We live in painting: the nature of color in Mesoamerican art

Abstract

"Ancient Mesoamerican artists held a cosmic responsibility. As they used color to adorn buildings, clay vessels, textiles, bark-paper pages, sculptures, textiles, wall murals, mosaics and other items, they quite literally made the world. The power of color emerged from the materiality of its pigments and the communities whose knowledge of the natural world imbued it with meaning. Histories of colonialism and industrialization in the 'color-averse' West have minimized the profound significance of color in the Indigenous Americas. We Live in Painting provides an in-depth exploration of the science and art of color in Mesoamerica. This lavishly illustrated catalog, published as part of the PST ART series, follows two interconnected lines of inquiry―technical and material analyses, and Indigenous conceptions of art and image―to reach the full richness of color at the core of historical and contemporary Mesoamerican worldviews"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents

Foreword / Michael Govan -- Preface: the missing palette / Antonio Saborit -- Introduction: we live in painting / Diana Magaloni, Davide Domenici, and Alyce de Carteret -- Glossary / contributors: Diana Magaloni, Davide Domenici, Tatiana Falcón, Carlos Barrera Reyes, Alyce de Carteret, and Aaron Celestian -- The world of Maya color: idea and material / Claudia Brittenham -- White -- The world of Nahua color: of materia and anima / Élodie Dupey García -- Painter and sage -- Codices: a colorful speech / Davide Domenici -- Cosmos, casa, cuerpo -- Mosaics: the aesthetics of animacy / Davide Domenici -- Black and red -- Ceramics: a social art / Alyce de Carteret -- Blue-green and yellow -- Murals: the color of the cosmos / Diana Magaloni -- The science of color -- Murals: universal themes / María Teresa Uriarte -- Image and being -- Between threads and colors: reviving natural dyes in Chiapas and Oaxaca / Carlos Barrera Reyes -- Beyond the image: reintroducing traditional painting technologies in Guerrero / Tatiana Falcón -- Color: living legacies / Porfirio Gutierrez, Javier Lara, and Odilia Romero -- Checklist of the exhibition -- Appendix: painting materials of pre-colonial and early colonial codices / Davide Domenici -- References -- Acknowledgments -- Contributors -- Index -- Staff of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art -- Trustees of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art -- Illustration credits.