Art of Ancient
America
A world-class collection
travels to Albuquerque
BY RENA DISTASIO
It is a collection of breathtaking size and scope. One item, a pendant-sized Olmec-style mask featuring that
culture’s distinctive “jaguar-baby” face is so delicate as to be almost transparent. Another, a brightly colored
Mayan funeral urn crafted from clay to depict a half-monster, half-human face, is nearly two feet in height. There
are dozens of figurative pieces, from the whimsical and rough-hewn to the highly realistic and detailed. Vessels
abound—drinking cups, incense burners, bowls—some practical, others obviously meant for ritual use.
And then there is the “bling”—cast gold and gold-and-stone inlay pieces of astonishing intricacy and beauty.
At once familiar and yet so foreign, these objects are emblematic of the cultures that thrived throughout
Mexico and several South American countries for nearly 3000 years before European arrival. Who were these
peoples—the Olmec, the Maya, the Aztecs—with their complex cosmology, pantheon of deities, and highly
ritualized political and social life? How is it that some lived simple lives farming and fishing, while others tamed
impossibly tangled jungles to carve out highly sophisticated city-states of incredible political and economic power?
The world is about to gain fresh insight into these cultures thanks to a once-private collection now available
to the public. The collection was sparked by an adventure usually found only in books and movies—with a spirited
teenager as one of the main characters and the plot full of fortuitous meetings leading to the discovery of the ruins at
Bonampak in 1946. This ancient Mayan archaeological site in the Mexican state of Chiapas soon became famous for
its Temple of the Murals, where the walls and ceilings are covered in brightly-colored frescos depicting a great battle.
Fast forward nearly seven decades later. The teenager, now grown and a resident of Santa Fe, is donating
his world-class collection of ancient American art and artifacts, along with a substantial endowment, to the
Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. In turn, the Walters created an exhibition that will travel to several museums
throughout the United States, stopping first at the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History from June 10 to
August 26, 2012.
“The fact that this collector had been collecting for many, many years, that he started so early on—and
was one of the three outsiders who discovered Bonampak—makes this an unusual collection,” says Dorie
Reents-Budet, the project’s consulting curator and author of the accompanying catalog Exploring Art of the
Ancient Americas. But beyond that, she says, “It is important to receive a collection like this because it is so
culturally comprehensive, a fine seed collection that allows any museum to give the public at large a very
good sense of what they are looking at.”
And what they are looking at is not one or even several specific time periods or geographical locations.
Instead, the 300-plus artifacts represent nearly 3000 years of ancient Mesoamerican history, including
thirty-eight different cultures from Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, and northern portions of
Honduras. The periods covered include Formative Pre-classic (1200 BCE–100 CE), Classic (100–900 CE),
and Post-Classic (900–1521 CE).
As such, says Gary Vikan, director of the Walters, the collection offers visitors, academics, and scientists alike an
invaluable opportunity for research and contemplation. “People were studying Greek art in Roman times and studying
Pompeii and Herculaneum in the 17th century,” he says. “Every decade since has gone full bore on the antiquities and
medieval era and we have pretty much posed all the basic art historical questions and found some good answers. But
then you get to the Ancient Americas and we’re still in the infancy of our studies, still asking questions. That is exciting.”
The collection also offers the general public a rare glimpse into what art historians do behind the scenes. “One
of my interests is in the scientific examination of art,” Reents-Budet continues, “and the Walters is one of the few
museums with such an outstanding, well-rounded, and robust conservation department. This is an exciting
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new trend as museums begin to present their analytic data to the public so they
can really see what goes on behind the scenes.”
With this exhibition, Reents-Budet aimed to strike a balance between art,
science, and public edification. “Museums can no longer create an exhibition that is a lineup of a bunch of artifacts,” she says. “What you have to do
is start with an overarching narrative, select sub themes, and then go in and
develop that narrative and those themes. It becomes a combination of scholarship, visual impact, and didactics.”
Her task was even more challenging in this case because, she says, “When you
put up a Greek sculpture, you don’t have to explain who the Greeks were; we all have
a basic understanding of that culture. But not the ancient Americas. Still, you can’t
overwhelm the objects with label copy. Narrative and design have to work together.”
The approach, says Vikan, is certainly in keeping with the Walters’s overall
mission. “I want us to be a center for the research and history of this material,
its science, its preservation. At the same time, I want it to be meaningful to a
broad base of the general public—individuals, families, children, and the growing
population of south Baltimore.”
The exhibit that is traveling to the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History will
showcase around 125 items, mostly from the Classic Maya period, but will also
include some Aztec and Olmec pieces. “What I like best about this exhibit,” says
Andrew Connors, curator of art for the museum, “is its interesting mix of sacred and
everyday objects, giving us the rare opportunity to look at not just one, but many
ancient American cultures.”
