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Material Meanings in the Ancient Americas: Masterworks of the Walters Art Museum’s Latin American Collection

Ellen Hoobler, William B. Ziff, Jr., Curator of Art of the Americas at the Walters Art Museum

Reception 1:00 - 1:30 pm 

In some ways, the materials used to create ancient American artworks invoked as much meaning as the forms in which they were painted, carved, woven, or molded. Using eight masterworks from the Walters Art Museum’s collection, this talk examines material traditions surrounding textiles and metalwork in the Andes; clay, jade, and feathers in ancient and colonial Mesoamerica/Mexico; gold in Central America; and painted canvas and paper manuscripts from colonial and modern Latin America. While gold and jade — and to a lesser degree, fine tapestries — are considered precious in the Western world, their meanings were very different in the ancient Americas. By contextualizing how such materials were obtained and worked, we will examine how they carried complex and multivalent significance, far beyond the forms or designs that adorned them.

$15 fee for guests and subscribers (no fee for members)