Pre-Columbian art

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Stone of the sun

Pre-Columbian art is the art of the Indian peoples before the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus in 1492 and their colonization in the 16th century. In a narrower sense, it includes above all textiles and ceramics, stone sculptures and reliefs, as well as the painting and architecture of the Meso and South American high cultures .

Toltec statues in Tula , 11th century

Due to a rudimentary written culture , art was of particular importance as the most important communication medium for the American indigenous population . Very few pre-Columbian cultures, however, had their own word for art, as it was usually inextricably linked with everyday life, myth and religious ritual. Since these cultural traditions are often finally broken off and can only be proven archaeologically, the interpretation of the works of art that bear witness to them is often difficult.

history

A characteristic of pre-Columbian art is the constant change between more naturalistic and more abstract forms, which did not take place continuously but in phases. The decision for or against a certain style was solely an expression of cultural taste and not a purposeful development from an archaic to a more progressive aesthetic. Due to the heterogeneity of artistic traditions, periodizations are only possible within individual cultures. Pre-Columbian art is almost without exception unsigned, so that individual artists are not known.

The oldest artifacts in South America are cave paintings in the Caverna da Pedra Pintada in Brazil , dating back to the 12th millennium BC. To be dated. A zigzag line applied with red paint to a bison skull , found at a hunting ground of the Folsom culture in Oklahoma , is considered the oldest known painting in North America and dates between 10,900 and 10,200 BC. Chr.

North America

Ceramic bowl of the Chaco Canyon culture , 11. – 13. century

In North America, especially on the west coast and in the eastern forest countries around the great lakes and the Mississippi, Indian cultures developed very early, which were active in handicrafts and artistic. Their works were often traded very widely and sometimes crossed half the continent before they found their final owner. For this reason, the objects found cannot often be clearly assigned to a specific culture. In addition, the Indians often used rapidly perishable materials, which is one reason why pre-Columbian North American art is generally less well researched than that of Meso and South America. This applies, for example, to artefacts made of wood, textiles and the art of weaving, but also especially to artistic forms of expression such as the sand pictures of the Navajo Indians, whose origins are apparently far in the past. Archaeologically very significant sites are the mounds , which served as grave or ceremonial sites .

North America can be divided into different cultural areas, which are socially, economically and religiously differentiated mainly by the multifaceted geography and the different climatic conditions of the continent. Since 1978, the subdivision of the Smithsonian Institution has become widespread. It divides North America into the following areas: Arctic, Subarctic, Northwest Coast, California, Southwest, Great Basin, Plateau, Prairie and Plains, Northeast and Southeast.

Arctic, Subarctic and Northwest Coast

Ivory carving in the shape of a polar bear, Dorset culture

The prehistoric Ipiutak and Okvik cultures of the Arctic, from which the Thule culture later emerged, had only a few materials available in which to do handicrafts. They left mostly figurative carvings from walrus - ivory , mainly in the form of animal figures and masks. Later Arctic cultures continued this tradition; The stylistic subtleties that developed in the process often make it possible to break them down more precisely. In addition to bones, the Aleutians and Eskimos also used driftwood for their carving work.

The north-west coast, on the other hand, offered its inhabitants comparatively good living conditions: The sea was rich in fish and dense forests were directly adjacent to the coast, in which deer and other animals could be hunted. Wood processing came up very soon, mainly the wood of the giant tree of life was used. The tools used for carving were made of sharp flint blades ; Metalworking techniques were only introduced by the Europeans. The works weathered quickly and barely survived 100 years, so that today almost only the axes and hammers attest to the carving skills of these cultures.

California, Plateau and Great Basin

California was almost completely isolated from the other cultures of North America by the Great Basin and the Columbia Plateau. The most important artistic forms of expression of its inhabitants were basketry , which can basically be considered the "mother" of North American Indian art and was used here instead of ceramics to make most of the vessels, and rock art in the form of petroglyphs and cave paintings . The art of braiding developed no later than the 3rd millennium BC. At the time of the arrival of the Europeans, it was already so advanced that, in contrast to all other forms of art and craft, it was hardly influenced by them in the centuries thereafter. The materials used included grass and palm lilies , which were then decorated with mineral or vegetable colors. In addition to simple braiding, the Indian women, who according to myth are said to have learned the art from the gods themselves at the beginning of time, also developed the twisted weave and the spiral bead technique, which led to very variable patterns and surface structures.

