[image_with_animation image_url=”9204″ alignment=”center” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Yesterday I posted a fragment of a sculpture and asked you to guess when it was made and who made it. I worded my question to be misleading by asking specifically “who” and “what year.” Some of the guesses I received were:
Brancusi, 1952?
Isamu Noguchi?
Henry Moore late 1800s?
African, or African influenced Picasso?
Ancient Chinese?
Aztec?
Thank you for your guesses! I posted this sculpture because I was so taken aback by how contemporary it looked. In truth, this is a fragment of an ancient Olmec mask, dated 300 BC.
This Jade face might represent the Olmec Maize God. According to the Met Museum, the Olmec Maize God can be identified by his upturned lip. Many of the masks weren’t worn on the face, but were likely used as belt buckles, on headdresses, or as necklaces.
The earliest Olmec sites presently known date to 4000 years ago ( about 2000 BC). By 1400 BC, Olmec artisans were creating amazing earthworks, stonework, and ceramics that still captivate the viewer. To their 19th century discoverers, Olmec cities seemed to have sprouted full-blown out of the earth, complete with sophisticated directional alignment, symbolic writing (which we still can’t decipher), a complex set of spiritual beliefs, and finely crafted stonework, much of which was imitated by the Maya and other peoples who came to prominence after the Olmec faded.
I posted a V-Note about Casey Klahn’s pastels a while ago, and received a letter of thanks from him. We chatted a bit and I asked him if he’d be willing to teach a workshop at our new school. He asked about the students and the space, and I described us as a puppy with …
[image_with_animation image_url=”6299″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Sara Rahbar Wiki: Sara Rahbar (born in 1976 in Tehran, Iran) is a contemporary, mixed media artist based in New York City. Her work ranges from photography to sculpture to installation and often stems from her personal experiences and is largely autobiographical. In 1982, Rahbar and her family fled …
Last quarter I saw a profound shift in artwork at the school. It happened in Jonathan Harkham‘s Still Life class. Jonathan Harkham is an artist and educator who is joining us from his studio in LA. On the first day of class I noticed there were some nice student paintings, then increasingly through the weeks …
There are drips on some drawings, and the drips are round, not running vertically down the paper, which suggests the paper is flat. Some of the drips start right before a line and follow the same direction, which suggests the artist loaded his brush with ink, and the brush dripped down on a horizontal surface …
Mystery Mask
[image_with_animation image_url=”9204″ alignment=”center” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Yesterday I posted a fragment of a sculpture and asked you to guess when it was made and who made it. I worded my question to be misleading by asking specifically “who” and “what year.” Some of the guesses I received were:
[image_with_animation image_url=”9212″ alignment=”center” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”]
Map from Misfits and Heroes; New Thoughts on Olmec Art
Olmec Masks
This Jade face might represent the Olmec Maize God. According to the Met Museum, the Olmec Maize God can be identified by his upturned lip. Many of the masks weren’t worn on the face, but were likely used as belt buckles, on headdresses, or as necklaces.
More information is found on Misfits and Heroes; New Thoughts on Olmec Art:
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