Aztec Art

Over the past 200 years, thousands of books, reports, magazines, and articles have been published about ancient Mexico, part of the greater cultural region of Mesoamerica. Part of this is about the few ancient native manuscripts that have miraculously been spared from the blind wrath of the Spanish missionaries. However, what has struck me in the many years that I have studied these windows in time of the ancient civilizations in Mesoamerica is that little attention has been and is paid to the artistic qualities of the makers of these manuscripts. For some of these manuscripts can be categorized as "indigenous art" on a very high creative and artistic level. It is truly fascinating to see how much information these artists have managed to bring together in a logical context and in an often small space. There are hardly any images to be found without any kind of information. True masters of their craft, building on and refining age-old traditions and knowledge with very limited resources such as reed pens and a limited number of natural dyes. A very special example of this is page 1 of the Codex Fejérváry-Mayer in which various philosophies, principles and ways of life important to ancient Mexican cultures have been merged into one scene, in a truly fantastic and harmonious whole. And all this on a rectangular piece of deerskin of about 17.5 x 16.5 cm. A true pocket-sized artistic masterpiece.

In this paper I recount my fieldwork with local Eugenian artist musician Samuel Becerra and his motivations for crafting clay flutes.  Becerra is a formally trained musician with a specialization in pre-Columbian Mesoamerican music and a further focus on Aztec instruments and musical forms.  Beyond giving an overview of the instruments and how Becerra defines their importance and use, I ask questions regarding his motivations for making folk art.  Of particular focus is his use of Aztec heritage to form his identity and inform his work.  Consulting background research on Aztec music, I attempt to create a framework for understanding Becerra’s artistic creations in terms of personal reasons, motivations and issues of community and identity.  Through my fieldwork with Becerra, I explore the deeper meanings, such as strengthening a nostalgic connection to his Aztec heritage, behind his goal to uphold ancient Aztec traditions.

The Grolier Codex is discussed in the context of the archaeoastronomy of the ancient Americas on pages 98-99 of the March 1990 National Geographic Magazine article "America's Ancient Skywatchers" by John B. Carlson. One of four known ancient Maya books, the Grolier Codex depicts different manifestations of the planet Venus; the column of glyphs on the left of each panel records days in a 104-year Venus almanac. These plaster-coated bark-paper pages, carbon-dated to the 13th century, represent only half of the 20-page original. A numbered photographic arrangement of the Grolier Codex depictes the author's discovery that Codex pages 10 and 11 are actually two parts of the same "page 10".  Carlson clarifies the identities of Venus deities depicted in the Grolier Codex from a comparison of images from the Cacaxtla murals and links the images of the Grolier Codex with ancient Maya astronomically timed ritual warfare and sacrifice. (Grolier Codex photographs: Enrico Ferorelli; Other photos: Bob Sacha)

This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Maya Grolier Codex.

The Grolier Codex (Codice Maya de Mexico, CMM) is discussed in the context of the archaeoastronomy of the ancient Americas on pages 98-99 of the March 1990 National Geographic Magazine article "America's Ancient Skywatchers" by John B. Carlson. One of four known ancient Maya books, the Grolier Codex depicts different manifestations of the planet Venus; the column of glyphs on the left of each panel records days in a 104-year Venus almanac. These plaster-coated bark-paper pages, carbon-dated to the 13th century, represent only half of the 20-page original. A numbered photographic arrangement of the Grolier Codex depictes the author's discovery that Codex pages 10 and 11 are actually two parts of the same "page 10".  Carlson clarifies the identities of Venus deities depicted in the Grolier Codex from a comparison of images from the Cacaxtla murals and links the images of the Grolier Codex with ancient Maya astronomically timed ritual warfare and sacrifice. (Grolier Codex photographs: Enrico Ferorelli; Other photos: Bob Sacha)

This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Maya Grolier Codex.

