Toltec Relief

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Relief Sculptures
1.) What do you see? 2.) What does it mean? 3.)
How do you know?
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• Sculptures

Sculpture throughout the Americas was often
ceremonial, with heads or full figures of gods
carved in low or high relief. Very often, human
or animal forms became highly stylized.
Animal-human gods were carved with the type of
symbolism seen on the Temple of Quetzalcoatl or
the clay funeral urns.
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MesoamericanToltec Art
Central America - Post Classical Period 900
-1200AD
MesoamericanToltec Art

• Website

Website
Toltec culture thrived between the greatest
periods of the Maya and the Aztec culture
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Maya 300 900 AD
Toltec 900 -1200AD
Aztec 1280 - 1519 AD
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Tula (Capital of the Toltecs)

• Ancient city in Mexico, the capital of the
  Toltecs, which flourished in the 9th 12th
  centuries. Its exact location is uncertain the
  archaeological site now designated Tula has been
  the choice of historians.
• The Tula site suggests a city that had a
  population in the tens of thousands. The major
  civic centre consists of a plaza bordered by a
  five-stepped pyramid, two other pyramids, and two
  ball courts.

Tula's art and architecture are strikingly
similar to those of the Aztec and its artistic
themes suggest that the Aztecs' concept of
themselves as warrior-priests of the sun god was
borrowed directly from Tula.
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The Rise of an Empire

• The Toltec Empire appeared in the Central Mexico
  area in the 10th century AD, when they
  established their central city of Tula. It is
  believed that the Toltecs were refugees from the
  northern Teotihuacán culture and migrated after
  its fall in 700 AD.
• Little is known directly about the Toltecs
  because the Aztecs plundered the Tula ruins for
  building materials for their nearby capital,
  destroying most of the historical evidence that
  remained. Much of what we know about the Toltecs
  comes from legends carried on about them by later
  cultures.

Atlantes statues are columns in the form of
Toltec warriors in Tula
The Toltec Empire was the first of the extreme
militaristic cultures in the region that used
their might to dominate their neighbors, a trend
associated with the later cultures in the region,
especially the Aztecs. Eventually the empire
spread across most of Mexico, Guatemala, and as
far south as the Yucatan, as they conquered lands
previously controlled by the Mayans.
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Art and Entertainment

• The Toltec Empire and leaders created an
  unmatched mystique in the minds of the Central
  American people. The Toltec leaders were thought
  of as being alongside deities. Later cultures
  often revered them and copied their legends, art,
  buildings and religion. Many future rulers of
  other cultures, including Mayan leaders and Aztec
  emperors, claimed to be descended from the
  Toltecs.
• The Toltecs sported the familiar ball game played
  by many central American cultures and may have
  sacrificed of the losers. Toltecs are known for
  their somewhat rougher form of architecture, a
  form that would later inspire the Aztec builders.
  Toltec art is characterized by walls covered with
  snakes and skulls, images of a reclining
  Chac-mool (red jaguar), and the colossal statues
  of the Atlantes, men carved from great columns.

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Religion and Legend

• There are thousands of gods throughout Ancient
  Latin America. Religion has always been a
  prominent factor for social structure. Religion
  is a common belief of a community and serves as
  the backbone of a culture.
• The greatest benefit of the many gods of the
  people of Latin America was the emotional
  satisfaction of the people. They were emotionally
  satisfying in the sense that they served as
  explanations of normal everyday occurrences.
• All known cultures have evidence of worshipping a
  higher power, whether it was a god or other
  supernatural being. Gods were worshipped because
  they symbolize answers for the uncontrollable
  fate of humans.

Religion in the Toltec Empire was dominated by
two major deities. The first, Quetzalcoatl, is
shown (above, left) as a plumed, feathered
serpent. This deity of learning, culture,
philosophy, fertility, holiness and gentility was
absorbed from earlier cultures in the area. His
rival was Tezcatlipoca, (right) the smoked
mirror, known for his warlike nature and tyranny.
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The Decline

• The Toltec Empire lasted until the 12th century,
  when it was destroyed by the Chitimecs and other
  attacking groups.
• The Toltec people were absorbed by the conquerors
  and in the south they became assimilated with the
  Maya, subordinates to the people they once
  conquered.
• After the fall of the Toltecs, central Mexico
  fell into a period of chaos and warfare without
  any single ruling group for the next 200 years,
  when the Aztecs gained control

Chac-mool (red jaguar)
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Toltec Relief

• While stone relief panels with this image
  decorate architectural structures at Tula,
  capital of the Toltec people in central Mexico,
  and at the Maya site of Chichén Itzá in Yucatan,
  this example of carved limestone was apparently
  found in the northern part of the Mexican state
  of Veracruz. It depicts a raptor in profile.
• The head is bent and the impressive bird pecks at
  a tri-lobed object held in a massive talon. The
  motif is believed to represent an eagle devouring
  a human heart. In ancient Mexican thought,
  eagles, souring high into the sky, were symbols
  of the sun. The sun needed strength to survive
  the dangerous nightly journey through the
  darkness of the underworld, and then to rise
  again each morning. It was the obligation of
  human beings to provide nourishment for the sun's
  journey. That food was in the form of human
  hearts and blood.
• This panel, along with another similar relief,
  was among the first Precolumbian Mexican objects
  to enter the Museum collection.

Eagle Relief, 10th13th centuryMexico Toltec
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Mexican Relief Depicting a Quetzal

• Pictured above the Quetzal-butterfly carved on
  the columns of the Quetzal-Papaltl Palace adorned
  with obsidian (volcanic glass) eyes and
  surrounded by symbols of water and fire.

A brilliant green and red bird.
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Ralph PrataScratching the Surface
website
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• Vibrations and lyrics from different musical
  compositions unlock his inner creative vision,
  resulting in seemingly ancient images.

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• Prata believes that concrete, which has always
  been around and used both functionally and
  creatively, is being rediscovered by many
  craftspeople due to its versatility, availability
  and cost.

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• My works are dreamlike perceptions of some
  universal quality of the past, present and
  future, he says. Each piece is created through
  a spontaneous and improvisational process.

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• He advises anyone looking to take an
  unconventional route to get advice from people
  working in similar materials (cement). Hes a
  true believer that experimenting always opens
  doors for new concepts and new ideas.

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Pratas pieces are designed to be open to the
interpretation of the collector. The works do
not document particular life ways or tell
stories they are to touch the spirit and
imagination, making the viewer feel free to find
their own vision, he says.
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Crafts vs Fine Art

• Ralph Prata calls himself a craftsman. What is
  the difference between crafts and fine art? What
  role does functionality have?
• Art and Craft Difference