Mayan Art

What forms of art were practiced by this culture?

• Mayan art consisted of painting, sculpting, and carving. Like all other cultures their art reflected the thoughts of their society and culture.

In examples of this art, what visual symbols are prevalent and what is their significance?

• In mayan art, they commonly depict men and women who serve the purpose of ensuring the history of their culture. This includes people like kings and other important men and women who are in power and serve the common goal of restoring their cherished history.

Are there recurrent themes that all art from this culture has in common?

• There are many recurrent themes in art (particularly vase painting) which include: story telling, sports, accession, and bloodletting rituals. The most common vase scene is that of the royal audience (or ahau).

What mediums are used and how are they acquired/produced?

• One very popular method for painting involved delineation and painting upon paper and plaster. They also used stone and wood for carving and terra cotta figurines from molds.

http://www.lost-civilizations.net/mayan-art.html

http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED405247&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=eric_accno&accno=ED405247

http://www.utexas.edu/courses/wilson/ant304/projects/projects98/gaffordp/art.html

http://www.indians.org/welker/maya.htm