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Mesoamerican Art Exam 1
Mesoamerican art from Olmecs to Maya
18
Art History
Undergraduate 4
09/12/2012

Additional Art History Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
[image]
Definition

Kunz Axe 
Olmec

Middle Formative

900-300 BC

Jade

Used in ceremonies - jade

Drilling in corner of the mouth

Self-referential 

Term
[image]
Definition

El Manati 

Early Formative

1040 BC

Wood

 

Breaks convention of art progession

Head shapes are different

realism/naturalism

expression

epithantic folds

Found in sacred space - cenote - springs or wells

Presence of pigment

No decay

Ritually wrapped

petates - mats that covered them

Figments of human infant bones

 

Term
[image]
Definition

Colossal Olmec Head #1

San Lorenzo - Texistepc, State of Veracruz

1200-900BC

Early Formative

Basalt

 

Assumed to be a ruler

Materials were miles away - shows purpose

Helmet - rulership or sports

Some may have had color

Drilling on the sides of mouth

Used as throne

Animal skins on helmet

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Term
[image]
Definition

The Wrestler

Early to Middle Formative

1500 BCE and 400 BCE

Basalt

 

Is it fake?

In the round

Facial features - more asian

epicanthic folds

body position

mustache

Breaks convention of olmec art

Term
[image]
Definition

Hero Twins

Early Formative

1100-800 BC

Stone

 

Cleft

Crinkled paper headdresses

offerings of rubber sap

jaguar and two humans 

humans subservient to the jaguar

Were-jaguar

Sphinx-like

Site was significant

Anne Cypher Gullin discovered it

 

Term
La Venta
Definition

Olmec

Present day Tobasco

oil refineries endangered the area

Civic and ceremonial

dominated by sacred complex

arrangement is important

Great Pyramid 110 ft high

earliest pyramids

volcanoes

current shape due to corrosion

never been excavated

Lauck - archeologist

Middle formative 

900-400 BC

Term
Complex A @ La Venta
Definition

Mound,

north of great pyramid

Basalt columns

restricted to the elite

4 construction phases

beneathe mounds - offerings

50 diff caches, offering sets

jade, mirrors, moasic, pavements

Mosaic pavenits

485 blocks of serpentine

Looks like olme dragons and jaguars

burued

Monument 19

earliest example of feathered serpment in mesoamerica

 

Term
Complex B @ La Venta
Definition

Public gathering  sit and look at complex A

more available to non-elite

Everything designed 8 degrees west of north

Term
[image]
Definition

Buried Mosaic

La Venta

500 blocks of serpentine

Middle Formative

900-400 BC

 

HCleft

Dragon on jaguar

purposeful, ritually buried

Term
[image]
Definition

Colossal Heads @ La Venta

850/700 BC

9 ft

Basalt

La Venta

 

Carried from over 80 miles away

More squat than San Lorenzo

Lower relief

Darer skin

better sense of purpose

Term
[image]
Definition

Altar 4

La Venta

900-400 BCE

Stone

 

Same pose with hands

Master of his captives - or ancestors

Low Relief

Shaman or diety

Elements that look like were-jaguar

Jaguar pelt design on top

associated with rulership

May have been a throne

Multiplicity between animal and human

Term
[image]
Definition

Monument 19

La Venta

900-400

 

Earliest representation of feathered serpent

quetzlcoatl

Middle relief

overlooks the site

human/priest engulfed by the feathered serpent

identified by his bag as a priest

shaman is being transformed into the serpent and they become one

Term
[image]
Definition

Offering 4

C2

La Venta

Serpentine, Jade, Basalt

900-400

 

Found in same position as buried

was looked at 100 years after buried but recovered

figures facing the basalt figure

carved in the round

6 celt columns, 15 jade and serpentine figures

knew where it was through oral tradition

 

 

 

Term
[image]
Definition

Youth w/ Rain - Monument 1

Middle Formative

800-300 

Greenstone

 

Youth is holding sleeping rain god

incisions rep dragons, sharks, birds on cheeks legs and rain god

Were-jaguar - face of rain god

Orignially had color

evidence of body painting/tatoo

This and kunz at the largest figures in detail

Term
[image]
Definition

Baby Figurine 

Early Middle formative

900-500 bc

Ceramic

 

baby

helmet looks like olmec helmet

stamps on back of body

ritual tattooing - body paint

Found fragmented and put back together

Term
[image]
Definition

El Rey

Petroglyph 1

Middle Formative

800-300 BC

 

Thought to be female but still called the king

Chalcatzingo

Birds eye view

representation of water, rain and plants

schematic landscape

rain = important

sets sim. to figure at la venta

Term
[image]
Definition

Olmec Lord

Painting of Oxotitlan

Early of Mid. formative

900-300

wall painting

 

Sim to la Venta monument 19 

man insted of an animal

green owl as a symbol

yellow greens and reds

bird suit opposed to serpent suit

man is ruler because he's sitting on an alater-like throne

reliance on nature

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