- Houston, Texas, United States
- Rice University, Art History, Alumnusadd
- Egyptian Art and Archaeology, Archaeology of Hunting, Palaeolithic Archaeology, Fiber Technology, Cognitive archaeology, Indo European Culture, and 23 moreIndo-european language reconstruction, Archaeoastronomy, Proto Indo-European, Magdalenian, Cro-Magnons, Domestication, The archaeology and ethnography of human-animal social relationships, Hittite archaeology, Bon & Buddhism, Mythology, Classical Mythology, Greek Myth, Ancient Greek and Roman Art, Pre-Columbian Art, Baroque art and architecture, Surrealism, Roman Archaeology, French Impressionism, Caravaggio, Olmec archaeology, Maya Art, Maya Archaeology, and Aztec Artedit
- I'm an art historian and cognitive archaeologist from Houston, Texas.edit
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ABSTRACT
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This thesis focuses on a particularly sophisticated example of Pre-Columbian ceramic sculpture from the Museum of Fine Arts Houston: a dancing figure with a complex zoomorphic headdress. The figure's culture of origin, Comala-phase... more
This thesis focuses on a particularly sophisticated example of Pre-Columbian ceramic sculpture from the Museum of Fine Arts Houston: a dancing figure with a complex zoomorphic headdress. The figure's culture of origin, Comala-phase Colima, is poorly understood due to its severely compromised archaeological record. Based on a comprehensive iconographic analysis, the MFAH figure is tentatively identified as the wind deity Ehecatl, a god from the broadly shared Mesoamerican deity system that was previously unconfirmed in Pre-Classic Colima. While West Mexican sculpture was once considered merely illustrative of everyday activities, this thesis concludes that the MFAH Colima Dancer and similar figures evince highly evolved communal religious practices. This interpretation also supports the existence of generally unacknowledged trade between ancient West Mexico and the rest of Mesoamerica, both in tangible assets and in ideological/religious concepts. This new perspective will hopefully catalyze further reappraisal of underappreciated West Mexican ceramic materials.
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Certain types of Paleolithic perforated batons possess the characteristics of a type of composite tool, a spinning device, used to fabricate cords of different diameters. These devices are composed of a rotor (the perforated baton) made... more
Certain types of Paleolithic perforated batons possess the characteristics of a type of composite tool, a spinning device, used to fabricate cords of different diameters. These devices are composed of a rotor (the perforated baton) made of antler and a stator or crank-shaft made of wood, examples of which have not yet been found. The batons’ knoblike projections can be seen as the point of attachment by which horse hair is twisted into strings and then laid up into larger-diameter cordage. These observations and analyses, partly based on the expertise of Texas cowhand B. Brett and partly on H. Glory’s writings about the Lascaux rope, indicate other possibilities of cordage production and the use of ropes during the Upper Palaeolithic. Resuming work begun by E. Piette on possible Palaeolithic bridles and halters (‘‘les chevêtres’’), a new analysis of engravings and paintings shows the possible use of ropes extended on poles in the manner of lassos, hunting nets with square mesh or vertical strands, and prompts a hypothesis about the possible use of certain parts of these batons as fids. Distinctions between perforation types seen in perforated batons (type A and type B) demonstrate their possible employment as belaying devices. These objects could have used friction to safely and efficiently control ropes used in the hunting of large game animals.
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Back in the mid 1980s when I was getting a BFA in filmmaking at Rice University, the Fine Arts department expected me to take the same art history courses required of the printmakers, sculptors, and painters getting the equivalent degree.... more
Back in the mid 1980s when I was getting a BFA in filmmaking at Rice University, the Fine Arts department expected me to take the same art history courses required of the printmakers, sculptors, and painters getting the equivalent degree. These demanding classes were also used to weed out incoming students who did not have the gifts to succeed in Rice's highly regarded architecture program. So, in addition to the two semester survey of art history taught by the legendary Katherine Tsanoff Brown, I had the opportunity to take several more courses from professor Thomas McEvilley. The prospect delighted me. Among Rice students interested in art and the ideas behind it, Tom's courses had a fervent following. Rice University is primarily a highly competitive science and engineering school, so there were very few art history majors, but among this cohort, Thomas McEvilley was held in very high esteem. No one was more in awe of Tom than I.
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Research Interests:
The Menil Drawing Institute's inaugural exhibition,The Beginning of Everything, is a big and engaging show, with multiple galleries presenting almost one hundred drawings in a number of harmonious arrangements. These works represent a... more
The Menil Drawing Institute's inaugural exhibition,The Beginning of Everything, is a big and engaging show, with multiple galleries presenting almost one hundred drawings in a number of harmonious arrangements. These works represent a tremendous variety of techniques, approaches, and sensibilities, and though the
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This paper is currently undergoing extensive revision. The final version will be posted to this forum in the near future.
-Christopher Kilgore
-Christopher Kilgore
The bronze Portrait of a Ruler, located in the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, is assumed to represent an emperor from the Severan Dynasty of Rome. The magnificent nude figure once held an object in its elevated right hand and, based on a... more
The bronze Portrait of a Ruler, located in the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, is assumed to represent an emperor from the Severan Dynasty of Rome. The magnificent nude figure once held an object in its elevated right hand and, based on a reference in Plutarch, is generally believed to be based on a lost statue of Alexander the Great by Lysippus. In this interpretation, the upraised hand once held a spear.
However, in the same text, Plutarch describes a painting by Apelles showing Alexander wielding a thunderbolt, the quintessential attribute of Zeus. This paper will demonstrate that the Houston Ruler’s elegant contrapposto stance belies the interpretation that it originally held a spear. Furthermore, rather than representing a Roman emperor as Alexander the conqueror, the sculpture instead represents him in the guise of Alexander as Zeus. In support of this position, painted, sculptural, numismatic, and lapidary evidence will be offered.
However, in the same text, Plutarch describes a painting by Apelles showing Alexander wielding a thunderbolt, the quintessential attribute of Zeus. This paper will demonstrate that the Houston Ruler’s elegant contrapposto stance belies the interpretation that it originally held a spear. Furthermore, rather than representing a Roman emperor as Alexander the conqueror, the sculpture instead represents him in the guise of Alexander as Zeus. In support of this position, painted, sculptural, numismatic, and lapidary evidence will be offered.