Rock paintings were an important medium of art on the west coast of North America even after the end of the archaic period. Very few of these representations are likely to be older than 5000 years, some of the best known, such as the one from Newspaper Rock in Canyonlands National Park , only date from the time after the European discovery of the New World - this can be recognized, for example, by the representation of horses , which are classified as neobiota only came to America with the conquistadors . The more marginal cultures of the Great Basin and the Plateau show in their art a mixture of influences from the surrounding peoples of the Northwest and the Plains Indians. Particularly noteworthy are the approximately 2000 year old soapstone sculptures that were found on the Fraser River and that probably played a role in initiation rites.

Prairie and plains

The nomadic way of life of the prairie Indians meant that their art was mostly small and so easy to transport. They showed particular craftsmanship in the sculptural design of pipe bowls made of catlinite , which was extracted from the sacred quarries of Minnesota . Other forms of handicraft activity were the color design of leather, which before contact with the Europeans used almost exclusively geometric patterns, and bead-knotting.

Northeast and southeast

Copper pectorals in the shape of a falcon from the Hopewell culture , 200 BC. Chr. - 100 AD
Basket from the basketmaker period of the Pueblo Indians , around 450–750

Some of the richest and most developed cultures in North America developed in the eastern forest lands of the Great Lakes and along the Mississippi . Among them, the Adena culture , the Hopewell culture and the Mississippi culture should be mentioned by name. In the mounds they created , materials that perish more quickly, such as wood, were often well preserved. The Caddo and Calusa cultures left behind some artistically designed wooden masks and figures, some of which can be dated back to the 13th century. In addition to the conserving cavities of the Spiro Mounds in Oklahoma , the low-oxygen swamp soil in Florida also preserved many wood carvings from decay.

Although the North American Indians did not develop any techniques for smelting metal, the so-called old copper cultures developed here, which were able to process the copper , which occurs in great purity , into artistic objects by cold hammering without having to melt it down beforehand. While tools were primarily made at the beginning, artists made them from around 1000 BC. Mainly jewelry and other prestige objects, which indicates an increasing hierarchization of their society.

A large number of ceramics have also been preserved. At the Poverty Point archaeological site in Louisiana , figurative artefacts and carved ceramics were found that date back to the 18th to 10th centuries BC. To be dated. The members of the Mississippi culture left behind particularly richly decorated pottery, who, thanks to agriculture and cultural exchange with the Mesoamerican cultures, established the most developed and prosperous communities in North America, which, however, were almost completely depopulated soon after the arrival of the Europeans as a result of the diseases introduced .

In addition, the Indians of the woodlands developed the wampum trade and other forms of pearl embroidery, which, in addition to shells, made use of a wide variety of gemstones made of mottled and grained slate or soapstone .

southwest

The south-west of North America is the home of the Pueblo Indians , whose art tradition developed in close exchange with the high cultures of Mesoamerica. As in many other parts of North America, basket weaving preceded ceramics; the basketmaker culture formed the formative of their art. However, as the Mogollon and Anasazi cultures became more settled, so did pottery. The Hohokam -Indianer mined the gemstones Turquoise and Jett , which they partly self processed or exported to the Aztecs.

Mesoamerica

Fresco depicting battle, Cacaxtla , around 700

Mesoamerica is the place of origin of several advanced cultures, which were very similar in their political, economic and cultural traits and of which the Maya and the Aztecs are the best known. The prerequisite for their ascent was from around 1500 BC. Demonstrable cultivation of maize , which stabilized the peoples of Central America economically and socio-culturally. Around the same time, supra-regional trade in rare raw materials and goods began, especially with the volcanic glass obsidian , which was to be of great importance both as a material and a tool in art history. Together with the production of ceramics, this formed the basis for the urban revolution that then took place and which can be archaeologically proven in the numerous pre-Columbian ruins .

