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Mesoamerican Art Analysis

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In Mesoamerican art, there are many different styles, materials, and iconographic images used to convey different messages. The iconographic images of gods are present throughout different cultures because in many civilizations, the rulers will change but the gods are still the same. While rulers and gods both play large roles in the artworks studied from the Mesoamerican cultures during the Early Preclassic period through the Late Post-Classic period, the depictions of gods and the supernatural hold a greater emphasis than the rulers. The Olmec culture, from the Early Formative to Late Formative time period, was known for having realistic as well as iconic iconographic artworks that were used to describe messages. One of the main facial, iconographic …show more content…

Another piece that shows the Maize god is Monolith 1. Not only does it portray the Maize God but also the four corners of the universe which is a recurring image that is understood as part of the creation story believed by Mesoamerican cultures. In Mayan culture, the Maize God is portrayed during the Late Formative period in a mural at San Bartolo. The mural has an imagery used to represent the four corners of the universe similar to Monolith 1. In the Late Classic period, the maize god is portrayed again yet as his rebirth from the turtle shell on the Plate with the Hero Twins and Rebirth of the Maize God. This image is a straight depiction of the story told in the Popol Vuh, which is the detailed creation story written by the …show more content…

They are represented in many different art pieces, mainly in the Late Formative period. The story, told in the Popol Vuh, states in a nutshell how the Hero Twins were born from the daughter of the god of the underworld. Their father had been killed by the gods of the underworld yet when they are commanded to play the gods of the underworld, they win and are able to resurrect their father, who is the Maize God. They also defeated 7 Macaw, the false sun god. The Popol Vuh also goes into the story that is then represented during the Late Formative period in Stela 5 from Izapa, Stela 1 from Nakbe, and Structure Sub-1 Pinturas Group. Stela 5 portrays the false sun that was killed by the hero twins. Stela 1 shows the Hero Twins participating in ritual bloodletting and is also the earliest portrayal of the Hero Twins. Lastly, Structure Sub-1 Pinturas Group shows the Twins offering animals to the creator deity and is a symbol of sacrifice. The importance of these representations is that they are visual representations of the written religious creation story that is the only written creation story from the

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The book Popol Vuh by Allen J. Christenson is about the creation of the world and its first inhabitants and how the gods created the first animals so that Gucumatz and Tepeu would have someone worship them, but then realized the animals were unable to speak and therefore could not worship them. After that Christenson mentions the Hero twins and also the story of the Quiche noble family dynasties. Hunahpu and Xbalanque were the sons of Hun Hunahpu and Xquic, a goddess or maiden of the lords of the Maya underworld. The most important idea of the Popol Vuh is the Hero Twins' use of trickster tales because the words are taken as wisdom for younger generations, the Hero Twins want revenge for their father's death and want to defeat the god unlike

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This picture is from Jorge Enciso’s designs “Motifs of Ancient Mexico”, which shows the unique designs first made by the Aztecs, Mayans and other tribal groups. The book was first published in 1947. Back in the days, there were different perspectives of how the Aztecs, Incas and the Mayans treated the image of the turtle. For the Mexicans, they considered the turtle to have extraordinary powers as it was the reason for the reunion of the Earth and the heaven.

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These carved heads are a representation of the Olmec rulers. 4. The Maya did not unite to form a single untitled empire.

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The Aztec Empire was a tribute empire based in Tenochtitlan. The Aztec people were indigenous groups of Mexico and they spoke "Nahuatl" language. They governed large parts of Mesoamerica for a long period. They lived and governed from the 13th century to 16th century. Since the 13th century, Aztec civilization thrived in the city of Mexico.

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I gained some insight from this piece of artwork. I chose to start with this video due to my background knowledge on the Virgin of Guadalupe. However, I obtained so much more knowledge after viewing this. The thing that was most striking to me was when Juan Diego presented his cloak to the bishop, not only did the requested roses fall, but also the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Next, I observed the Sun Stone documentary.