This study borrows investigative methods
from the functional approach to myth,
which focuses on myths to accomplish political
goals and social movements (Solomon,
1979). By tapping into “rich cultural
reservoirs” (Solomon, 1979, p. 271), visual
texts often employ mythical elements
for telling power. Because the presence
of myth has been established in other
research, a functional approach to the
strategic use of myths and other forms of
cultural archetypes is also needed. “There
is an inherent functional relationship between
myths and goals whether it is a goal
for social change or preservation of present
power relations” (Halualani, 1997, p.
89). Culture is largely about power, and
Mesoamerican art is largely about exercising
cultural power. The impact of power
has been profound over the years. Many
scholars such as Donald Bahr (2004),
Dorothy Hosler (1994), Mary Miller
(1986), and Frank Waters (1975) have produced
outstanding interpretations of the
Chicano movement themes of La Raza
and Aztlán.

The epic story of the god Huitzilopochtli, who was born dressed in his armor and prepared for war, is sung in these pages.

This illustrated book recreates the slaughter perpetuated by the god of war against his own brothers to defend their mother.

When you open it ... you will have the vision of an ancient, extinct and wonderful culture. This world is kept alive by echoes of poets yearning to speak to their ancestors.
Available on Amazon.com
https://www.amazon.com/-/es/Pablo-Ricardo-Silva-Guadarrama/dp/B094CT7J72/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1669900467&sr=8-3

Barbara E. Mundy "Extirpation of idolatry and sensory experience in sixteenth-century Mexico." In Sensational Religion: Sensory Cultures in Material Practice, Sally Promey, ed. 515-535. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014.
Centering on images that a group of Indigenous artists created for Diego Muñoz Camargo’s Historia de Tlaxcala, this chapter looks at violent campaigns meant to extirpate Indigenous religious practice, spearheaded by members of the Franciscan order, specifically Martín de Valencia, during the 1520s. It considers religious experience as it takes place across sensory registers to argue that that the “extirpation” campaigns entailed strategies of preservation and replacement, despite a Franciscan rhetoric of destruction.

El arte que se desarrolló en la capital imperial de Tenochtitlan durante los años previos a la conquista española tuvo múltiples usos y significados. En este ensayo se presenta un panorama general de su intencionalidad, así como algunas estrategias para su entendimiento; con énfasis en la estatuaria, pero se incluyen otros medios. Esta expresión ha sido definida, desde la perspectiva funcionalista, como un medio que sirvió para comunicar ideas sobre el lugar ideal de la humanidad en el universo, dentro de la estructura y organización sagrada del cosmos y en sociedad. En reiteradas ocasiones se han interpretado como un medio al servicio de la fe, afirmación que se ha enriquecido en años recientes, agregando que estas expresiones persiguen intereses políticos, referirse a eventos históricos particulares trascendentales en la vida social de la capital imperial. Para un público de principios del sig lo XXI, enfrentarse a éstas obras resguardadas en museos, embebidas en los muros de las iglesias y las calles de la ciudad de México o exhibidas en zonas arqueológicas puede resultar una tarea complicada. Una primera aproximación puede presentarlas como ambiguas, confusas y hasta contradictorias. Si bien es cierto que muchas ve ces estas imágenes no expresan su significado en forma precisa y limitada, se necesita entender que los motivos, emblemas y escenas representados en las rocas volcánicas, cerámica, paredes o papel amate contienen múltiples mensajes que actúan simultáneamente con una lógica particu ar. Para juzgar estas manifestaciones es ineludible entender que fueron una síntesis de tradiciones artísticas previas a Tenochtitlan, así como contemporáneas. De tal manera que, para comprender este proceso histórico, es necesario establecer los pasos que siguió su formación y consolidación, así como aquel sello que lo convirtió en una expresión única y di fe rente en la historia de Mesoamérica. Ex presión que implica, en primer lugar, un diálogo constante entre las estructuras sociales y cósmicas, además de la intención de proyectar una imagen de Tenochtitlan triunfante y sobe rana, creando un puente cultural con prestigiosas sociedades del pasado. Este ensayo no pretende abarcar la totalidad de sus expresiones, sino tan sólo mostrar sus generalidades y ayudar a en tender sus obras como portado ras de múltiples significados e identidades actuando al mismo tiempo. En tenderlas como generadoras de emociones en las personas que las observaron, tal como lo hacen hoy en día con nosotros.

