Pre-Columbian Art and Architecture

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Olmec

Along the central coast of the Gulf of Mexico, the Olmec developed the first major Mesoamerican civilization, between about 1500 and 600 bc. Major ceremonial centers such as La Venta, Tres Zapotes, and San Lorenzo were located in the swampy jungle river basins of the Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco. Many of the most characteristic elements of Mesoamerican civilization originated with the Olmec and are especially evident at La Venta, which is this culture's best known spiritual, intellectual, and administrative capital.

La Venta, like most later Mesoamerican sites, is planned with a north-south orientation so that building doors open east to west, corresponding to the daily passage of the sun. A mounded-earth pyramid 30 m (100 ft) high, among the earliest in Mesoamerica, was constructed as the focal point of an axial arrangement of platform temples and plazas. This urban arrangement would become a common plan for later Mesoamerican ceremonial centers. The Olmec were the first to use stone architecturally and sculpturally, although it had to be laboriously quarried and transported from the Tuxtla Mountains 97 km (60 mi) to the west. Architectural stone mosaics also were created for the first time in the Americas.

The most impressive Olmec artifacts are colossal stone heads of males, about 2.7 m (about 9 ft) high, that are portraitlike in their realism. Large, detailed relief carvings depicting mythological deities or events have been discovered, as well as small, exquisitely carved, in-the-round sculptures of basalt or jade. Despite the importance of sculpture, however, it was not integrated with the architecture as it would be in later Mesoamerican civilizations. Isolated stone stelae, or slabs of rock, were erected to commemorate significant events, and they were inscribed with complex iconography, precursor to later Mesoamerican writing.

Olmec art, like that of the Maya, is characterized by a high degree of naturalism. Emphasis is placed on the curvilinear rather than the rectilinear, thus encouraging fluid, rhythmic forms that seem more harmonious to a tropical locale than the stylized angular art that is commonly found in the relatively austere mountain valleys of central and southern Mexico.

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The Olmec sphere of influence extended from the Gulf of Mexico coast (its heartland) through the highlands of Mexico, the Valley of Mexico, the Oaxaca region, and westward to Guerrero. Although pottery produced in the Olmec heartland was not distinguished, at the Olmec highland sites of Tlatica and Tlapacoyan are found hollow clay figurines, probably the first made, which are among the finest examples of Mesoamerican ceramic sculpture. The indigenous culture of Tlatica also produced vast numbers of very small individualized figurines of women with elaborate hairstyles and detailed body ornamentation. Their exaggerated female anatomy seems to indicate their use as fertility images.

In the Mexican states of Morelos and Guerrero, Olmec influence is seen in Xochipala clay figurines, in the cave painting at Oxtotitlan, in Guerrero, and in the reliefs carved on the cave walls at Chalcatzingo, in Morelos. The last two sites are dedicated to the cult of a jaguar deity, whose power and relation to ruling chiefs were the subject of most Olmec art.

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Colima, Jalisco, and Nayarit

In the late Pre-Classic and early Classic periods, major cultures developed in western Mexico. Once mistakenly called Tarascan, they are now referred to by the names of the Mexican states in which the sites are located: Colima, Jalisco, and Nayarit.

No major architectural sites were constructed, and little stone sculpture was made, but some of the most accomplished Mesoamerican clay effigy pots and figurines were produced. At Ixtlán del Río in Nayarit, artisans created detailed genre sculptures depicting all aspects of village life. These negative-painted scenes (with unpainted figures defined by the painted background) possess the clarity and immediacy of photographs. Although less naturalistically dynamic and spontaneous, Colima figurines are also realistic, but are more monumental in form and essential in contour. Jalisco figurines are the most naive stylistically but are characterized by an arrestingly bold presence. The vital realism of western Mexican clay sculpture has made these artifacts among the most popular examples of pre-Columbian art. Because they were buried in deep underground shaft-and-chamber tombs, an unusually large number of pieces have survived.

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Classic Period

Teotihuacán, the Maya cities, the Zapotec center at Monte Albán, and the Classic Vera Cruz culture were the dominant civilizations of the Classic era.

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Teotihuacán

Some 40 km (some 25 mi) northeast of Mexico City is the site of Teotihuacán (“Place of the Gods”). Here the first truly urban Mesoamerican civilization developed; the largest city in the pre-Columbian western hemisphere, it grew into an important city during the 1st century ad, flourished until about ad 650, and had a population of at least 125,000 at its peak. A classic aesthetic evolved, emphasizing order and refinement. Austerely elegant, stylized design resulted in the creation of a monumental art, the effect of which is serene simplicity and noble grandeur. Buildings, for example, were designed using the talud-tablero (slope-and-panel) system. With this type of design the contrasting horizontal and vertical elements were all rigidly controlled and unified, as were the projecting and recessive structural areas, the light and dark effects, and the illustrative and geometric ornamentation.