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History should say that the Aztecs were very confident about their beliefs as an empire. The Aztecs were an empire located on the Plateau of Mexico. They had a very powerful government. The Aztecs believed that they gods kept the world going. The Aztecs had many customs and traditions in order to please the gods.

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Aside from being depicted in Mesoamerican artwork, the concept of death in Mexico also tells the story of the imposition of Catholicism on Mesoamerican civilizations during colonial Mexico. Artwork during this time period illustrates images of death, such as a deceased nun, a masked death, devil and devil dancers, and ancient decorated skulls (Carmichael and Slayer 1992, 36). According to Stanley Brandes, scholars often have a difficult time minimizing the role of the Zapotec natives while simultaneously emphasizing on the European origins of the Day of the Dead holiday. Much of the pre-Columbian antecedents steams from the iconography of ancient civilizations living throughout Mesoamerica. This includes its huge amounts of skulls and skeletons during the modern Day of the Dead rituals as well as the variations of the meaning of the skeletal depictions as it differs from region to region.

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Between 1000 BCE and 1550 CE, the societies of Mesoamerica have changed and developed because they grew from a small civilization to a great empire, yet the techniques Mesoamericans used to legitimize their power has remained the same over time because the civilizations always practiced human sacrifices. Mesoamerican civilizations have changed over time. From the time of the Olmecs to the Mayans, they had grown from a first major Mesoamerican culture to a long-living civilization. The Olmecs had built a network to spread their culture, and seeing how the Mesoamerican societies came to be after them, they’ve succeeded. After the decline of the Mayan civilization, the Aztecs ruled as an empire.

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This first civilization served as a mother culture for future civilizations; thanks to the Olmecs, the birth of pyramids, number systems, picture writings, ceremonial traditions, and a Mesoamerican calendar emerged (Vigil xxi). There is something even more astonishing about the Olmecs that some people may find it hard to believe.

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The connecting theme here is that these figures, while famous, have lost their traditional representation and cultural rooting. Picked apart and removed from context, these tales have been altered and perverted into something that merely resembles their constituent

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Anyone after listening to these statements describing all the visual associations to the sun one would think the central figure to be the sun god. In “Sacrifice and the Sun '' the article mentions that there is serious debate on the exact identity of the central figure; some suggest it is the sun god, earth deity , or even the ruler who embodies these godly aspects. Cecelia F. Klein suggests that the central deity depicted on the sun stone may have been the Aztec god of war and the sun, Huitzilopochtli. The 20 glyphs seen in the stone are identified to be the day signs which have led to the stones popularly referred to as a calendar. It is clear that the sun stone holds significant cultural and historic meaning in

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Each of them asked to be some other creature”(Welker). The personification in shown by the animals complaining, talking animals isn’t what an animal usually does and thus the story has use of personification. This shows the similarities between two creation stories by two different tribes living in the same State. The Purpose of Creation Stories is to guide and teach the people.

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Mexican art and architectures are both beautiful works of arts they have change drastically throughout time and during the colonial period most of the art being done was folk art which included weaving amazing textiles, pottery, and silver work. Which has flourished throughout Mexico’s history. The Mexicans introduce to European art when during the arrival of Spaniards. Their impact on Mexican art was mostly on paintings and building techniques. Many great artists became adept on religious oil painting, modeling religious figures in wax, and the art of polychrome wood sculpture.

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Introduction The people of Mesoamerica were and still are a mixed package of mystery and history, with their past literally written in stone. In this essay I will discuss my two chosen Mesoamerican societies, the Olmecs and the Aztecs and the common features that they share, such as ball courts, temple pyramids, calendrical and writing systems and the significance of similarities and differences between them, to better my understanding of the social structure of these two amazing societies. Who are they?

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The art of the Mayans has been called the richest in the New World because of the great complexity of the patterns and variety of the media used. Mayan art had a distinctive style that was influenced by the Olmec civilization. Mayan art forms included painting on paper and plaster, carvings in wood and stone, clay and stucco models, and terra cotta figurines from molds. The Mayans are well known for their use of stucco, jade, and obsidian. Maya buildings were adorned with carved friezes and roof combs in stone and stucco.

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