Archaeology Magazine - November/December 1985 - 78

n

EWSBRIEFS

Folk Art of the South
AlthoughSouthern music,craftsand
folkwayshave long been diligentlystudied
by folklorists,comparativelylittleattention
has been paid to Southern folkart, particularlythat from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.Withinthe large and
diverseregion extendingfrom Maryland
and Virginiato east Texas,a number of
distinctgroups- French,Spanish,German,
Moravian,Afro-American,Swiss,ScotchIrish,and Shaker- developed their various
artistictraditionsin rural isolation.
Nowa landmarkexhibitionorganized
by the Museumof AmericanFolkArt in
NewYorkCityand on tour through several
Southern citiesuntilthe end of 1986 providesan opportunityfor the publicto see
the fullrange of the South's rich folkart
legacy.Portraitsin flattenedtwo-dimensionalstylewith crisp outlinesand much
decorativedetailwere the most important
art form.Others were genre painting,
prominentlyfeaturingevents of war;fraktur
(illuminatedor decorated writing)and slipglazedearthenware produced by German
settlersof the Upper South; sculpturesof
wood, stone and metal;alkaline-glazed
stoneware,stillproduced by the last of the
Southern folkpotters;textilesand furniture.
Afterclosingin San Franciscothe exhibition, sponsored by PhilipMorris,Inc.and
partiallyfunded by the NationalEndow-

ment for the Arts,willbe on viewat the
BirminghamMuseumin AlabamaOctober
17-December8, 1985; the Tennessee
State Museumin NashvilleJanuary 9March8, 1986; the MintMuseumin Charlotte, NC April5-May 25, 1986; the Valentine Museum,Richmond,VAJune
17-August30, 1986; and the J.B. Speed
Art Museum,Louisville,KYSeptember 28November30, 1986.

Maya Art in Washington
Handwoventextilesfrom the Guatemalan villageof Comalapa and 20 oil
paintingsby Andres Curuchich,the country'soutstandingprimitivepainter,willbe
on displayat the Museumof LatinAmerican PopularArt in the Organizationof
AmericanStates buildingin Washington,
DC November26-December 31, 1985.
Comalapa:Traditionsand Textileshas been
mountedby the MuseoIxchelof Guatemala
City,a privatemuseum devoted to the
preservationof Guatemala'srich textile
heritage.PhilipMorris,Inc.funded the
Englishtranslationof the illustratedmonograph writtenby anthropologistLinda
Barrios,Curator of the Museo betel.
At Washington'sTextileMuseumthe

presentation of Flowers,Saints and Toads:
the TextileArt of the Chiapas Mayas
inauguratesa national tour of the firstU.S.
exhibitionof weavers'artistryfrom Maya
communitiesin Mexico.Organizedby the
Science Museumof Minnesota,the more
than 50 textilesfrom the nineteenth and
twentiethcenturies interpret the art form's
history,aestheticsand symbolism.The
toad, "musicianof the rain,"causes rain to
fallfrom the cloudscreated in the mountain
cave of the Saint, or Earth Lord. Although
each Mayacommunity'stextilesappear
uniformat firstglance,everypiece expresses
the weaver'spersonal visionof the world
and her place in it, and each is unique: the
weaver never repeats her design exactly.
Thishuipil,or overblouse,from Comalapa
is of the San Martintype.

Prehistoric
Native Americans
AncientArt of the AmericanWoodland
Indians,exhibitedat the Detroit Instituteof
Arts September 5-November 10, 1985 and
the Museumof Fine Arts,Houston, TX
December21, 1985-March 9, 1986, brings
together stone sculptures,ceramics,copper
tools,weapons,ornaments,and ceremonial
objectscreated between 3000 b.c.and
a.D.1500. Discoveredover the past 180
years,some as recentlyas fiveyears ago, in
the Woodlandregion extendingfrom the
AtlanticCoast to the Westernprairiesand
from the Great Lakesto the Gulfof Mexico,
the objectscome from the Late Archaic
(3000-1000 b.c.),Woodland (1000 b.c.A.D.900) and Mississippian(a.D.900-1500)
Periods.Partiallyfunded by the National
Endowmentfor the Arts,the exhibitionis
open to the publicwithout charge.

More on the Festival
of India
Each of the variousexhibitionsof Indian
art in the 1985-86 Festivalof India celebration in the U.S.features a particular
culturalregion,period or style.Indian
Miniaturesfrom the EhrenfeldCollection,
on viewat the CaliforniaPalace of the
Legion of Honor in San Franciscothrough
December 15, 1985 and travelingto nine
other museums,presents an overviewof
the development of Indian miniaturepainting and includesworksof Mughal,Decanni,
Rajasthani,and Pahari painting.The earliestworksdate fromjust before the reign
of the firstgreat Mughalemperor,Akbar
(a.D.1556-1605), when the Persian style
imported by the Mughalsbegan to merge
with the indigenousIndian traditionto
form a vigorousnew Mughalart styleemphasizingnaturalisticanimal studies and
court painting.Typicalworksare a portrait
of Akbarpresenting a falconto his son
Jahangir (Mughaliconographyassociates
the falconwith politicalpower and its transmission)and the charming YoungAfrican
Elephant.Other importantworksdepict
Krishna(an incarnationof the Hindu god
Vishnu) as child,warrior,lover,and deity.
Afterclosingin San FranciscoIndian
Miniatures, organizedby the American
Federation of Arts,willvisitmuseums in
Texas,Louisiana,NewJersey, Massachusetts, Florida,Illinois,Iowa,Oklahoma,and
North Carolina;watch the "Current Exhibitions" section of Archaeologyfor dates and
places.
Prehistoric
Pottery
Re-Dated
Collectionsof Precolumbianpottery and
gold artifactsin the FieldMuseumof
Natural History,originallybrought to
Chicago for the Colombianpavilionat the
1893 World'sFair and dated a.D.400-800,
are now attributed to a much earlierperiod
-600-1500 b.c.Scholarshipand excavations in Colombiaand Ecuador since the
late 1960s have confirmedthat the
Museum'sIncisedBrownwarepottery
comes from the same tombs and the same
culture that produced its ClassicQuimbaya
gold pieces (most examplesof whichare in
Madrid'sMuseo de America).
Current informationclearlyindicates
that by 1000 b.c.the most advanced metallurgyin the NewWorldwas being practiced
in the Cauca Valleyof Colombia,and that
the people who produced this civilization
were either exterminatedor drivenawayby
a series of Pompeii-likevolcanicdisasters,
extendingfrom south of Quito, Ecuadorto
northern Colombia,that made the Quimbaya region uninhabitablefrom about 600
b.c.to a.D.100 or later.The most recent
archaeologicaloccupation of the area is
dated a.D.800-1600.
Duringtheir investigationsscholarsat
the Field Museumcame across approximately 15 more pieces of IncisedBrownware- among them a spectacularbichrome
example and a mug for nativebeer in the
shape of an alligator,perhaps the giant
blackcaiman which has great mythological
significancein South America.
Archaeology Magazine - November/December 1985

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - November/December 1985
