Indigenous Americas 5.3

Indigenous Americas

1000 BCE- 1980 CE

 

TOPIC 5.3 Purpose and Audience in Indigenous American Art 

What is called “art” is considered to have, contain, and transfer life force rather than simply represent an image. Art requires participation not passive viewing.

The Mayan Artists

Art was produced primarily in workshops, but certain individual artists’ styles have been identified particularly Maya. Some works of art were signed. Artists were typically elite specialists and, among the Maya, the second sons of royalty.

Their Patrons and Audience

Rulers were the major, but not the only, patrons. Audiences were both large, for calendrical rituals in plazas, and small, for gatherings of priests and nobles inside small temples atop pyramids. Some audiences were supernatural, such as the elaborate graves considered to be in the underworld.

Functional Objects as Native American Art

Many Native American artworks are ritual objects to wear, carry, or use during special ceremonies in front of large audiences. Functionality of the object is preferred. The more active a work of art, the more it is believed to contain and transfer life force and power.

Artistic Practices

Artistic practices included workshops, apprentice-master relationships, and, less often, solitary art making. Some arts were a specialization by gender such as women weaving and men carving.

Patrons

Patrons might be the tribal leaders, an elder, or a family member. Audiences mostly were the entire group, though some objects and performances were restricted by their sacred or political nature.

Intellectual Pursuits

Intellectual pursuits apparent in artistic expressions include the observation of astronomy, creation of poetry, song, and dance. The use of medicine for curing and divining is also included here.

(5) 157. Templo Mayor (Main Temple)

Mexica (Aztec). 1375-1520 CE.

Learning Objective: Aztec religious complex

Themes:

Place of worship
Religion
Architecture
Offerings
Power
Violence
Passage of time
Ceremony
Cross-cultural

Templo Mayor (Main Temple) is in Tenochtitlan (modern Mexico City, Mexico).  The main temple is made from stone, while volcanic stone was used to form the Coyolxauhqui Stone. Meanwhile, jadeite was used to create the Olmec-style mask and basalt for the Calendar Stone. 

The temple is like a ziggurat or stepped mastaba, with a double-wide staircase that leads to a plateau, and two smaller temples on top. It was expanded upon by many different rulers and continually enlarged. This has resulted in a complex system of rooms and chambers on the interior.

Why was Templo Mayor Built?

Temple Mayor was built to honor the gods Tlaloc and Huitzilopochli. Tlaloc was the god of water, rain, agriculture, and fertility. The Aztecs created the blue and white Northern temple for this god.  Huitzilopochli was the god of  warfare, fire, sun and sacrifice  and the Southern temple of white and red was build for this god. Together, the gods symbolized “burning water” which connoted warfare.

The structure shows the Aztec belief that they could control and influence the cosmos. The spring and autumn equinox rise between the two temples. Temple Mayor was believed to be an axis mundi. It sat on the center of the four quadrants of the empire as a small version of the universe. It illustrated power, piety, and place of worship both daily and otherwise. It was the space where sacrifice occurred.

SUB-IMAGE 1 Coyolxauhqui Stone 

This circular stone, carved in low relief, was originally painted and measures 11 feet across. It represents the daughter of the maternal earth deity. The name means bells-on-her-face (golden bells decorate her cheeks). She is shown naked with sagging breasts and a stretched belly to indicate that she was a mother. She is also shown decapitated and dismembered.

The story is arranged in a pinwheel shape.  Coyol’s mother Coatlicue becomes pregnant.  Coyol is angry and with her 400 brothers, they attack Coatlicue. H emerges fully clothed and armed to defend his mother. He beheads Coyol and throws her body down a great mountain

This Parallels the Aztec cosmos. Coatlicue (Earth) gives birth to H (sun) who kills Coyol by slicing her (moon) while their siblings (stars) watch.

This stone is located at the bottom of the staircase of the Templo Mayor. By placing this at the bottom, the Aztecs made their temple parallel the mountain. Victims were sacrificed on the top. Then, their bodies were rolled down the staircase to fall atop the Coyol stone and to re-enact this myth. This was a powerful reminder to submit to Aztec authority.

SUB-IMAGE 2 Calendar Stone  

The Calendar Stone is a round, monolithic, low relief sculptural work that measures 12 feet in diameter and weighs 24 tons. It would have set on the ground or on a table.

This is not a calendar, but rather it records the cosmos as the Aztecs saw it. Priests used the calendar stone to determine sacrificial periods. It shows the authority, religiosity, and responsibility of the Aztecs to continue the cycle of time by continuing sacrifice.

It may have been the stone Aztec priests sacrificed victims on and placed in front of Huitzilopochli’s temple. In the Aztec creation story the gods called for human blood to repay the debt to the gods who sacrificed themselves to create humans. Therefore, human sacrifice was needed. The Aztecs had a cyclical world view in that time repeated and started over. The way to move forward was with sacrifice.