Mesoamerican art is largely iconographical and therefore often only to be understood in the context of religious and cosmological ideas as well as ritual practices and ceremonies. The Maya finally developed an aesthetic in which not only what was artistically represented, but also the artistic act of creation as such was increasingly brought into consciousness and reflected. The supraregional influence of the Mesoamerican civilizations is also noticeable in North and South America, for example in the Indian Mississippi culture , whose trade routes stretched into the Gulf of Mexico , and in the South American Chavín culture , which has numerous stylistic characteristics with the Olmecs Splits.

Olmecs

El Señor de las Limas , nephrite sculpture from the Mexican Olmec culture, around 1000–600 BC Chr.

Between 1500 and 500 BC Olmecs with their urban centers in La Venta and San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán , which can be traced back to BC, formed the earliest advanced civilization in Mesoamerica and, due to their influence on the Zapotecs and Maya, are often regarded as their “mother culture”. They may have emerged from the Mokaya culture or developed parallel to it. The oldest artistic evidence of the Olmecs are ceramics; Above all with their monumental stone sculptures, face masks and the famous colossal heads made of jade and basalt as well as architectural achievements such as the ceremonial pyramids, they had a lasting impact on the art and culture of Central America. The surviving figures and figurines are comparatively naturalistic in style, the majority of them depicting people or jaguars . In comparison, figurative representations of animals are rather rare. The sculptural repertoire of the Olmec included not only sculptures but also steles and reliefs.

Izapa

Izapa was between 500 BC. BC and 300 AD one of the largest cities in Mesoamerica. The culture of its inhabitants is considered to be influenced by the Olmecs and Mokaya, and in turn shaped that of the Maya. The most important art was sculpture, which worked less figuratively than the Olmec before, but mainly created steles and altars covered with reliefs. In the decor, the artists often showed remarkable originality and a penchant for mythical illusions , chimeras and metamorphoses ; An example is the crocodile shown on stele 25, which transforms into a tree with birds in the branches.

Teotihuacan

Teotihuacan sculpture

The culture of Teotihuacán is often considered to be the classic period of Mesoamerican pre-Columbian art alongside that of the Zapotecs and Maya. The city's architecture, which dates from around 500 BC. And was the most important cultural center in the central highlands of Mesoamerica for over five hundred years since 100 AD, its Talud-tablero style and the centrally located sun pyramid are characteristic of the entire epoch. The most important surviving art form in Teotihuacán is the colorful wall painting, which is in harmony with the architecture and can be found in almost all buildings and has a large variety of motifs and symbols. Sculptures, such as painting, are mostly integrated into the buildings and highly abstracted, hundreds of masks made of jade and alabaster and ceramics testify to the advanced cultural development of the city.

Zapotecs

Geometric reliefs in Mitla
Mixtec goldsmithing (with turquoise inclusions), from Yanhuitlan

The southern Mexican Zapotecs with their capital in Monte Albán were very close to the culture of Teotihuacán and reached their heyday in the first eight centuries AD. They developed a system of writing and numbers that may be considered the oldest in America, and they left behind ceramics and sculptures in great numbers. The grave urns made of fired clay, which are often figurative and depict gods and ancestors, are particularly characteristic. Architecturally significant is above all the independent, in Mesoamerica unique geometric wall ornamentation in Mitla , the second ceremonial center of the Zapotecs after Monte Albán. The structural concept of the city and the design of the walls may be based on Mixtec influences. The walls are covered like a mosaic with meanders , zigzag and triangular patterns, inside there are isolated paintings in white on a red background.

Maya

Codex Dresdensis of the Maya, around 1200
Painted ceramic vessel, Maya culture, around 600–900

The Maya developed the richest and longest continuous tradition of pre-Columbian art. It unfolded from around 500 BC. BC to the Spanish colonial period, i.e. over a period of almost two thousand years, and went through a continuous development that is often divided into a pre-classical, classical and post-classical phase. Further cultural and art-historical breakdown options arise geographically through the division of the Maya-populated territory into high and lowlands. For a long time, the center of Mayan culture was on the Yucatán Peninsula , and the finds from the jungle-surrounded city of Palenque combine numerous particularly typical features of Mayan art.

The most representative genre is sculpture, which produced the characteristic steles covered with reliefs and hieroglyphics and which stylistically influenced architecture and painting. In addition to stone, the Maya also used all the other materials available to them, including wood, ceramics, stucco and textiles. The processing of precious metals, which were used almost exclusively as a material and only very rarely as a tool, only emerged late. Instead, predominantly hard rock such as diorite and basalt was used to process the materials.