The monumentality of Teotihuacán architecture is evident in the Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl at Cholula, the largest single pre-Columbian structure, and the Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacán, which is second in size. In area covered and in volume, both structures are larger than any ancient Egyptian pyramid. Palace complexes organized around plazas are among the most impressive examples of pre-Columbian residences. All Teotihuacán architecture was thickly covered with stucco, which was usually painted with murals. The best remaining examples of these frescoes decorate the interior walls of palaces at Teotihuacán. Three styles of murals have been categorized: decorative designs with symbolic meaning; stylized conceptual images of deities and mythological creatures; and narrative scenes that are more perceptual or realistic than abstract and schematic.

Few monumental examples of stone sculpture survive. The most famous of these stone sculptures is an architectonic monolith of the water goddess Chalchiuhtlicue. The most characteristic examples of Teotihuacán stone carving are stylized human masks that were originally attached to mummy bundles.

Two distinct types of ceramics were produced. Delicately shaped, thin orange-ware was widely traded throughout Mesoamerica, but the most prized pottery consisted of ceremonial objects thinly coated with plaster that was incised and then painted in a manner resembling ceremonial murals. The tripod—a straight-sided bowl supported by three flat legs—was the vessel shape initiated and most used by Teotihuacán potters. Clay figurines were produced, many being representations of people of the time and of dancing spirits of the dead.

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2

Maya

Maya civilization dominated southern Mesoamerica in the second half of the first millennium ad. Although originating in the Pre-Classic period and continuing until the time of the Spanish conquest, Maya culture achieved its most significant artistic and intellectual achievements during the Late Classic phase, from about 600 to about 900.

In variety and quality of architecture, the Maya are unexcelled by any other pre-Columbian civilization. Primarily found in lowland tropical areas, Classic Maya sites, with proportionally more emphasis on ceremonial features, appear to be less truly urban than Teotihuacán. The majority of Maya ruins are in Mexico; they include Palenque, Yaxchilán, and Bonampak and, in the Yucatán Peninsula, Chichén Itzá, Cobá, Dzibilchaltún, Edzna, Hochob, Kabah, Labna, Sayil, Uxmal, and Xpujil. Other major sites are Copán in Honduras and, in Guatemala, Piedras Negras, Quiriguá, and Tikal, the largest of all Maya ceremonial centers. Maya architecture is characterized by an exquisite sense of proportion and design and by structural refinement and subtle detailing. The Maya used sculpture more extensively for architectural decoration than any other pre-Columbian civilization. The corbel arch was employed not only to vault interior spaces, but also to construct freestanding arches. Despite the lack of carts and domesticated beasts of burden, the Maya built paved roadways. These connected major religious and administrative centers and seem to have been used mostly for ceremonial processions and to symbolize political links.

Maya art is the most highly refined and elegant in technique and design of any pre-Columbian civilization. Dignity and majesty were stressed in figurative art, as well as the representation of both physical and psychological reality. Rather than stasis and economy of form, the Maya seem to have sought exuberant, sensual movement and lavish ornamentation. Although Maya artists adhered to the basic precepts of their aesthetic tradition and iconography, innovation and individuality were encouraged.

Stelae with figurative carving and inscriptions are the most characteristic examples of the monumental freestanding stone sculpture of the Maya. The most elaborate examples are found at Copán, where the softness of the stone made possible baroque flamboyance of ornament. Most major sites have well-developed traditions of architectural relief panels in stone, and at Palenque stucco was effectively used for reliefs.

The Maya mastered all known pre-Columbian art forms except metalworking. Although no Maya textiles remain, their character and decoration can be discerned from representations in painting, figurines, and sculptures. Jade was skillfully carved, as were wood, bone, and shell; in clay, however, the Maya excelled. Realistic figurines (especially those from the islands of Jaina) and polychromed pottery with mythological or genre scenes (produced at Chama) are among the finest accomplishments of pre-Columbian sculpture and painting.

Fresco painting was practiced. Particularly fine examples have been found at Bonampak, Palenque, and Tikal. The Maya also had libraries of codices with images and text. Of the three remaining codices the Dresden Codex (Sachsische Landesbibliothek, Dresden, Germany) best illustrates the Maya's descriptive and formally dynamic use of line.

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