Art in Focus

Chapter 11: The Native Arts of the Americas

Lesson Summaries-English

          Just as in the East, art has flourished in North and South America since prehistoric times. Prior to A.D. 1500, there were up to 2,000 groups across the two continents, and each had developed its own religion and art forms.

Lesson 1
Native American Art

          The first people to arrive in North America came from Asia across an ancient land bridge in the Bering Strait. Eventually they spread out to cover all of North and South America. While each group developed a different way of life, they all created art. Works created by Inuit artists from the Arctic region show the importance they attached to the animals they hunted. Inuit artists also made masks for their shamans, leaders believed to have healing powers.

          The peoples of the Northwest Coast of North America enjoyed plentiful food supplies and timber resources. This gave them time to develop elaborate rituals demonstrating rank and status. One group, the Kwakiutl, made masks to be worn during dramatic rituals. After the ritual, members of a tribe often celebrated with a potlatch, an elaborate ceremonial feast. Peoples of the Northwest also created totem poles, tall posts carved and painted with a series of animal symbols. The symbols identified a particular family or clan.

          Other cultural groups lived in the Southwest Region, now the southwest United States and northern Mexico. The Pueblo people built dwellings made of adobe, or sun-dried clay, and made beautiful painted pottery. The Navajo wove bold, richly colored blankets.

          Native Americans also lived in the Great Plains and in the Woodlands Region to the east of the Mississippi River. Since people in the Great Plains lived as hunters, they painted animal skins that could be easily transported. In the Woodlands Region prehistoric peoples built great mounds around which their villages were clustered. One of the groups, the Adena, may have built mounds to honor its dead. Another group, the Iroquois, were expert wood carvers and created wooden masks for healers to wear, giving them the power to treat illnesses.

Lesson 2
Art in Mexico and in Central and South America

          Pre-Columbian civilizations were found throughout North and South America before the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492. They created works of art that teach us about them. In Mexico, the first great civilization was the Olmec, which began as early as 1200 B.C. The Olmecs carved gigantic heads in volcanic rock as well as striking jade masks. Later, the elegant Mayan culture developed mathematics and a precise calendar. Since the Maya believed that the first people were brought to life with the blood of the gods, they performed sacrifices to repay this debt to their creators. Their cities were built around vast central plazas and richly painted reliefs covered the monuments.

          Maya civilization had declined by the arrival of Hernando Cortés in 1519. Cortés did encounter the Aztec culture, however, which had been ruling Mexico for 200 years. The Aztec capital city of Tenochtitlán was pristine and organized, with aqueducts and raised highways. Even more than the Mayas, the warlike Aztecs made human sacrifices to their gods. Aztec sculpture and picture writing depict the rituals around these sacrifices.

          The largest civilization in Peru was that of the Incas. Between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, the Incas constructed a vast empire more than 3,000 miles long. They built an extensive network of roads and bridges. The capital at Cuzco and other Incan sites such as Machu Picchu were constructed with solid structures of massive stones, many of which remain today.

          

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