In 'Time and the Ancestors: Aztec and Mixtec Ritual Art', Maarten Jansen and Aurora Pérez present new interpretations of enigmatic masterpieces from ancient Mexico. Combining iconographical analysis with the study of archaeological contexts, historical sources and living cultural traditions, they shed light on central symbols and values of the religious heritage of indigenous peoples, paying special attention to precolonial perceptions of time and the importance of ancestor worship. They decipher the meaning of the treasure deposited in Tomb 7 at Monte Albán (Oaxaca) and of artworks such as the Roll of the New Fire (Selden Roll), the Aztec religious sculptures and, last but not least, the mysterious chapter of temple scenes from the Book of Night and Wind (Codex Borgia).
[ For high quality open access of each chapter > https://brill.com/view/title/34471 ]

This work reconstructs the repertory of insignia of rank and the contexts and symbolic meanings of their use, along with their original terminology, among the Nahuatl-speaking communities of Mesoamerica from the fifteenth through the seventeenth centuries. Attributes of rank carried profound symbolic meaning, encoding subtle messages about political and social status, ethnic and gender identity, regional origin, individual and community history, and claims to privilege.

Olko engages with and builds upon extensive worldwide scholarship and skillfully illuminates this complex topic, creating a vital contribution to the fields of pre-Columbian and colonial Mexican studies. It is the first book to integrate pre- and post-contact perspectives, uniting concepts and epochs usually studied separately. A wealth of illustrations accompanies the contextual analysis and provides essential depth to this critical work. Insignia of Rank in the Nahua World substantially expands and elaborates on the themes of Olko's Turquoise Diadems and Staffs of Office, originally published in Poland and never released in North America.

European perspectives and Christian prejudices have profoundly influenced the perceptions and interpretations of the ancient cultures of Mexico and Central America since the beginning of the Spanish conquest, nearly 500 years ago (1519). Indigenous spirituality, for example, was - and sometimes still is - described in terms of idolatry and witchcraft. Particularly the sanguinary image of human sacrifice by heart extraction, followed by cannibalism, is omnipresent in the historical chronicles about the Aztec civilization and still dominant in contemporary scholarship. Sensationalist representations, propagated by popular scientific works, as well as by novels and films, have impacted the public at large until the present day.
Actually, clear archaeological and historical evidence for a religious custom of killing people with the specific aim of sacrificing them to the gods is conspicuously lacking. The early colonial sources do not contain credible eye-witness accounts but are rather the product of hear-say and imagination. It is quite obvious that the reports of the Spanish conquistadors were superficial, biased and primarily motivated by a desire to justify their own brutal invasion. The Spanish missionaries have added many details, but they arrived several years after the conquest, did their research decades later, and wrote their works as part of a “crusade against demons”. A critical analysis of the early colonial texts provokes serious doubts about their veracity. The allegation of “human sacrifice (in connection with cannibalism)” was part of creating an image of sanguinary and irrational idolatry. Alternative interpretations for supposed references to human sacrifice in pre-colonial visual art and archaeological data should therefore be explored seriously. Executions of enemy warriors or criminals are not to be classified as “sacrifices”, nor the (ceremonial) killing of family members, servants and others who had to accompany an important dead person to the Hereafter.
In general, it is time for a re-examination of such engrained stereotypes, not only to gain a better understanding of the indigenous cultural heritage, but also to assess how western ideas about other peoples in general are still under the spell of colonial propaganda.

In this case study I focus on the inbetweenness of ‘Montezuma’s Crown’ – the Penacho – which comes to stand for all museum objects, suspended in a shock-proof vitrine in the Weltmuseum in Vienna. While Mexican tourists press against the glass case, making a pilgrimage to see the crown as a way of connecting with a lost Aztec heritage, the uncertain provenance of the headdress makes this an ambiguous relic. The historical movement of the Penacho from Central America to Central Europe instead speaks of Austria’s thwarted imperial ambitions, while conservators’ insistence that the crown cannot be moved due to its fragility is now used as an excuse to rebuff demands by the Mexican government to repatriate it. I trace the various ways in which the Penacho straddles ontological and epistemological domains and how its suspension in the museum’s vitrine represents a metaphor for the political stalemate in which it is now caught.

