art history

TIME PERIOD: 3500 B.C.E-1492 C.E.  Art is animal based and used in shamanistic rituals; art usually carved in stone; geography plays a major role; geographic diversity accounts for the differing materials used in each culture's art  Archaeology, oral and written history form the basis of North American Research; weaving, wood, bone, hides, ceramic; traded with outsiders (beads, ribbons)  Animal and geometric designs; respect for nature, religion, and elders Some developed, technological, focused on anatomy and literature; others remained nomadic and limited in their activities as hunter-gatherers Works found in burial grounds or in ruins of ancient cities Artists were commoners; trained in apprenticeship programs; wide variety of materials; carved in obsidian, jade, copper, gold, turquoise, sandstone, granite, limestone, amethyst, etc.  Skins of animals, feathers of birds Chavin coastal Peru  Figural compostions; human and animal motifs...

TIME PERIOD: 3500 B.C.E. 1492 C.E. AND BEYOND CHAVIN 900-200 B.C.E COASTAL PERU MAYAN 300-900 C.E. BELIZE, GUATEMALA, HONDURAS, YUCATAN ANASAZI 550-1400 C.E. AMERICAN SOUTHWEST MISSISSIPPIAN 800-1500 C.E. EASTERN UNITED STATES AZTEC 1400-1521 CENTRAL MEXICO INKA 1438-1532 PERU NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN 18TH CENTURY TO PRESENT NORTH AMERICA

Black-on-black ceramic vessel. Maria Martínez and Julian Martínez, Tewa, Puebloan, San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico. c. mid-20th century C.E. blackware ceramic To make the pottery stronger it had to be mixed with a temper made from sherds of broken pots that had been pounded into a powder or volcanic ash. When mixed with water, the elasticity of the clay and the strength of the temper could be formed into different shapes, including a rounded pot. Only the artist’s hands as the potting wheel was not used. Community job; many people worked on one sculpture; pioneered a style of applying a matte-black design over polished-black. rain clouds, bird feathers, rows of planted corn, and the flow of rivers. These designs are exaggerated due to the low rounded shapes of the pot, which are bulbous around the shoulder then narrow at the top.  The shape, color, and designs fit the contemporary Art Deco movement, which was popular between the two World Wars and emphasized...

Transformation mask. Kwakwaka’wakw, Northwest coast of Canada. Late 19th century C.E. Wood, paint, and string. Transformation masks, like those belonging to the Kwakwaka’wakw are worn during a potlatch, a ceremony where the host displayed his status, in part by giving away gifts to those in attendance.  During a potlatch, Kwakwaka’wakw dancers perform wearing the mask and costume. The masks conveyed social position (only those with a certain status could wear them) and also helped to portray a family’s genealogy by displaying (family) crest symbols. Kwakwaka’wakw bands are arranged into four clans (Killer Whale, Eagle, Raven, and Wolf clans).  The masks illustrated here display a variety of brightly colored surfaces filled with complex forms. Typical of the formline style is the use of an undulating, calligraphic line. carved of red cedar wood, an important and common material used for many Northwest Coast objects and buildings. Masks take months, sometimes year...

Painted elk hide. Attributed to Cotsiogo (Cadzi Cody), Eastern Shoshone, Wind River Reservation, Wyoming. c. 1890–1900 C.E. Painted elk hide. Painting on animal hides is a longstanding tradition of the Great Basin and Great Plains people of the United States Painted on elk, deer, or buffalo hides using natural pigments like red ochre and chalk, and eventually paints and dyes obtained through trade.  Usually, artists decorated the hides with geometric or figural motifs. By the later nineteenth century certain hide artists began depicting subject matter that “affirmed native identity” and appealed to tourists. Many of these scenes celebrated battles and other biographical details. Hides represent his experiences during a period of immense change for the Shoshone people.  Many Shoshone traversed the geographic regions we now call the Great Plains and Plateau regions. With newly established trade markets and the influx of new materials, artists like Cotsiogo somet...

Bandolier bag. Lenape (Delaware tribe, Eastern Woodlands). c. 1850 C.E. Beadwork on leather. This is an object that invites close looking to fully appreciate the process by which colorful beads animate the bag, making a dazzling object and showcasing remarkable technical skill. Bandolier Bags are based on bags carried by European soldiers armed with rifles, who used the bags to store ammunition cartridges. While Bandolier Bags were made by different tribes and First Nations across the Great Lakes and Prairie regions, they differ in appearance. The stylistic differences are the result of personal preference as much contact with Europeans and Euro-Americans, goods acquired in trade, and travel. Bandolier Bags (like this one) are often large in size and decorated with a wide array of colorful beads and ribbons. They are worn as a cross-body bag, with a thick strap crossing a person’s chest to allow it to rest on the hip. These bags were especially popular in the late nineteent...

 All-T’oqapu tunic. Inka. 1450–1540 C.E. Camelid ber and cotton. One of the engines that drove the empire was the exchange of high-status goods, which helped to secure the reciprocal but unequal economic and power relationships between the Inka and their subjects. Along with jewels, political feasts and gifts of finely-made textiles would also cement these unequal relationships. Textiles and their creation had been highly important in the Andes long before the Inka came to power in the mid-15th century.  Finely-made textiles from the best materials were objects of high status among nearly all Andean cultures, much more valuable than gold or gems. The All-T’oqapu Tunic is an example of the height of Andean textile fabrication and its centrality to Inka expressions of power. By the time of the Inka, an incredible number of variations on this basic technique had created all kinds of textile patterns and weaves.  Most Andean camelid-fiber textiles were made with t...