Showing papers on "Mural published in 1973"

Painting, Writing, and Polity in Teotihuacan, Mexico

Abstract: Two hitherto unrelated Teotihuacan mural paintings, no longer in situ, probably are companion pieces from upper and lower walls in the same portico or room or in related porticos or rooms of the same compound. The tassel headdresses wo by the figures in the paintings appear to be insignia of "Rain God"-related social units or institutions, signifying leadership and authority, with military associations. The contexts in which the tassel headdresses occur, both within the ancient city and outside its borders, suggest that persons with rights to the headdress may have been members of or attached to the ruling establishment or the bureaucracy of the Teotihuacan state. The unique two-part notation on the upper wall painting appears to be hierarchically ordered, corresponding to a ranking either of the social units to which the figures belong, or of institutions which they represent, or of places associated with them. Department of Anthropology University of Rochester December, 1971 FOR CENTURIES early in the first millennium A.D., the metropolis of Teotihuacan exerted power and influence over large areas of Middle America. Situated high on the Central Mexican plateau, about 25 mi northeast of modern Mexico City, Teotihuacan developed into one of the largest and most complex ancient cities now known in the New World, extending over an area of 8 mi2, with a permanent population estimated to number 125,000 persons around A.D. 600. Within its crowded environs, in the densely built residential structures which lined its many streets, a relatively large number of its people worked as craft specialists for the export market, as well as for internal exchange (R. Millon 1970). Apparently to house in proximity the political leaders of the city-its highest ranking religious and politico-bureaucratic personnel-and an enormous central marketplace, the Teotihuacanos built the huge "Ciudadela-Great Compound" complex in the very center of their city, at the intersection of the north-south and east-west axes, flanking both sides of their " ia Sacra," the majestic "Street of the Dead" (see R. Millon 1970, map). Today we see the bare bones of the city's excavated structures, splendid as they are. We do not see them as they were, their lime-plastered walls covered with colorful paintings. More than 200 paintings from about 40 structures have been found, representing a minute sample of Teotihuacan mural art (C. Millon 1972). What sculpture was to te Lowland Maya, mural painting was to the Teotihuacanos. As their major art form, it constitutes a major source of data for the study of Teotihuacan society and culture. Two relatively unknown paintings appear to be crucial sources of such data (Figs. 1, 2). Although they are no longer in situ, unfortunately, and are now in different parts of the United States, taken together, they provide us with new evidence about the city's writing system and its polity. PUTTING THE PAINTINGS TOGETHER In 1965 I saw a Teotihuacan mural in a private gallery, which, so far as I know, has not been reproduced or published until now (Fig. 2). William Coe had called the painting to the attention of my husband and myself (personal communication, 1965). The painting, in tones of red, had decorated a lower wall, and measured perhaps 1 m in width and somewhat under 1 m in height, a standard size for a single figure painting on lower walls in the ancient city. The Teotihuacan mural canon is such, that the figure probably would have been repeated a number of times in the room from which it came. Coe had noticed that the tassel headdress of the principal figure resembled the headdress of what appears to be a Teotihuacan "Rain God" decorating a shield held by a helmeted, armed figure who seemed to be a Teotihuacano, carved on Stela 31 at Tikal (Fig. 3a right, b) (personal communication, 1965). The headdress reappeared as the headdress of the same

San Isidoro in León: Evidence for a New History

Abstract: In the summer of 1969 I directed a campaign which produced plans, sections and drawings of the older parts of the Collegiate Church of San Isidoro in Leon for a history of that monument.1 The work centered on the Pantheon of the Kings, the mausoleum of the rulers of Leon-Castile in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, which is attached as a kind of narthex to the west facade of the church. It is traditionally attributed to 1063, and the assured handling of architectural space and mass one encounters there has been seen as an auspicious introduction of the Romanesque style in northwest Spain. At the same time the walls and vaults of the Pantheon display the major surviving cycle of Spanish Romanesque mural painting outside Catalonia. During the six weeks of the campaign it was possible to become intimately acquainted with the complex (Fig. 1), and to complete a plan of the Pantheon and its adjacent tower and gallery, together with a plan of the tribune and tower on the next level (Figs. 2a and b). Of the lo...

Kinetic Art: A Mural of Variably Stressed Photoelastic Material With Light Polarizers

Abstract: A prototype mural, whose construction will be of interest to artists and architects, was made in 1972 at Cornell University from materials commonly used to analyze stresses in models of mechanical parts and structures by means of polarized light [1]. The mural, in the form of a ? in. thick, 12 x 7.5 ft. panel is shown in Fig. 1 as installed in the lobby of the Cornell Engineering Library about two feet in front of a large window. Sunlight illuminates it for viewers in the lobby during the day and interior electric light, for viewers outside the building at night. A cross section of the construction of the mural is shown in Fig. 2. The mural is suspended from the ceiling of a room, so that it hangs freely within a few inches from the floor. Two angle irons are attached at the lower edge and a false floor is laid between the angle irons and parallel supports eight feet away. (The installation shown in Fig. 1 has the false floor only on the lobby side of the mural.) The weight of a viewer on the false floor causes the mural to be stretched and, as he walks along, the local stresses in the mural to change, giving rise to a composition in which patterns and colors vary, that is, one has a kinetic picture (Fig. 3, cf. color plate). The mural is made of a sandwich construction