Museum Exhibitions Summer 2021
SAN ANTONIO, TX.- Nature, Power, and Maya Royals, an exhibition of thirty-four artwoand objects discovered by the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) researchers in two royal Maya burials at the ancient city of Buenavista del Cayo, Belize, is now on view at the San Antonio Museum of Art. This exhibition is the first time the selection of works will appear for public viewing. This exhibition is an exciting collaboration between UTSA, SAMA, and the Belize Institute of Archaeology.
Finely painted ceramic vessels that display kings and symbols of authority as well as shell pendants, earrings, and bracelets worn by a king were found in 2014 and 2019 by a team of UTSA archaeologists led by Jason Yaeger, President’s Endowed Professor of Anthropology at UTSA and Senior Associate Dean of the College of Liberal and Fine Arts. “The objects in the exhibition are priceless to us and to the government of Belize for what they tell us about the ancient Maya. This show presents a wonderful opportunity to grow connections with institutions across San Antonio and Belize,” Yaeger said.
The discovery is particularly extraordinary because looters had previously trenched the building in which one of the royal burials was located, missing it by just a few inches. Finding the site and objects following the looters’ destructive actions is incredibly lucky and makes the discovery particularly special. “We are delighted to share these beautiful and precious artworks. Visitors will also be able to view images taken during our excavation in Belize. The recovery of the objects such as these from known, well documented locations provides essential information for interpreting similar Maya art held by museums,” said Bernadette Cap, Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial Postdoctoral Fellow at SAMA and curator of the exhibition.
The artworks date between AD 450 and 800, a period when Maya kings and queens reigned over large populations and lived in elaborately designed cities. The exhibition highlights how two Maya rulers commissioned artwork that featured commanding iconography to express and legitimate their power. For example, a common theme in rulers’ art was the portrayal of jaguar pelts worn as clothing and used as decorative elements of royal palaces. The Maya admired the jaguar for its strength and skills as an apex predator, and rulers retained exclusive rights over jaguar imagery and products.
One of the most outstanding pieces in the exhibition is a large, elaborately carved pendant made of marine shell. Incised Maya glyphs appear on it and have been deciphered to read, “This is the pendant of Naah Uti’ K’ab, king of Komkom.” The discovery of the pendant confirms that the buried individual is a king. Given the context of recovery, Komkom is likely the original name of the site we now call Buenavista del Cayo. Maya texts at nearby sites state that Komkom had been attacked and conquered in the AD 600s and 700s. The shell pendant dates to around AD 450, however, and thus provides the earliest reference to the site of Komkom.
Nature, Power, and Maya Royals: Recent Discoveries from the Site of Buenavista del Cayo, Belize will be on view through February 27, 2022. It was organized by the San Antonio Museum of Art in collaboration with the Belize National Institute of Culture and History’s Institute of Archaeology and scholars in the University of Texas at San Antonio Department of Anthropology. It is supported by the Gloria Galt Endowment Fund, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and UTSA Maya Archaeology Excellence Endowment. The UTSA excavations that recovered the objects were conducted with the permission of the Belize Institute of Archaeology and funding from the Alphawood Foundation and Termini Endowment for Maya Archaeology.
https://artdaily.cc/news/137581/Exhibition-presents-Maya-artworks-recently-discovered-by-archaeologists
HOUSTON, TX.- Running along the western side of South America, the Andean Mountains have supported a rich, interconnected series of civilizations and empires for more than 3,000 years. Surveying this captivating, multifaceted world, the Menil Collection presents Enchanted: Visual Histories of the Central Andes from July 30 through November 14, 2021. The exhibition showcases works from the museum’s collection and loans from the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, NM.
More than forty objects from different historical moments of Andean history are on view—including polychrome ceramic vessels of the Nazca culture (ca. 100 BCE–800 CE), important textiles from the Wari (ca. 600–1000 CE) and Chimú (ca. 1150–1450) civilizations, and 20th–21st century examples of elaborately embroidered esclavinas (short capes) and monteras (hats) worn during religious festivals in Peru. Complementing these objects is a selection of gelatin silver photographic prints by Pierre Verger, also known as Fátúmbí (1902–1996). Verger’s images of religious festivals in the Andes, taken between 1939 and 1945, highlight the costumes, dances, and dramatic moments of these annual events.
Rebecca Rabinow, Director of the Menil Collection, said, “Photographer Pierre Verger’s travels through the Andes in the 1940s were made possible, in part, thanks to the financial support of John and Dominique de Menil. The two portfolios of gelatin silver prints that he gave the couple at the time have never before been exhibited, which prompted Menil Curator of Collections Paul R. Davis to study the photographs along with related material in the collection. The resulting exhibition and online publication celebrating Andean visual cultures coincides with the 200th anniversary of Peru’s independence.”
Paul R. Davis, Curator of Collections, said, “This project led me to explore the museum’s permanent collection of Andean art more deeply and how it connects to the Menil’s rich institutional history. After meeting Verger by chance in 1941 while visiting Buenos Aires, Argentina, John and Dominique de Menil formed relationships with some of the leading scholars on the Andes and assembled a unique collection of objects from that area. The Menil is pleased to share these artworks in Enchanted, accompanied by a robust online publication.”
Highlights of the artworks on view include:
• Three blue-and-yellow macaw feather panels from the Wari culture, an imperial power during the Middle Horizon in Peru (ca. 600–1000 CE);
• Textile fragments from the 10th–15th century, including a large two-panel section of the so-called “Prisoner Textile” from the Late Intermediate Period Chimú culture;
• Polychrome ceramic vessels attributed to the Early Intermediate (ca. 100 BCE–800 CE) Nazca and Moche cultures;
• A group of colonial–era painted keros (wood cups) from the 16th–18th centuries that were used consume chicha (maize beer) and other ceremonial drinks;
• An 18th-century painting of the Virgin of Bethlehem (Virgen de Belén), one of the patron saints of Cuzco, Peru.
Enchanted: Visual Histories of the Central Andes will be accompanied by an online publication with multimedia features and essays by Paul R. Davis, Curator of Collections, the Menil Collection; Susan E. Bergh, Chair of the Art of Africa and the Americas and Curator of PreColumbian and Native North American Art, Cleveland Museum of Art; Kari Dodson, Associate Objects Conservator, the Menil Collection; Zoila S. Mendoza, Professor and Chair, Native American Studies, University of California, Davis; Amy Groleau, Curator, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of the American Indian; Heidi King, Independent Scholar; and Ana Girard, University of Houston Fellow at the Menil Collection.
Contextualizing the artworks in the museum’s permanent collection, the publication will be available in both English and Spanish at menil.org/read. Paul R. Davis surveys the ancient history of the region and the formation of this aspect of the de Menils’ collection during the mid20th century. Essays by Susan E. Bergh, Heidi King, and Kari Dodson examine the two historically enigmatic textiles in the museum’s permanent collection—the Chimú “Prisoner Textile” and iconic Wari blue-and-yellow macaw feathered panels. Ana Girard writes about colonial works. In their essays, Zoila S. Mendoza and Amy Groleau emphasize the importance of festivals as spaces to perform, celebrate, contest, or reinvent the Andean culture.
https://www.menil.org/read
https://artdaily.cc/news/137977/The-Menil-Collection-opens--Enchanted--Visual-Histories-of-the-Central-Andes-
