Formal Analysis: Shapes and Lines in the art of Teotihuacan

        The symbolic art of Teotihuacan is charecterizable as a form of pictorial language based on visual communication. The signs used in the mural are range from naturalistic representations, to stylized geometric forms and abstract patterns. Many of the images are highly stylized representations of living organisms in the natural world; anthropomorphized creatures as well as animals common to the area are often represented by compound forms that have no correspondence to nature. Organic shapes and geometric forms, such as circles, squares and triangles are juxtaposed and welded to form a coherent yet stylized pictorial representation of the natural world. The natural world can thus be said to have been represented through a coherent simplification of reality. These basic shapes often form patterns that serve to stylize pictures with an aesthetic sensibility that is specific to the Teotihuacán culture.             

     The circle, or sphere played an important role in Teotihuacán ornaments; most of the accessories reflect this. Ear flares, composed of two concentric circles were a very common ornament for the Teotihuacán; the concentric circles of the ear-flares are visually echoed in statuettes and relief representations of the eyes of the god of warfare and rain, Tlaloc. Similarly necklaces made out of spherical beads, and the concentric circles reappear in Tlaloc's headdress and forms various interesting patterns in several murals. The circle could be an aesthetic parallel to their cyclical view of nature, and of time in terms of death, and regeneration.

      In most murals, shapes are marked with heavy, bold, and solid outlines, much like Egyptian art, strong outlines along with bold colors endow the images with flatness and amplify the intrinsic two dimensionality and pattern full quality of the works. The mural of Tepantitla; Great Goddess of Teotihuacan, who was a vegetation and fertility goddess and predecessor of the Aztec goddess Xochiquetzal, is formed of adjacent bands of motifs and Thin tubular forms which dominate the pictorial plane. The trees branches are formed of organic lines, instead of being harsh and angular, they are soft and curved. The red branches, which seem to flow freely are outlined with a thick green color, and enclose several small concentric circles. The lines making up the general form of the tree are organic and the overall use of color and shape is simplistic, yet true to nature. The natural, flowing, soft, and peaceful depiction of the tree is juxtaposed with the queen’s headdress, which seems to be far more convoluted and elaborate. The ornate headdress could be seen as being perplexing due to the multiplicity of different forms, patterns and parallel lines. Again the green tubular outline is made use of to produce organic shapes, which are repeated to form an intricate design. However some angular geometric shapes could be discerned here as well; triangles, rectangles and squares seem to mingle with the curves and circles to illustrate and beautiful harmony between geometric and organic shapes. The mural achieves a perfect balance between the two. Each of these shapes can be seen as recurrent individual symbols that come to make a sensible representational and symbolic statement that can be read as a sum of individual parts.

Body Ornament and Color in Mural Painting

     The Teotihuacan culture typically used bright colors. The most common colors are red, blue, green, and yellow. There is also some use of black and white. The colors are thought to represent various important aspects of the Teotihuacan society.  For example, green was to signify water and/or unripe maize- two very important resources that sustained life in Teotihuacan. Red was usually a representation of blood. Human sacrifice was prevalent in religious ceremonies and religion was the basis of most ancient Mesoamerican culture. Not only did the blood, represent sacrifice but also eternal life and life itself, since blood was the substance for life and sacrifice was a tool of the Teotihuacan to ensure survival.

      Iron compounds for the production of color were easily accessible in the Mexican highlands. They used minerals such as hematite, calcite, and limonite. The Teotihuacan used a fresco technique, coating a thin-plaster surface with clay and applying pigment while the clay was still wet. The figures were drawn on with obsidian blades, thorns, or thin sticks of coal.

                                                                Tepantitla Mural 

Mural from the Tepantitla compound showing what has been identified as an aspect of the Great Goddess of Teotihuacan, from a reproduction in the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City.

Murals typically decorated the walls of  homes of those in high status. This Tepantitla Mural in particular, depicts 2 elaborately dressed priests in a religious procession. They are facing a goddess, who is sitting in front of a flowering tree. The goddess is usually identified as the” Great Goddess” but it is not entirely clear exactly which goddess she may be. Speculations are that she is the vegetation and fertility goddess or Tlaloc, the Aztec rain god. Her yellow color and bird headdress helps differentiate her from other gods of the culture. 