The museum will also host a series of lectures and performances in
support of the exhibit, including an opening day lecture by Reents-Budet on
Sunday, June 10 at 1:00 p.m. Other scheduled events include a Family Night
on Thursday, June 21, 5:00–8:30 p.m.; a lecture by art historian Kristaan Villela
on the Mayan concept of time on Sunday, July 8 at 1:00 p.m.; Latin American musical performances throughout July and August; and a lecture by Andrew Connors on
“The Ancient Americas in Modern Art” on Thursday, August 16 from 5:00–8:30 p.m.
“The more that we in the Southwest know
As important to the ancient Americans
about other cultures, many of which were existing
as the grape was to the Greeks, the cacao
at the same time as ours, the more richly we can
bean figured heavily in Mayan cuisine,
understand our local heritage,” Connors says.
ceremony, and mythology. Studded with
sculpted cacao bean pods and a pictorial
“No culture lives in isolation, and those ideas of
panel of the Mayan maize god sprouting
[cultural and economic] trade and the constant
a cacao tree, this lidded earthenware vesrefinement of our heritage inspired by communisel from Early Classic Period Guatemala
is likely a drinking cup for the popular
ties are important. We feel very fortunate to bring
mixture of chili, spices, and chocolate
opportunities like this to the public.” >
prized throughout Mesoamerica for its
restorative properties.
PHOTO COURTESY THE WALTERS MUSEUM OF ART, BALTIMORE
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UPPER AND LOWER LEFT: COURTESY THE WALTERS MUSEUM OF ART, BALTIMORE; UPPER RIGHT: KATE RUSSELL
KATE FUSSELL
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Ancient American art runs the gamut from the
sacred to the secular. Figures like the couple
opposite (either loved ones or a shaman with
his patient) display a charming realism. At the
same time, a pervasive belief in the supernatural resulted in the creation of many effigies for a
variety of ritual purposes, some highly stylized
renditions mixing human with god- and animallike features. This jade pendant (above left)
illustrates the importance of the jaguar to the
mythology of the Olmec, who thrived along the
Gulf Coast of Mexico between 1200 and 400 BCE
as ancient America’s first great civilization. The
Mayan burial urn at left likewise embodies the
belief in the transmutation of human into godlike spirits at death. Above right is a silver alloy
ceremonial knife from Peru.
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KATE RUSSELL
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A grouping of figures from the region surrounding Colima, Mexico. The figure at left is from
Columbia and dates between 1200–1400 CE, indicating perhaps some seafaring contact with
Mexico. The figure at far right is from the Late Formative to Early Classic Periods, as are the
three knife/axe forms in front of him. A hallmark of Post-Classic Colima sculpture, the three
large incense burners in the middle feature the rounded eyes associated with the rain deity
Tlaloc as well as decorative elements symbolizing the ceiba tree, which represents the connection between heaven, earth, and the underworld in ancient American mythology.
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Left: Many objects such as this figural urn from
Zapotec, Oaxaca, Mexico, are discovered broken, and putting together the pieces becomes
an intriguing process for collectors and curators.
Not only do the items in the Walters collection
contribute greatly to the over all study of
Mesoamerican history, society, and cross-cultural
exchanges, they also help curators and historians
make their assessments regarding authentication.
This urn underwent extensive thermoluminescence testing, a process that measures ceramic
firing dates, and was determined to be authentic.
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This earthenware figure is from the
El Zapotal site in southern Veracruz,
Mexico, where many such hollow
figures were found. That most were
intentionally broken before burial
indicates their ritual importance. This
figure wears the jaguar headdress of
a warrior, but his closed eyes and
ropes around his neck and torso indicate he was most likely a prisoner,
and is perhaps now dead. He also
appears to be wearing a top made
from flayed human skin, a practice
common in rituals associated with
the god of agricultural renewal. R
KATE RUSSELL
The ballgame known as ōllamaliztli in the Aztecan
language has been popular in Mesoamerica going
back to nearly 1400 BCE. A sport with religious/
ritual overtones, it was played using a solid rubber
ball in a manner similar to racquetball, although
often the hips were used to move the ball instead
of a racquet-like object. This jadeite figure of
Olmec origin (Middle Formative Period) depicts a
ballplayer in full garb, including the characteristic
headband, loincloth, and hip wrap.
LEFT: KATE RUSSELL (2); RIGHT: COURTESY THE WALTERS MUSEUM OF ART, BALTIMORE
While volcanic stone carvings
like this maize deity from Mexico
in the Late Post-Classic Period
are sturdier than ceramics, they
do suffer from wear and tear.
Originally, this piece was covered in white stucco and red,
blue, and green pigment.
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