In the center we see Tlaltecuhtli the devouring earth god or Tonatiuh the sun god. The god is wearing earrings. The tongue is a sacrificial blade, and the hands hold a human heart.

Around the image is a sun shape that moves outward. The largest ray of sun points towards the cardinal directions. This is surrounded by a ring of 20 days – the basic unit of the Aztec calendar.

The cosmos was divided into four quadrants. So was Tenochtitlan and Templo Mayor. Other imagery represents different seasonal cycles and representations of gods/goddesses.

Images of various eras

• Current era is 5^th (symbolized by the central face with four rectangles protruding outward): Called Movement
• Four rectangles show the previous eras
• Jaguar; Wind; Rain; Water shows the ways in which the eras ended
• This world is Movement; we will die by earthquakes; Aztec empire is surrounded by volcanoes and fault lines.

SUB-IMAGE 3 Olmec-style mask

This mask is made from jadeite, which is a hard, green stone. Minerally, it is slightly different than jade.  The mask was not Aztec or made in Central Mexico but made 1,000 years earlier. It was brought here and was found in Templo Mayor, indicating its importance.

Art historians have a theory that it was probably worn around the neck during sacrifice and left at the temple for the gods. It was likely made by a group influenced by the Olmecs (Olmecs decline in 250 BCE or so). The Aztecs likely wanted to affiliate themselves with the Olmecs to draw a parallel between a great empire of the past (Olmecs) and a great empire now (Aztecs). This is just like how European kings constantly made associations between themselves and Roman emperors.

Thousands of objects have been found at the Templo Mayor. Some offerings demonstrated the Aztec’s awareness of the historical/cultural traditions of Mesoamerica.

Context 

Originally, the city Tenochtitlan was established on an island in the middle of Lake Texcoco, which is now Mexico City. Between 1519-1521 it was conquered by the Spaniards. Then it was flattened to build Mexico City upon. This was completed as a sign of European supremacy. It was discovered during an excavation in Mexico City in 1978.

Sacrifice was a major theme among Aztec religion. There was a belief was that Huitzilopochli needed energy every day to raise the sun. This required daily sacrifice and the priests would ritually eat the heart to symbolize Huitzilopochli’s intake of the sacrifice. This was used for intimidation for enemies.

(5) 164. Transformation mask.

 Kwakwaka’wakw, Northwest coast of Canada. Late 19^th century. CE.

Learning Objective: Native American mask

Themes:

Mask
Status
Deities
Animals in art
Religion
Cross-cultural
Ceremony
Technology
Ancestors
Materials with significance

Museum: Quai Branly Museum

The Transformation mask made by the Kwakwaka’wakw, in the Northwest coast of Canada is designed from wood, paint, and string. The wood chosen was red cedar, which was readily available, dense, and strong. The red color was linked to salmon, blood, sun, and fire, which were all considered sacred. Traditional colors also included black, white, and green.

This work was created prior to European contact and carved using hand tools and natural pigments. After European contact, practices changed. Masks were then carved using metal tools. Brighter and synthetic colors were introduced.

The style is referred to as formline. The word formline was coined in 1965 to describe the Northwest Coast visual culture. Masks, whether opened or closed, were bilaterally symmetrical. Here, there is a use of undulating, calligraphic black line and the eyes are ovoid shapes.

How was this Mask Used?

Masks were worn at potlatch or dance/ceremonies, which were performed by firelight and were used for special occasions to show birth, initiation, marriage, and death. They also aided to honor or interact with ancestors or spiritual beings as a totem or connection.

At the end of the dance, the mask was opened and it transforms into a different animal. During the potlatch, the dancer is transformed into the spirit represented on the mask.

Masks were part of story telling and were used to re-enact myths describing human origins. Humans were animals who shed their skins and danced to reveal human form. Only men who were initiated into the tribes could wear the mask.

Masks also were a show of social rank and a mark of status by asserting relationships with the spirit world. These objects also displayed the importance of a family or clan and were given as gifts to show wealth and high status.

The Background Story

The Transformation mask, would have been worn with a red cedar bark cloak. Masks were personal to the wearer and the wearer’s family. Figures depicted on them represent the dancer’s ancestral/spiritual counterparts

A Closer Look at this Mask

Closed:

• Raven head (father’s clan)
• Ravens are creator of physical world, bringer of light, tricksters (intellectual/secret knowledge but use it to play tricks on other

Open: 

• Human face and two snakes on each side (snakes: mother’s clan)
• Snakes: associated with protection of warriors
• Creation myth referenced with human face inside animal’s head

Context

• A 1,000 year old tradition (9^th – 19^th)
• Introduction of Christianity and colonization of Canada and US affected masking
• Potlatches were banned in 1885 until 1951 by the Canadian government
  • Considered immoral by Christian missionaries who believed cannibalism occurred
  • Many masks were confiscated and destroyed

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Indigenous Americas

1000 BCE- 1980 CE

TOPIC 5.4 Theories and Interpretations of Indigenous American Art