Ancient Mayan and new Mexican sculptural warriors

In keeping with the idea from my last post that old and the new-imitating-the-old exist in Tucson…

Last Saturday I visited the Tucson Museum of Art to see an exhibit of small Mesoamerican clay sculptures–many of them warriors–created by the Mayans and other Pre-Columbian people of Mexico and South America.

Beautiful fake warrior

I was especially interested because I have a 20th Century “warrior” in a vaguely ancient style which I bought at some totally forgettable tourist trap in Baja. It has, of course, been artificially aged, but the detailing is wonderful. And unlike the artists who created the small sculpture at the TMA, the woman/man who made this is, no doubt, still living and I hope receiving more recognition for her/his work.

The small sculptures at TMA, on the other hand, are hundreds of years old and offer interesting insights into the past because in addition to warriors there are glimpses into the everyday lives of those people.

Who knew one group loved puppy dogs so much that they commissioned dog sculptures for hundreds of years? And that portrait jugs were a thing for a brief period of time with the Moche people?

So starting with the small warriors…

And here are three examples of the Moche portrait jugs. Most Pre-Columbian art — painting and sculpture–was stylized, rather than depicting individual humans by their actual appearance. There would simply be a label next to a generic king image to indicate the name of whatever king it was. But for a brief period in Jalisco, artists created portraits of real people. Are they portraits of the jug owner…or of then-famous local “celebrities” like football players?

More typical are these small figures…

3 women – one really angry

And if you look at little closer, the three figures on the right are women; the others men. Only the sculpture that is second from the right appears to be modeled after a real person. I wonder what the story is behind her? She looks very unhappy–ticked off, in fact.

Good to be King

And under the topic “It’s Good-To-Be-King” come these two items. On the left: a rich man being carried by servants while his wife holds an umbrella over his head. On the right: gold and precious stone jewelry worn by Incan royalty.

Sorry, I neglected to take photos of the puppy dog sculptures. They are charming and were unexpected as you can see in this later post.

As an interesting footnote to this exhibit, there were a few images of the religious artwork done by indigenous painters in Catholic churches built by the Franciscans and Jesuits during the Spanish control of the Americas. Some imitated European styles, some clung to the older more stylized versions of depicting saints and angels.

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It’s hot and we are in an Exceptional Drought--the highest stage, the greatest severity–according to the Weather Service. This would not seem to be new news in Tucson, but the lack of rainfall during recent years has resulted in fewer saguaros sprouting and growing. More prickly pears these days. And ubiquitous creosote bushes will probably outlast everything else! The landscape in Southern Arizona is changing.