Chapter Nineteen

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Chapter Nineteen
Gardner's Art through the Ages, Concise Edition
by Fred Kleiner

• The Americas

Prepared by Kelly Donahue-Wallace Randal
Wallace University of North Texas
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Mesoamerica

• Dates and Places
• 1500BCE to 1521CE
• Mexico and Central America
• People
• Polytheistic
• Complex states
• Agriculture

Temple of Quetzalcoatl, Teotihuacan, third
century CE. Fig. 19-3.
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Mesoamerica

• Themes
• Gods
• Rulers
• Offerings
• Forms
• Conceptual
• Appearance varies by culture

Chacmool, Maya, Chichén Itzá, ca. 800900 CE.
Fig. 19-10.
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Mesoamerica

• Example
• Olmec
• Colossal heads of rulers
• Basalt stone
• Powerful images
• Face out from plaza

Colossal head, Olmec, 900400 BCE. Fig. 19-2.
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Mesoamerica

• Example
• Teotihuacan culture
• Place of the gods
• Densely populated city
• Avenue of the Dead
• Temple of the Sun, Pyramid of the Moon, Temple of
  Quetzalcoatl, Citadel

Teotihuacan, 50200 CE. Fig. 19-1.
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Mesoamerica

• Example
• Maya culture
• Ruler portrait in ritual dress
• Stele placed in public plaza
• Sacred precinct
• Name and date in hieroglyphic writing

Stele D, Ruler 13 (Waxaklajuun- Ubaah-Kawiil),
Maya, 736 CE. Fig. 19-4.
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Mesoamerica

• Example
• Maya culture
• Mesoamerican ball game
• Ritual purpose of game, mythology
• Lifelike, descriptive figure
• Wears ball player garb

Ball player, Maya, 700900 CE. Fig. 19-6.
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Mesoamerica

• Example
• Aztec culture
• Capital of empire
• Two temples atop pyramid
• Superimposed on earlier pyramids
• In sacred precinct

Great Temple, Aztec, Tenochtitlán, Mexico, ca.
14001500. Fig. 19-12.
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Mesoamerica

• Example
• Aztec culture
• Colossal relief sculpture at foot of pyramid
• Moon goddess killed by god Huitzilopochtli
• Political message related to sacrifice on pyramid

Coyolxauhqui, Aztec, ca. 1469. Fig. 19-13.
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South America

• Dates and Places
• 400BCE to 1532CE
• Peru, Colombia
• People
• Polytheistic
• Complex societies
• Agricultural

Embroidered funerary mantle, Paracas, first
century CE. Fig. 19-15.
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South America

• Themes
• Gods
• Portraits
• Offerings
• Forms
• Conceptual and optical approaches
• Varies by culture

Machu Picchu, Inka, Peru, 15th century. Fig.
19-18.
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South America

• Example
• Paracas culture
• Mantle to wrap the dead
• Cotton embroidered with alpaca, vicuña
• Real and mythical animal motifs
• Human figures

Embroidered funerary mantle, Paracas, first
century CE. Fig. 19-15.
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South America

• Example
• Nasca culture
• Gigantic lines
• Scored onto earth
• Defies human perception from ground
• Animals, geometry
• Pilgrimage routes?

Hummingbird, Nasca Plain, ca.500 CE. Fig. 19-16.
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South America

• Example
• Moche culture
• Painted portrait vessels
• Illustrate Moche life
• Stirrup spout
• Created with molds
• Portrait?

Vessel in the shape of a portrait head, Moche,
fifth to sixth century CE. Fig. 19-17.
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South America

• Example
• Inka culture
• Mountaintop city
• Known for masonry with dressed stones, no mortar
• Organized around plaza
• Windows and doors frame vistas

Machu Picchu, Inka, Peru, 15th century. Fig.
19-18.
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North America

• Dates and Places
• First century CE to present
• USA, Canada
• People
• Polytheistic
• Complex societies
• Sedentary and nomadic
• Agriculture and hunting

MARÍA MONTOYA MARTÍNEZ, jar, ca. 1939. Fig. 19-23.
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North America

• Themes
• Gods
• Offerings
• Utilitarian objects
• Nature/environment
• Forms
• Conceptual
• Forms vary by culture

Kiva mural, Ancestral Puebloan, late 15th to
early 16th century. Fig. 19-21.
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North America

• Example
• Mississippian culture
• Effigy mound
• Snake associated with crops and fertility
• Path of the comet?

Serpent Mound, ca. 1070. Fig. 19-19.
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North America

• Example
• Ancestral Puebloan culture
• US Southwest
• Cliff dwellings above valley
• Adobe construction
• Protection from elements

Cliff Palace, Ancestral Puebloan, ca. 11501300.
Fig. 19-20.
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North America

• Example
• Ancestral Puebloan Culture
• Kiva is spiritual in pueblo complex
• Images associated with agricultural fertility
• Lightning man, fish, eagles, seed, rainbow

Kiva mural, Ancestral Puebloan, late 15th to
early 16th century. Fig. 19-21.
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North America

• Example
• Hopi culture
• Katsina is supernatural spirit
• Personifies natural elements
• Dolls given to girls
• Rain-bringing deity, geometric design water

OTTO PENTEWA, katsina figurine, Hopi, carved
before 1959. Fig. 19-22.
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North America

• Example
• Kwakiutl culture
• Northwest coast
• Masks for rituals
• Mask with moving parts for ritual
• Transformative power

Eagle transformation mask, Kwakiutl, late 19th
century. Fig. 19-24.