.
  • Shows that the Aztecs collected and embraced artwork from other cultures, including early Mexican cultures such as the Olmec and Teotihuacán.
  • Shows that the Aztecs had a wide-ranging merchant network that traded historical items.

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➼  Ruler’s Feather Headdress

• Details:

  • 1428–1520
  • feathers (quetzal and blue cotinga) and gold
  • Found in Museum of Ethnology, Vienna

• Form

  • Made from 400 long green feathers, the tails of the sacred quetzal birds; male birds produce only two such feathers each.
  • The number 400 symbolizes eternity.

• Function

  • Ceremonial headdress of a ruler.
  • Part of an elaborate costume.

• Context

  • Only known Aztec feather headdress in the world.
  • Feathers indicate trading across the Aztec Empire.
  • Headdress possibly part of a collection of artifacts given by Motechuzoma (Montezuma) to Cortez for Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire.
  • Current dispute over ownership of the headdress; today it is housed in the Museum of Ethnology in Vienna, Austria.

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Inkan Art

• Inkan architecture is remarkable for constructing cities in extremely challenging locations.
• Ashlar masonry with perfectly grooved and fitted stones was commonly used in Inkan buildings.
• The stones have slightly beveled edges that emphasize the joints and buildings tend to taper upward like a trapezoid.
• The Inka Empire spanned Chile to Colombia and had an organized system of roads for efficient communication.
• The Inka did not have a written language, so archaeology is a key source of knowledge about their civilization.

➼  Maize cobs

• Details

  • c. 1440–1533
  • sheet metal/repoussé, metal alloys
  • Found in Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

• Technique and Form

  • Repoussé technique.
  • Hollow metal object.
  • Life-size.

• Function

  • May have been part of a garden in which full-sized metal sculptures of maize plants and other items were put in place alongside actual plants in the Qorinkancha garden.
  • May have been used to ensure a successful harvest.

• Context

  • Maize was the principal food source in the Andes.
  • Maize was celebrated by having sculptures fashioned out of sheet metal.
  • Black maize was common in Peru; oxidized silver reflects that.

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➼ City of Cusco

• Details

  • C. 1440
  • Found in Peru

• Form

  • In the shape of the puma, a royal animal.
  • Modern plaza is in the place where the puma’s belly would be.
  • Head, a fortress; heart, a central square.

• Function: Historic capital of the Inka Empire.

• Image

  

➼  Qorikancha

• Details

  • main temple, church, and convent of Santo Domingo
  • c. 1440, convent added 1550–1650
  • Andesite
  • Found in Cusco, Peru

• Form

  • Ashlar masonry; carefully grooved and beveled edges of the stone fit together in a puzzle-like formation.
  • Slight spacing among stones allows movement during ­earthquakes.
  • Walls taper upward; examples of Inkan trapezoidal architecture.
  • Temple displays Inkan use of interlocking stonework of great precision.
  • Original exterior walls of the temple were decorated in gold to symbolize sunshine.
  • Spanish chroniclers insist that the walls and floors of the temple were covered in gold.

• Function

  • Qorikancha: golden enclosure; once was the most important temple in the Inkan world.
  • Once was an observatory for priests to chart the skies.

• Context

  • The location is important; placed at the convergence of the four main highways and connected to the four districts of the empire; the temple cemented the symbolic importance of religion, uniting the divergent cultural practices that were observed in the vast territory controlled by the Inkas.
  • Remains of the Inkan Temple of the Sun form the base of the Santo Domingo convent built on top.

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➼  Walls at Saqsa Waman (Sacsayhuaman)

• Details

  • c. 1440
  • Sandstone
  • Found in Peru

• Form

  • Ashlar masonry.
  • Ramparts contain stones weighing up to seventy tons, brought from a quarry two miles away.

• Context: Complex outside the city of Cusco, Peru, at the head of the puma-shaped plan of the city.

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➼  Machu Picchu

• Details

  • 1450–1540
  • Granite
  • Found in Central Highlands, Peru

• Form

  • Buildings built of stone with perfectly carved rock rendered in precise shapes and grooved together; thatched roofs.
  • Outward faces of the stones were smoothed and grooved.
  • Two hundred buildings, mostly houses; some temples, palaces, and baths, and even an astronomical observatory; most in a basic trapezoidal shape.
  • Entryways and windows are trapezoidal.
  • People farmed on terraces.

• Function

  • Originally functioned as a royal retreat.
  • The estate of fifteenth-century Inkan rulers.
  • So remote that it was probably not used for administrative purposes in the Inkan world.
  • Peaceful center: many bones were uncovered, but none of them indicate war-like ­behavior.

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➼  Observatory in Machu Picchu

• Details

  • 1450–1540
  • Granite
  • Found in Peru

• Form

  • Ashlar masonry.
  • Highest point at Machu Picchu.

• Function

  • Used to chart the sun’s movements; also known as the Temple of the Sun.
  • Left window: sun shines through on the morning of the winter solstice.
  • Right window: sun shines through on the morning of the summer solstice.
  • Devoted to the sun god.

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➼  Intihuatana Stone in Machu Picchu

• Context

  • Intihuatana means “hitching post of the sun”; aligns with the sun at the spring and the autumn equinoxes, when the sun stands directly over the pillar and thus creates no shadow.
  • Inkan ceremonies held in concert with this event.

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➼  All-T’oqapu Tunic

• Details

  • 1450–1540
  • camelid fiber and cotton
  • Found in Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C.

• Form

  • Rectangular shape; a slit in the center is for the head; then the tunic is folded in half and the sides are sewn for the arms.
  • The composition is composed of small rectangular shapes called t’oqapu.
  • Individual t’oqapu may be symbolic of individuals, events, or places.
  • This tunic contains a large number of t’oqapu.