We can see that the priests are also wearing very similar headdresses along with necklaces, bracelets, and ear flares that are also green.  One of the many materials used for jewelry in the Teotihuacán culture was jade. We can interpret the jewelry as jade or we can relate it to the overall theme. Green seems to outline most of the painting, reinforcing the fruitful, vegetative idea of the mural.
Red tended to dominate the color scheme of Teotihuacan paintings. They used varying tones, which could be obtained by controlling and altering the heating of hematite, which they used for producing red pigment. Moderate heat makes the coloring agent in hematite brown-red while stronger heat makes it bright red.
Paintings of the Classic Period are identified by red backgrounds. We can infer that this Tepantitla mural if from this period. Usually the most outstanding shade of red was used for the background., making the figures stand out more. We can see in this painting an example of that. The hematite in the color gave the mural a sparkling effect, giving the painting an overall more dramatic and elaborate look.

Most murals have vey vivid color with careful outlined patterns. Though the tonal range is close, because there is minimum use of white and black the other colors are still distinguishable. Along with red we can see green, yellow, and possibly some blue. Red is the most prominent color, with green next. The yellow pigment seems to stand out the most, perhaps emphasizing the divinity of the goddess. This painting seems to have complimentary coloring. The pigment is also highly saturated and vivid, a typical characteristic of Teotihuacan painting. The patterned use of the color is symmetrical. This is demonstrated in the priests on either side.

Tetitla Teotihuacan Great Goddess Mural

In this mural, the color scheme is the same at the Tepantitla Mural. It also depicts the “Great Goddess”, but this time there is a human-like face that is painted green. We can still assume that she is more than likely not human from her fang-like teeth and her striking similarities to the Tepantitla Mural.  Vegetation appears to grow from her head and water is flowing from her hands like that of the Tepantitla Mural goddess. She wears a similar green-feathered headdress with a bird figure and her hands are yellow, referencing again, to the Great Goddess. The bird on the headdress is thought to be an owl or the Quetzal, a colorful bird found in the area. This could account for the green feathering and red outline of the bird in the mural. Also similar to the first example, is the pattern and symmetry in color. 

The color scheme appears the same, with the deepest red as the background. This makes it also from the Classic Period. The color scheme also contains yellows and greens with shades of blue that seem to be more noticeable than in the Tepantitla example.

Different from the Tepantitla painting, she is wearing a prominent nosepiece, which was a very common body ornament for the Teotihuacán.  She is also; like the first painting, covered in green jewelry (bracelets, ear flares, and necklaces). Her robe is very elaborate and colorful as well.

We can see how significant adornment was for the Teotihuacan culture through their mural painting. Ceremonial headdress identifies religious ritual and important figures, including the gods themselves. While more typical jewelry is also illustrated plentifully in paintings, bringing to light specific identifiable aspects of the culture in depiction.

Proportions and Stylization

The proportions used by Pre-Columbian people in their sculptures were very strange. In fact, they used to make statues which had a big head and a little body. They could represent human figures or hybrids between people and animals. These statues were usually built with jade or other stones which could be found easily in Central America and they symbolized the extreme both divine and human power. So both gods and rulers could be represented with these features, because rulers were loved like gods too. This veneration for the rulers became a true worship thanks to the arrival of  Mayans, thanks to whom the political institutions. The majority of these statues were found in La Venta and Teotihuacan. Masks generally followed the same standard model. The face was in the form of an inverted triangle with a wide nose, prominent cheekbones and thick lips. The ears were represented by rectangular protuberances and were pierced for earrings.

Temples instead had a pyramidal form and they distinguished themselves because of traits such as the talud – tablero (a platform situated on the top of a sloping panel), the proportions of different parts of the buildings and the decorations consisting of circles known as chalchihuites, symbol of wealth and prosperity. They were called chalchihuites because this was the name of a ceremonial centre in Teotihuacan which was located between Zacatecas and Durango, in the North – Western Mexico. It had a number of important features such as the petroglyphs, a processional walkway and the Hall of Columns. According to numerous studious, such as Gamio, Chalchihuites was a transition phase between Olmecs and the ethnic groups who populated Central America later.            



chachihuiltes



talud – tablero



Angelo Viglioglia

MATERIALS in Teotihuacan Ornaments

Black limestone mask - Teotihuacán style (150 BC - AD 700) - From Santiago Ahuizotla, Mexico State, Mexico - Height: 19 cm
Width: 16.5 cm



Teotihuacan Greenstone Mask



Among the many diversified items found in Teotihuacan, both for religious and decorative use, a large number of impressive stone masks stand out for their schematic typical expressions. In fact, the Teotihuacan style has been described to be abstract, geometric, and planar, and this sort of masks is usually characterized by holes in the eyes, mouth, ears, and sides. According to the period in which they were manufactured, Teotihuacan masks had a different employment. In the Classic period, indeed, some scholars’ theories claim that they were not meant to be worn; on the contrary, they were tied via holes to perhaps a human figure, adorned with precious garments, ornaments, such as jade ear spools, and headdresses, probably representing important deities. On the contrary, during the Post Classic period, they were buried along with important characters, in order to let the deceased go peacefully to the underworld and ascend to a higher level, as a divinity.

