Art Of The Americas Museum Analysis

The exhibit and museum, which I am going to critique, is the Art of the Americas exhibition at the De Young Museum in San Francisco, CA. I chose this museum and exhibition for two reasons. One, it was a free Tuesday at the de Young and I had the morning available, and two, I have long had an interest in the previous cultures of America.

The Art of the Americas collection displays various art collections throughout the America’s from the ancient past to current events. I t delves into cultures and civilizations which were present in the Western Hemisphere before the Spanish Conquest and attempts to describe the lifestyles, art, and tools of these people.

For this collection, the specific cultural systems and aspects of life, which are being

The artifact appears to be taken from a wall in perhaps a residence or a community space. There are several pieces of the artifact, but the one I am choosing to use is rectangular and is approximately 2 feet in width by 8 feet in length. Based on the cracks at the end of the mural, the base of the mural appears to be made from some form concrete. The mural has a form of paint in various colors. Although the most predominant color is red, there are also shades of pink, green, blue and yellow. The mural depicts a serpent that could also be a crocodile whose head, upper jaw, and lower jaw are green. The mouth and face are red, the lips appear to be yellow, and the eye had a gray pupil with a yellow iris and light grey sclera. Protruding from the serpent’s mouth is a tongue in the shape of the pistil of a flower. From the pistil droplets resembling tadpoles are emerging. These are yellow. Blue, and light blue in color. Adjacent to the tadpole like creatures is a flat article that resembles a scarf. This scarf like depiction appears to have drawings on the inside that appear to represent cell division or mitosis and on the other end, four small serpent heads are emerging from the fabric. These are light blue in color and have eyes with red pupils and a yellow sclera. Below the serpent and adjacent to the mimi-serpants are what appear to be green tables with potted flowering plants

Regarding the curator of the exhibit, there was more emphasis on the aesthetics of the objects in the exhibit rather than the history of the people.

The exhibit was fascinating to me for many reasons. Specifically, I learned about the indigenous people of the Americas and what their lives were like prior to the Spanish Conquest. Although the exhibit was relatively user friendly, I would have appreciated a bit more to read about the culture. The exhibit next to this did a good job with the cultural descriptions (The Pacific Island exhibit) even though the text was limited, it was written in an easily understandable format. The text was easy to see and the museum did a very good job with lighting the artifacts. I think more light on the descriptions would be an excellent idea. Regarding a hands-on element to the exhibit, this did not