This essay investigates the impact of the Encounter of America,
particularly of the Franciscan missions, in the cultural production of New Spain. Specifically, it investigates the twofold
power of Christian-Mexica feather mosaics in both the conversion of indigenous peoples and the transmission of indigenous
artistic invenzione to European collectors. The essay focuses on
the re-contextualization of featherworks after they crossed the
Atlantic, and thus in their transformation from ritualistic to
aesthetic objects.

The fourth known pre-Columbian Maya codex—the only one discovered in the 20th century—was found by looters in the mid-1960s. First exhibited in New York in 1971, what has come to be known as the Grolier Codex is half of a hybrid-style 20-page, 104-year Mesoamerican divinatory Venus Almanac. With new radiocarbon dates that place it in the 13th century CE, it is likely to be the oldest surviving book on paper from the Americas as well as the only ancient Maya codex now residing in Mexico. Although most Mayanists have accepted it as authentic, based in part on the author’s 40 years of research,* it remains an unacknowledged Mexican national treasure as it has never been officially recognized except in the State of Chiapas. Mesoamerican Venus Almanacs were widely used in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica to regulate practices of sacred warfare and ritual sacrifice, the goal of which was to obtain captives whose blood was shed to invoke the personified forces of rain and fertility. The Grolier Codex offers unique images of 10 of the 20 manifestations of Venus (named in the Maya Dresden Codex), greatly enriching our knowledge of these traditions documented in four other pre-Columbian codices as well as numerous archaeological and ethnohistoric sources. This article is a summary of the talk given on November 7, 2014 to the Pre-Columbian Society of Washington DC and includes a brief history of accounts of the discovery of the Grolier Codex and allegedly associated artifacts; photographic history; outlines the author’s comprehensive program of research, including several new scientific discoveries leading to an interpretation of the Codex—based on the Dresden Codex and other sources; and offers a new Latinized name that recognizes that the “Codex Mayano-Mexicanus” is an authentic ancient book deriving from the Maya culture and now properly residing in Mexico.

          *See <http://umd.academia.edu/JohnBCarlson>.

Also utilized as part of the November 7, 2014 talk are TWO 1983 historical STUDY GUIDE documents which can be viewed at the following academia.edu links:

• GROLIER CODEX Page Study Guide: Pages 1-9 and Reconstructed Page 10/11 (1983): 

https://www.academia.edu/7911420/GROLIER_CODEX_Page_Study_Guide_Pages_1-9_and_Reconstructed_Page_10_11

• GROLIER CODEX Comparative Study Guide (1983): Grolier pages 1-9 and reconstructed page 10/11 with Maya Dresden Codex Venus Almanac page numbers 48/1 – 50/2 with Venus Station and Directional Associations; Names (on Dresden Rows 17 & 22) of the associated Venus Impersonators; and Initial (1983) interpretations of the Grolier Codex scenes & iconographic interpretations. Over the three decades since 1983, some of the glyphic and iconographic interpretations have changed, as discussed in the presentation. The details are in press:

https://www.academia.edu/9208071/GROLIER_CODEX_Comparative_Study_Guide_1983_

*****

This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Maya Grolier Codex.

The fourth known pre-Columbian Maya codex, the only one discovered in the twentieth century, was found by looters in the mid-1960s. First exhibited in New York in 1971, what has come to be known as the  Grolier Codex is half of a 20-page, 104-year divinatory hybrid-style Mesoamerican Venus Almanac, probably the physically oldest surviving pre-Columbian book, and with new radiocarbon dates that place it in the thirteenth century CE. It is likely to be the oldest surviving book on paper from the Americas as well as the only ancient Maya codex now residing in Mexico. Although most Mayanists have accepted it as authentic, based in part on the author’s 40 years of research, it remains an unacknowledged Mexican national treasure, as it has never been officially recognized. Mesoamerican Venus Almanacs were widely used in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica to regulate practices of sacred warfare, the goal of which was to obtain captives for sacrifice, their blood shed to invoke the personified forces of rain and fertility. The  Codex offers unique images of 10 of the 20 manifestations of Venus, greatly enriching our knowledge of these traditions. The present study offers a brief history of accounts of the discovery of the Codex and allegedly associated artifacts; presents a documented photographic history; outlines the author’s comprehensive program of research, including several new scientific discoveries; and offers a new Latinized name that recognizes that the Codex Mayano-Mexicanus is an authentic ancient book deriving from the Maya culture and now properly residing in Mexico.