The early Mayan art is still based on foreign models, but in the 7th century at the latest the typical own style was developed, the initially calm, almost stiff composition also became freer and more dynamic towards the end of the 8th century. The entire spectrum from vessels to figurative goods, which were often used as grave goods, can be seen in ceramics. The Jaina necropolis in particular bears witness to this . The pottery is the bearer of the most impressive and varied paintings from the Maya period; The art of painting is also represented by wall paintings, the colored design of sculptures and the illuminated manuscripts.

Toltecs, Mixtecs and Aztecs

Aztec or Mixtec turquoise mosaic in the form of a double-headed snake, 15th – 16th centuries. century
Aztec Coatlicue statue, 13th-16th centuries century

The artistic tradition of the Toltecs , Mixtecs and Aztecs is often summarized as the post-classical period of Mesoamerican pre-Columbian art. The art of the Toltecs goes back to that of Teotihuacán, that of the Mixtecs is based on Zapotec traditions. The Aztecs subjugated cities of both peoples, often had their handicraft artifacts paid as tribute and made their styles, motifs and techniques their own; this conglomerate created a great artistic wealth. The main means of expression in Toltec art were sculpture and relief, the Mixtec culture, on the other hand, made use of painting and was characterized by high-quality ceramics and goldsmithing.

Although the militarization of the Mesoamerican empires was accompanied by profanation, the Coatlicue statue , which is over two meters high, is one of the most famous Aztec sculptures, especially ritually of great importance. The same applies to the Stone of the Sun and the Stone of Tizoc, which probably played a role in the sacrificial cult and are two of the most important examples of Aztec relief art. Pre-Columbian Aztec codices were largely destroyed by the European colonizers, but the artistic tradition continued for several decades even under Spanish rule.

South America

Ceramic llama figurines from the Chancay culture , around 1000–1470
Ceramic figurine of the Recuay culture, 100 BC Chr. - 300 AD

The pre-Columbian South American art finds its most important representatives in the high cultures of the Andean region , especially in the culture of Chavín and the Inca Empire. Outside of this cultural area, it developed particularly in the so-called "intermediate area" in Central America, which established a geographical, economic, but cultural connection between the Mesoamerican and South American urban civilizations. The Quimbaya culture , for example , which blossomed in what is now Colombia , is characterized primarily by outstanding work in the field of goldsmithing . Elsewhere, for example, the inhabitants of the Brazilian island of Marajó produced high-quality and artistically designed ceramics very early on.

In comparison to Mesoamerica, the Andean cultures place great importance on the cult of the dead. While the deceased in Central America were often buried not far from the living or even in the middle of the cities, cultures in South America usually set up spacious cemeteries and necropolises and furnished the graves with rich grave goods . This favored increased production of ceramics and textiles, which were either made specifically for the dead or had to be replaced with new goods after their burial. Also noteworthy are the monumental geoglyphs , alongside those of the Nazca, especially those in the Atacama Desert , among which the so-called Giant of Atacama is the largest.

Chavin

The Chavín culture is considered to be the oldest known high culture in South America. It developed parallel to the Olmec culture and is very similar to it in many ways. The Lanzón , one of the most famous sculptures from Chavín, comes from the temple dedicated to the god of the same name north of the main pyramid and comes from the early days of culture. The Raimondi stele , however, can be assigned to the late phase . Stylistically typical are relatively strict symmetry and the constant repetition of motifs that lead to the formation of patterns. Carnivorous animals with oversized claws, claws and teeth, which obviously played a major role in the iconography of culture, are particularly frequently represented in the composite figures made up of the most varied of creatures.