• Function

  • Wearing such an elaborate garment indicates the status of the individual.
  • May have been worn by an Inkan ruler.

• Technique

  • Woven on a backstrap loom.
  • One end of the loom is tied to a tree or a post and the other end around the back of the weaver.
  • The movement of the weaver can create alternating tensions in the fabric and achieve different results.

• Context

  • Exhibits Inkan preference for abstract designs, standardization of designs, and an expression of unity and order.
  • Finest textiles made by women, a highly distinguished art form; this tunic has a hundred threads per square centimeter.

• Image

  

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North American Indian Art

• Local materials used for North American art: wood, clay, plant fibers, wool, and hides.
• Nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples created geometric designs on ceramics and highly decorated fabric with beading and weaving.
• Plains Indians illustrated hides to relate myths and events.
• European settlers brought new media and a curiosity about native art forms.
• Native American artists adapted traditional art forms to new media.
• European settlers acted as collectors and patrons for native American works.
• Native American artists began serving an emerging tourist industry that appreciated their artistry.
• Examples of native American artists: Cadzi Cody in hide painting and Maria Martínez in ceramics.

➼  Bandolier Bag

• Details

  • From Lenape (Delaware tribe, Eastern Woodlands)
  • c. 1850
  • beadwork on leather
  • Found in Museum of the American Indian

• Form

  • The bandolier bag has a large, heavily beaded pouch with a slit on top.
  • The bag was held at hip level with strap across the chest.
  • The bag was constructed of trade cloth: cotton, wool, velvet, or leather.

• Function

  • It was made for men and women; objects of prestige.
  • They were made by women.
  • Functional and beautiful; acted also as a status symbol as part of an ­elaborate garb.
  • Bandolier bags are still made and worn today.

• Context

  • Beadwork not done in the Americas before European contact.
  • Beads and silk ribbons were imported from Europe.
  • The bags contain both Native American and European motifs.

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➼  Transformation Mask

• Details

  • From Kwakwaha’wakw, Northwest Coast of Canada
  • late 19th century
  • wood, paint, and string
  • Found in Musée du Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, Paris, France

• Form: The mask has a birdlike exterior face; when opened, it reveals a second human face on the interior.

• Function

  • The masks were worn by native people of the Pacific. Northwest, centered on Vancouver Island.
  • They were worn over the head as part of a complete body costume.

• Context

  • During a ritual performance, the wearer opens and closes the transformation mask using strings.
  • At the moment of transformation, the performer turns his back to the audience to conceal the action and heighten the ­mystery.
  • Opening the mask reveals the face of an ancestor; there is an ancestral element to the ceremony.
  • Although these masks could be used at a potlatch, most often they were used in winter initiation rites ceremonies.
  • The ceremony is accompanied by drumming and takes place in a “big house.”
  • Masks are highly prized and often inherited.

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➼  Hide Painting of the Sun Dance

• Details

  • Attributed to Cotsiogo (Cadzi Cody)
  • Painted elk hide, Eastern Shoshone, Wind River Reservation, Wyoming,
  • c. 1890–1900,
  • Found in Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York

• Content

  • Depicts traditional aspects of the Plains people’s culture that were nostalgic rather than practical: bison hunted with bow and arrow—nomadic hunting gone; bison nearly extinct.
  • Hide paintings mark past events.
  • Bison considered to be gifts from the Creator.
  • Horses, in common use around 1750, liberated the Plains people.
  • Teepee: made of hide stretched over poles:
  • Exterior poles reach the spirit world or sky.
  • Fire represents the heart.
  • The doorway faces east to greet the new day.
  • The sun dance was conducted around a bison head, and was outlawed by the U.S. government; viewed as a threat to order.
  • The sun dance involved men dancing, singing, preparing for the feast, drumming, and constructing a lodge. They honored the Creator deity for the bounty of the land.
  • The warrior’s deeds were celebrated on the hide.

• Function

  • Worn as a robe over the shoulders of the warrior.
  • Perhaps a wall hanging.

• Context

  • Depicts biographical details; personal accomplishments; heroism; battles.
  • Men painted hides to narrate an event.
  • Eventually, painted hides were made for European and American markets; tourist trade.
  • Used paint and dyes obtained through trade.

• Image

  

➼  Black-on-black Ceramic Vessel

• Details

  • By Maria Martínez and Julian Martínez
  • From Tewa, Puebloan, San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico, mid-20th century
  • blackware ceramic
  • Found in Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C..

• Form

  • Black-on-black vessel.
  • Highly polished surface.
  • Contrasting shiny black and matte black finishes.
  • Exceptional symmetry; walls of even thickness; surfaces free of ­imperfections.

• Function

  • Comes from the thousand-year-old tradition of pottery making in the Southwest.
  • Maria Martínez preferred making pots using a new technique that rendered a vessel lightweight, less hard, and not watertight, as traditional pots were; this kind of vessel reflected the market shift away from utilitarian vessels to decorative objects.

• Technique

  • Used a mixture of clay and volcanic ash.
  • The surface was scraped to a smooth finish with a gourd tool and then ­polished with a stone.
  • Julian Martínez painted designs with a liquid clay that yielded a matte finish in contrast with the high shine of the pot itself.

• Context

  • At the time of production, pueblos were in decline; modern life was replacing traditional life.
  • Artists’ work sparked a revival of pueblo techniques.
  • Maria Martínez, the potter, developed and invented new shapes beyond the traditional pueblo forms.
  • Julian Martínez, the painter of the pots, revived the use of ancient mythic figures and designs on the pots.
  • Reflects an influence of Art Deco designs popular at the time.

• Image

  

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Chapter 27: African Art