*****
This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Maya Grolier Codex.

This dissertation focuses on social change during the Late Postclassic period in Central Mexico through an analysis of Aztec stone sculpture recovered from the capital city of Tenochtitlan. This work is the culmination of the Aztec Stone Sculpture from the Basin of Mexico Project (AZSSBMP), which created a standardized database of over 2000 whole and fragmented sculptures to facilitate comparison and identify changes overtime. My research addresses stone sculpture development, before and after the Aztec Empire, by analyzing sculptures with known archaeological contexts from the Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlan, the surrounding area of the Main Precinct, and other parts of the island city. I use stylistic and iconographic similarities to create groupings of sculptures that are contemporaneous and identify changes in forms and iconographic narratives through time to explain the emergence, experimentation, and synthesis of a Mexica style. I propose the construction of a master chronological sequence, which is divided into three stages: the Pre-Imperial Stage (ca. 1300 – 1430 AD), the Early Imperial Stage (1430 – 1481 AD), and the Late Imperial Stage (1481 – 1519 AD). This approach addresses both synchronic and diachronic perspectives of stone sculpture and illustrates the diversity of the stone sculpture corpus that has not been previously highlighted. Over time there is an increase in the number and size of sculptures, as well as the development of high aesthetic quality and complex iconographic narratives. This research argues that the emerging Aztec Empire used sculptures to display political propaganda that aided their objectives as an expansionist state. These iconographic narratives show a tendency towards state violence and use stone images as relevant media to depict Tenochtitlan as the center of the universe to enforce a new sacred order and invoke the Flower World complex as a justification. This research serves as an example of understanding how material culture can be used to explain the socio-political dynamics of Central Mexico during the development and apogee of the Aztec Empire.

European perspectives and Christian prejudices have profoundly influenced the perceptions and interpretations of the ancient cultures of Mexico and Central America since the beginning of the Spanish conquest, nearly 500 years ago (1519). Indigenous spirituality, for example, was - and sometimes still is - described in terms of idolatry and witchcraft. Particularly the sanguinary image of human sacrifice by heart extraction, followed by cannibalism, is omnipresent in the historical chronicles about the Aztec civilization and still dominant in contemporary scholarship. Sensationalist representations, propagated by popular scientific works, as well as by novels and films, have impacted the public at large until the present day.
Actually, clear archaeological and historical evidence for a religious custom of killing people with the specific aim of sacrificing them to the gods is conspicuously lacking. The early colonial sources do not contain credible eye-witness accounts but are rather the product of hear-say and imagination. It is quite obvious that the reports of the Spanish conquistadors were superficial, biased and primarily motivated by a desire to justify their own brutal invasion. The Spanish missionaries have added many details, but they arrived several years after the conquest, did their research decades later, and wrote their works as part of a “crusade against demons”. A critical analysis of the early colonial texts provokes serious doubts about their veracity. The allegation of “human sacrifice (in connection with cannibalism)” was part of creating an image of sanguinary and irrational idolatry. Alternative interpretations for supposed references to human sacrifice in pre-colonial visual art and archaeological data should therefore be explored seriously. Executions of enemy warriors or criminals are not to be classified as “sacrifices”, nor the (ceremonial) killing of family members, servants and others who had to accompany an important dead person to the Hereafter.
In general, it is time for a re-examination of such engrained stereotypes, not only to gain a better understanding of the indigenous cultural heritage, but also to assess how western ideas about other peoples in general are still under the spell of colonial propaganda.