Paracas and Nazca

Paracas culture woven goods , 1st century
Lord of Sipan
Ceramic figure of a woman giving birth, Moche culture , around 50–800
Ceramic figure , Moche culture , around 50–800

The Chavín culture exerted a considerable influence on a civilization that emerged on the Paracas peninsula , which lasted from around 900 to 200 BC. Existed. Due to the dry desert climate, quickly ephemeral materials such as textiles were obtained from the Paracas culture , which are exceptionally well preserved and skillfully decorated and are counted among the most beautiful and high-quality woven works in America. In addition, mainly ceramics have been preserved, which also testify to the craftsmanship of their creators, but are only sparsely decorated, and some objects made of gold. The subsequent art of the Nazca , which is not only expressed in pottery and textiles, but above all in fascinating geoglyphs , the so-called Nazca lines , was again strongly influenced by the Paracas culture, and in the later period also by the Wari culture . In the highly symbolic and highly stylized painting, mostly preserved on ceramics, the Nazca were extremely colorful. Popular motifs, which can be found in a similar form on both vessels and textiles, are animals and demons, especially monkeys, big cats and birds, which, depending on their mood, apparently have either grains and seeds or captured human heads in their claws.

Moche

Relief in Huaca de la Luna

The Moche culture on the coast of today's Peru developed an art that was oriented towards a very naturalistic aesthetic and made use of wood, precious metals and, above all, the varied ceramics of a large amount of materials, in the processing of which they developed impressive techniques and in which the full diversity of human life has been reproduced. What is striking is the relatively large number and range of erotic representations, the meaning of which is still not fully understood. The pyramid of the sun , built by the Moche from adobe bricks , was one of the largest structures in America before it was largely destroyed by the Spaniards.

Tiahuanaco

Gate of the Sun in Tiahuanaco

The culture of Tiahuanaco , which reached its heyday between 700 and 900, is characterized both in architecture and in monumental sculpture by strictly static, geometric, predominantly rectangular shapes. The monoliths reach heights of up to seven meters. The most famous monument is the three-meter-high sun gate made from a single block , the upper part of which is decorated with a bas-relief and the face of a deity in high relief. The ceramics are characterized by impressive colors and lively, dynamic and predominantly figurative-naturalistic decorations. Compared to other South American cultures, however, the repertoire of motifs in Tiahuanaco is relatively limited and characterized more by variation than innovation. In metalworking, the alloying of copper with tin to form bronze developed into great mastery.

Chimú

The Chimú culture was the last in the Andes to hold its own against the Inca - it was not until 1470, shortly before Columbus' discovery of America, that the last king, Minchancaman, was defeated and his empire was incorporated into that of the Inca. The handicrafts of the Chimú were characterized by increasing mass production; Ceramics were fired in molds, and in the high phase of production, over ten thousand craftsmen were working at the same time in the capital Chan Chan alone . Human figures, fish and - especially in textile art - stylized birds are the most popular motifs of the Chimú.

Inca

The Inca city ​​of Machu Picchu , built in the 15th century

The Incas unified in the 13th century, all existing in the Andean region cultures in a single kingdom. Its very own art form is architecture due to the extensive urban development. The stones used were mostly left in their natural state, which may be related to the fact that the Inca ascribed magical and unearthly qualities to them and thus attached the greatest meaningful importance to the material even before it was processed. Accordingly, they hardly practiced painting and sculpture, but there are a number of monumental stone sculptures that were considered the “brothers” of the rulers, and some small sculptures, mainly made of wood and metal, especially gold. The decoration of ceramics and textiles is simple, predominantly geometric and thus reflects the architecture, figurative representations, on the other hand, are extremely rare. With the Spanish conquest, the Inca culture finally came to an end.

reception

Gold jewelry from Panama , around 500–1000

Pre-Columbian Art and the Conquistadors

Johann Friedrich von Waldeck , The Beau Relief , 1832

After the conquest and sack of the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan by the conquistadors under Hernándo Cortés in 1520, some of the most valuable objects were sent to Charles V , who had them exhibited in Brussels . Albrecht Dürer noted in his notebook about the goldsmith's work exhibited there :

“I also saw the things that were brought to the king from the new gold country: a very golden sun, a whole fathom wide, also a very silver moon, just as big, also two chambers full of armor from the people there […] and all kinds of wondrous objects for various uses, which are much more beautiful to look at than wondrous things. These things were all so precious that they are worth a hundred thousand guilders. But in all my life I have seen nothing that delighted my heart as much as these things. Because I saw wonderful, artistic things underneath and was amazed at the subtle ingenuity of people in foreign lands. Yes, I can't tell enough about the things that I had in front of me. "

His contemporaries did not share this kind of appreciation, however, and almost all of the metal works of art, regarded as exotic curiosities at best, melted down over the course of time, because they saw their real value primarily in the material used. It was not until the 19th century that a fundamental paradigm shift began in this regard. During his travels to America, Johann Friedrich von Waldeck first recorded sculptures and reliefs of the Maya in drawings, and although these representations are obviously not true to the original and are closely aligned with the neoclassical aesthetics of contemporary tastes, they nevertheless show his serious recognition of the motifs as "more beautiful" and “ sublime ” works of art.

