ART OF THE AMERICAS
AFTER 1300
AZTECS
Tenochtitlan and the Codex
Mendoza
The Great Pyramid
Religious Sculpture:
iconography and style
Featherwork
INCAS
Masonry techniques
Machu Picchu: city-sanctuary
Textiles: between fashion and
writing
The Aztec Empire
“When we saw so many cities and villages built on the
water and other great towns
and that straight and level causeway going towards
[Tenochtitlan],
we were amazed … on account of the great towers and
[temples] and buildings raising from the water, and all
built of masonry.
And some of our soldiers even asked whether the things
that we saw were not a dream”
http://www.history.com/videos/the-aztecs#ask-historywhat-happened-to-the-aztecs
First page of a codex by
Aztec artists for the Spanish
viceroy
The Founding of
Tenochtitlan, from Codex
Mendoza. Aztec, 16th
century. Ink and color on
paper, h. 12 3/8, University of
Oxford
Symbolic illustration of the
founding and ideal map of
the capital:
Legend of Eagle and pear
cactus (tenochtili)
The Founding of
Tenochtitlan, from Codex
Mendoza. Aztec, 16th
century. Ink and color on
paper, h. 12 3/8, University of
Oxford
City divided into 4 quarters
by waterways
The Founding of
Tenochtitlan, from Codex
Mendoza. Aztec, 16th
century. Ink and color on
paper, h. 12 3/8, University of
Oxford
Quarters and wards
•  Aztec conquests
Great Pyramid (sacred precinct)
Sacred Precinct of Tenochtitlan, Reconstruction. (National
Museum of Anthropology of Mexico City)
PYRAMID OF THE SUN,
Teotihuacan, Mexico,
100-650 CE
TEMPLE OF THE INSCRIPTIONS,
Palenque, Mexico. Maya Culture, 5th
– 8th cent. CE
Mexico City,
Excavated
remains of the
Main Temple in
the Sacred
Precinct of
Tenochtitlan
The Goddess
Coatlicue,
Aztec,
1487-1520.
Basalt, h. 8’
6”, Museo
Nacional de
Antropologia,
Mexico City
Iconography:
2 serpents form her head
(1 eye each, their mouths
her mouth)
Necklace of human body
parts + a skull
Twisted serpent skirt
(meaning of Coatlicue)
clawed hands and feet
(bird-serpent
combination)
The Goddess
Coatlicue,
Aztec,
1487-1520.
Basalt, h. 8’
6”, Museo
Nacional de
Antropologia,
Mexico City
Form: Duality (symmetries), frontal, symmetrical, intricate yet simple/solid,
originally colored
Described as covered by blood
Iconography
and style
influenced by
Teotihuacan
Temple of the Feathered
Serpent, Teotihuacan,
Mexico, after 350CE
Importance of color in
sculpture, architecture and
fashion
Moctezuma’s gift to Cortes
(known as Moctezuma’s
Crown)
Feathers of a variety of birds reed frame
Ceremonial use:
re
Feather Headdress of Moctezuma, before 1519,
Quetzal, macaw parrot and other feathers on a
reed frame, Vienna
QUETZAL bird
with long tale
Flying serpent:
combination duality
-underworld / sky
-death / rebirth
16th cent. Inca empire one of
the largest of the world
(expansion 15th cent.)
Ethnically and linguistically
diverse - strong unifying religion,
bureaucracy, taxes
Immediate distruction
Capital: Cuzco, Andes
Mountains
http://www.history.com/shows/mankind-decoded/videos/mankind-the-storyof-all-of-us-rise-of-the-incas#mankind-the-story-of-all-of-us-rise-of-the-incas
Machu Picchu, Peru. Inca, 1450-1530, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeyZxu3mW-Y
On Hiram Bingham and the archaeological discovery:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/inca/machu_picchu.html
- 
Great altitude
- 
Sophisticated infrastructures (complex masonry
constructions, water system)
- 
No trace of fights/war
- 
No trace of forced labor (no slaves)
- 
No weapons (sanctuary?)
- 
Sun observatory / sanctuary
- 
Terrace construction – maze
2 kinds: irregular or rectangular blocks
http://mediaplayer.pearsoncmg.com/media_flash_set.width.300___set.height.420___set.title.Inca_Masonry__/
ph/hss/SSA_SHARED_MEDIA_1/art/archSim/IncaIrregular-B.mov
Polygonal stone walls
Smooth-surfaced stone walls
Video on Mach Picchu masonry techniques and terraces:
http://www.history.com/topics/machu-picchu/
videos#machu-picchu
Ancient tradition of textile production
in the Andes
No writing: history, accounts,
kept on QUIPU, knotted and
colored cords
Complex math
Compared to computer
language
Tunic, Inca, c. 1500,
Wool and cotton, h.
Mantle -- Peru, Paracas
35 7/8”
NECROPOLIS 200 BCE 200 CE
Formal: variety of colors,
complex geometric designs
military, religious function
Iconography of patterns
Color/motifs are standardize -->
recognizable
Checkerboard=
military officer
4 parts = Inca
empire called
Land of the 4
Quarters