Jade Ear Spool Ornament
Central Mexico, Teotihuacán style, 150-200 Cleveland Museum of Art

Teotihuacan Necklace
c. 150-200 Cleveland Museum of Art

The commonest materials used for shaping these masks are stone, greenstone, black limestone, onyx, jade, and serpentine. Moreover, it is quite sure that eyes and mouth were inlaid with shells, obsidian, and iron pyrites, while ear spools, although hardly preserved because made of perishable materials, used to be set in pierced ears. As Archeologists agree that the working and trading of obsidian played a key role in the city’s economic development, it’s important to remember that the strict control that Teotihuacan had over the obtaining and working of obsidian allowed workshops to use obsidians from different quarries and produce a wide variety of utensils for local use and for export. Regarding the trade of shells, considered symbols of fertility, wealth, and power, Teotihuacan was able to establish good links with people of the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico, making it possible to acquire great quantities of shells to be used as offerings.

 To our eyes, these charming polished stone masks appear plain, but, during the Classic period, they must have been meticulously decorated with pigments of color and carvings, which only a few exemplars have conserved visibly.



An interesting example: THE MALINALTEPEC MASK

Dating back to approximately 1,800 years, the Malinaltepec Mask is considered a piece of great value among experts because of the different materials which compose its structure, and the two different periods, Classic and Post Classic, and stages, construction and decoration, in which it was created. After many years of debate among scholars, archeologists, biologists, anthropologists, etc., the mask has recently been declared authentic.



Particularly, it is 21 centimeters in length and width, and decorated with 762 tesseraes. When discovered in 1921, it was thought to be made of serpentine. However, the latest study has demonstrated that its main component is the green-yellowish chloritite, while the blue tesseraes are fragments of amazonite, turquoise, shell, and hematite. What is more interesting is the way these elements have been glued to the mask. Teotihuacan craftsmen used, in fact, copal resin, instead of modern glue, as stated by doubtful researchers.

Finally, the materials with whom the mask was manufactured are strongly associated with the Chalchiuhtlicue goddess of fertility and water, in the Teotihuacan culture.

THE MALINALTEPEC MASK
Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, Italy



Works Cited:

Kleiner, Fred S. Gardner's Art Through The Ages. A Global History. Ed. 13. Vol.2. Wadswarth, 2011.     Print.

Binder P., and G.Haupt, eds. Universes in Universe. 23 Nov. 2010. Web. 6 Feb. 2011.

http://universes-in-universe.org/eng/index.html

McGuinness, Tim. ed. Precolumbian Jade. 2000. Web. 6 Feb. 2011.

http://www.precolumbianjade.com/



Teotihuacan: City of the Gods

The Teotihuacan civilization resided in the highlands of present-day Mexico. It was one of the largest cities of Ancient Mesoamerica, inhabiting around 200,000 residents. It survived for 600 years, starting from the 3re century until the 7th century, when the city was burned and then abandoned. The Teotihuacan left behind only remnants of their culture; including numerous mural paintings, ruins of their city, elaborate ceramics, pottery and ornaments. From what has been left behind by the Teotihuacan we can see a hierarchal society with its culture and politics based around religion and agriculture.
The “Teotihuacan: City of Gods” exhibit in Rome gives us insight to better understand the culture of the Teotihuacan. We are free to interpret what we see and make our own observations with the various ancient artifacts on display. Our group has chosen to take a closer look at the body ornaments of the Mesoamerican civilization along with various formal themes in Teotihuacán art that help in the understanding of representation of body ornaments, including materials, color, line, and stylization.
Depictions of body adornment can be found throughout the exhibit; ranging from illustrations in painting and ceramics, to the actual jewelry itself. Some of the most customary ornaments include earflares, ceremonial masks, necklaces, and bracelets. Jewelry was typically a status signature of the ruling class, but sacrificial victims were privileged with being dressed in elaborate ornaments at the time of their surrender.
In conclusion, we must say that the visit to this exhibition in the Palazzo delle Esposizioni of Rome has been very usueful for the understanding of such a particular and appealing pre-Columbian culture, like that of Teotihuacan.