Research history

Facade in the ruins of Chichén Itzá , photograph by Désiré Charnay, 1859–60

Already the conquistadors, driven by greed as well as curiosity, also provided information on the art objects they found in their reports on the conquests. In the Cartas de relación , Hernándo Cortés mainly describes pieces made of precious metal, but also featherwork and sculpture; The notes by Francisco Pizarro and Bernal Díaz del Castillo are also revealing . The following descriptions by the predominantly Franciscan and Jesuit missionaries about the history, cult and religion of the indigenous peoples of America are, despite their tendentious coloring, still helpful in understanding the world and human images behind pre-Columbian art.

Since the middle of the 18th century, the exploration of America by Europeans was characterized by an increasing scientific approach. With it went the archaeological exploration of the abandoned cities lying in ruins. Thomas Jefferson , who later became the third President of the United States, carried out what was probably the first stratigraphic study of America on Indian graves in Virginia . Increasingly efforts were also made to preserve the works of art found in the long term: For example, the Italian historian and antiquarian Lorenzo Boturini Benaduci saved numerous illuminated manuscripts from certain deterioration.

In the 19th century, it was primarily an increased desire to travel that led Europeans to the exotic jungles of Central and South America. Alexander von Humboldt deserves a special mention. As a result of his scientific rediscovery of America during his research trip 1799–1804, he is sometimes given the title of a second Columbus . Archaeological exploration of America increasingly culminated in robbery excavations: Désiré Charnay traveled to America primarily to obtain material for French museums, but was also a pioneer of scientific photography alongside Teobert Maler .

At the beginning of the 20th century, ancient American studies emerged as an independent discipline. Sylvanus Morley was one of the most important researchers on Mayan culture at this time and made his findings available to an increasingly wide audience through popular scientific writings. Eduard Seler began the linguistic development of illuminated manuscripts, an important German archeologist was Max Uhle , who set significantly stricter standards for the excavations in South America. Since then, research has focused primarily on refining the technology and methodology. In addition, however, new, previously unknown and unexplored pre-Columbian ruined cities were regularly discovered until the second half of the twentieth century. A fundamental re-evaluation of pre-Columbian aesthetics finally began in art-historical research and art-critical appraisal; Among the numerous contributions on the subject are the writings of Paul Westheim , which were widely received, especially in Mexico itself, including by Octavio Paz , who later won the Nobel Prize for Literature .

Reception in modern art

Chak Mool statue of Mayan culture

In modern , especially primitivist art, attempts have been made since the 19th century not only to tie in with African art traditions , but also with the aesthetics of pre-Columbian art. Paul Gauguin , who spent the first years of his life in Peru, imitated figurative ceramics from the Moche culture; At the beginning of his career as a sculptor, Henry Moore was inspired by an impression of a Chak Mool sculpture exhibited in the Palais du Trocadéro in Paris , which was to have a decisive influence on all of his work.

However, the attitude of modern artists towards pre-Columbian art was not unanimously affirmative; it was often seen as too monumental, rigid and repetitive. Nevertheless, in a conversation with Brassaï, Pablo Picasso was able to compare a single work of art like the Aztec sculpture of a head with the richness of a cathedral facade. Later on, Jackson Pollock was influenced by the Chavín culture, and currents such as Land Art contributed significantly to the art-historical appreciation of phenomena such as the Nazca Lines in the 1960s.

Modern Latin American art, with representatives such as Joaquín Torres García , Roberto Matta and Rufino Tamayo , sought and found inspiration in the art of extinct indigenous peoples. In the work of the painter Frida Kahlo in particular, the Aztec imagery clearly serves to insure a national Mexican identity and combines the aesthetic with the political dimension. Her husband Diego Rivera also excelled in the collection of pre-Columbian art; the more than 50,000 objects in his collection are now exhibited in the Museo Anahuacalli in Mexico City .

Public collections and museums

The increasing recognition of artistic artefacts of the indigenous peoples of America not only as ethnographic objects, but as aesthetically significant works of art was shown in the 1923 exhibition of works of art by the Maya in a separate room of the British Museum in London and in 1925 in the opening of a separate department for Indian art at the Denver Art Museum . Other world-famous and respected galleries and museums also set up their own departments for pre-Columbian art over time, such as the  Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York , the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Cleveland Museum of Art . In Latin America, in addition to the Museo Anahuacalli and the Museo Nacional de Antropología in Mexico with the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino in Chile , the museum of the same name in Peru and numerous other regional exhibitions, there are separate museums for pre-Hispanic art. Larger collections of pre-Columbian art outside America are now in the Museo de América in Madrid and in the Ethnological Museum in Berlin-Dahlem .

Pre-Columbian art on the international market

Until the middle of the 20th century, pre-Columbian artifacts were rarely represented on the international art market . A large number of preserved objects were in the possession of public museums, and the numerous looting in the previous centuries had meant that old American works of art were only of marginal importance in quantitative terms compared to those from Egypt, Persia or China. After the founding of independent Latin American nation states, they also had a great interest in restricting the export of newly found antiques as much as possible and thus making the remaining cultural heritage in their own country usable for national identity formation and consolidation.

From the second half of the 20th century, the increased interest in pre-Columbian art also increasingly led to counterfeiting, looting and illegal export of ancient American artifacts from newly discovered sites in Mexico and Guatemala. In Europe, the Swiss conservator Josef Müller put together one of the largest and most important private collections of pre-Columbian art from 1920. His heirs auctioned the objects at Sotheby’s in Paris in 2013 after the Spanish state could not raise the financial means to buy them.

literature

  • Samuel Kirkland Lothrop (Ed.): Essays in Pre-Columbian Art and Archeology . Harvard University Press, Cambridge 1961.
  • José Alcina: The Art of Ancient America . Herder, Freiburg 1979.
  • Terence Grieder: Origins of Pre-Columbian Art . University of Texas Press, Austin 1982.
  • Barbara Braun: Pre-Columbian Art and the Post-Columbian World. Ancient American Sources of Modern Art . Harry N. Abrams, New York 1993.
  • Rebecca Stone-Miller: Art of the Andes. From Chavín to Inca . London, Thames and Hudson, 1995.
  • David W. Penny: Native American Art of North America . Könemann, Cologne 1996.
  • Esther Pasztory: Pre-Columbian Art . Calmann and King, London 1998.
  • Janet Catherine Berlo, Ruth B. Phillips: Native North American Art . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1998.
  • Mary Ellen Miller: The Art of Mesoamerica. From Olmec to Aztec . Thames and Hudson, London 2001.

Web links

Commons : Pre-Columbian Art  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Esther Pasztory: Aesthetics and Pre-Columbian Art . In: RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics 29/30, 1996, pp. 318-325.
  2. ^ Peter Bolz, Bernd Peyer: Indian art of North America . DuMont, Cologne 1987, p. 57; David W. Penny: Native American Art of North America . Könemann, Cologne 1996, p. 197, 237 f.
  3. ↑ Peter Bolz, Bernd Peyer: Indian Art North America , p. 79 ff.
  4. ↑ Nigel Cawthorne: Myth and Mask , p. 13.
  5. ↑ Klaus F. Wellmann: Muzzinabikon. Indian rock art from North America from five millennia . Academic Printing and Publishing Company, Graz 1976.
  6. ^ Wilson Duff: Prehistoric Stone Sculpture of the Fraser River and Gulf of Georgia. In: Anthropology in British Columbia 5, 1956, pp. 15-151.
  7. ↑ Nigel Cawthorne: Myth and Mask. Native American tribal art of North America . Battenberg Verlag, Augsburg 1998, pp. 51-57.
  8. ↑ David W. Penny: Indian Art North America , p. 11 f.
  9. ^ Susan R. Martin: Wonderful Power. The Story of Ancient Copper Working in the Lake Superior Basin . Wayne State University Press, Detroit 1999.
  10. ↑ Nigel Cawthorne: Myth and Mask , p. 13.
  11. ^ Richard A. Diehl: The Olmecs. America's First Civilization. Thames and Hudson, London 2004, pp. 9-25.
  12. ^ Virginia Grady Smith: Izapa Relief Carving. Form, Content, Rules for Design, and Role in Mesoamerican Art History and Archeology . Dumbarton Oaks, Washington 1984, pp. 30-35.
  13. ^ Mary Ellen Miller: The Art of Mesoamerica. From Olmec to Aztec . Thames and Hudson, London 2001, p. 78 ff.
  14. ^ Joyce Marcus , Kent V. Flannery: Zapotec Civilization. How Urban Society Evolved in Mexico's Oaxaca Valley . Thames and Hudson, New York 1996.
  15. ↑ José Alcina: The Art of Old America , pp. 148, 497 f.
  16. ↑ José Alcina: The Art of Ancient America . Herder, Freiburg 1979, p. 112 f.
  17. ↑ Gary Urton: The Body of Meaning in Chavin style . In: RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics 29/30, 1996, pp. 237-255.
  18. ^ Rebecca Stone-Miller: Art of the Andes. From Chavín to Inca . London, Thames and Hudson, 1995, pp. 56-90.
  19. ^ Esther Pasztory: Pre-Columbian Art , p. 124.
  20. ^ John R. Topic: Chimú . In: Grove Art Online . Oxford University Press, accessed March 2, 2014.
  21. ↑ Esther Pasztory: Pre-Columbian Art , p. 150 f.
  22. ↑ Maarten van de Guchte: Sculpture and the Concept of the Double among the Inca Kings . In: RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics 29/30, 1996, pp. 256-268.
  23. ↑ José Alcina: The Art of Old America , pp. 321-324.
  24. ↑ Quoted from Gerd Unverfetern: I saw many delicious things there. Albrecht Dürer's trip to the Netherlands . Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, Göttingen 2007, p. 70.
  25. ^ Forrest D. Colburn: From Pre-Columbian Artifact to Pre-Columbian Art . In: Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 64, 2005, pp. 36–41.
  26. ^ A b Esther Pasztory: Pre-Columbian Art . Calmann and King, London 1998, pp. 7-13.
  27. ↑ José Alcina: The Art of Old America , p. 25 f.
  28. ↑ See the introduction to Thomas Jefferson: Notes on the State of Virginia . Ed. William Peden. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill 1955.
  29. ↑ José Alcina: The Art of Ancient America , p. 28.
  30. ^ Esther Pasztory: Pre-Columbian Art , p. 12.
  31. ↑ Peter Chametzky: Paul West home in Mexico. A Cosmopolitan Man Contemplating the Heavens . In: Oxford Art Journal 24/1, 2001, pp. 25-43.
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  33. ^ William Rubin: Modernist Primitivism. An Introduction. In: Howard Morphy, Morgan Perkins: The Anthropology of Art: A Reader . P. 142.
  34. ↑ Suzette Doyon-Bernard: Jackson Pollock. A Twentieth-Century Chavín Shaman . In: American Art 11/3, 1997, pp. 8-31.
  35. ^ Esther Pasztory: Thinking with Things: Toward a New Vision of Art . University of Texas Press, Austin 2005, p. 192.
  36. ^ Marc Schepps: Latin American Art in the 20th Century . Prestel, Munich 1993, p. 27.
  37. ^ Janice Helland: Aztec Imagery in Frida Kahlo's Paintings: Indigenity and Political Commitment . In: Woman's Art Journal 11/2, 1990/1991, pp. 8-13.
  38. ^ A b Pal Kelemen: Pre-Columbian Art and Art History . In: American Antiquity 11/3, 1946, pp. 145-154; P. 146.
  39. ^ Peter Bolz, Bernd Peyer: Indian Art North America , p. 17.
  40. ^ Carole Castelli: The collection of pre-Hispanic art and culture from Mexico in the Museum of Ethnology, Berlin . State Museums in Berlin, Berlin 1993.
  41. ^ Clemency Coggins: Illicit Traffic of Pre-Columbian Antiquities . In: Art Journal 29/1, 1969, p. 94.
  42. ↑ Bettina Wohlfahrt: Vom glitzenden Stern der Kunst , FAZ, March 15, 2013, accessed on March 4, 2014.