Learn more about a map from 16th-century Mexico, made by an Indigenous artist to document the town of Cholula, to be sent back to Spain.
Art of the Americas
The Muisca would honor a new leader by covering his body in gold dust and then submerging him, his raft, and other offerings into the sacred lake.
Muisca Raft
Contemporary artist Teresita Fernández discusses the connection between the earthly and the cosmic of the gold used in Precolumbian art
Teresita Fernández on Precolumbian gold
Contemporary artist Kehinde Wiley discusses the seduction of Sargent's portraits as luxury goods and events of class
Kehinde Wiley on John Singer Sargent
The allure of Paris attracted 19th-century Latin American artists, who eagerly traveled to this artistic capital in the absence of an art school back home.
Latin American artistic pilgrimages to Paris
Zemis were powerful objects that could have an impact in any aspect of Taíno life, influencing the social standing, political power, or fertility of an individual.
Taíno Zemis and Duhos
Many Taíno words, such as canoe, hammock, and tobacco, still exist in today’s Spanish as well as English vocabulary.
Introduction to Taíno art
Martyr. Murderer. Prophet. Madman. All of these words have been used to describe John Brown, the fiery abolitionist.
John Brown’s “tragic prelude” to the U.S. ...
There is no memorial to the Mexican-American War in Washington, D.C.—a war in which more than 15,000 American soldiers lost their lives.
The Mexican-American War: 19th-century American art in ...
Basic terminology that is often used in discussions about pre-Columbian art. Test yourself with a quiz at the bottom!
Glossary for pre-Columbian art
Pueblo architecture reveals a close connection to the surrounding landscape and to Pueblo culture.
Pueblo architecture and its relationship to place
Parra uses a 16th-century friar to comment on 19th-century events, as artists began to make a new art for a new nation.
Félix Parra, Fray Bartolomé de las Casas
In 1520, smallpox raged among the Mexica during the month of Tepeilhuitl when they would normally be making and eating sacred art made of dough.
Aztec art and feasts for the dead
Did you know that the first American Revolution took place in New Mexico?
The Virgin of the Macana and the ...
The main city center of Tiwanaku (centered in the Lake Titicaca region of present-day southern Peru and western Bolivia) boasted a population of 25,000–40,000.
Tiwanaku, an introduction
Get to know the richest burial site in the Western hemisphere.
The Moche Royal Tombs of Sipán
In Paracan culture, mummies were buried with lavish textiles and, offerings of food and jewelry to accompany the deceased into the afterlife.
Paracas Textiles: An Introduction
The arts of colonial Peru are neither fully pre-Columbian nor fully European, but a dynamic combination.
Introduction to the Viceroyalty of Peru
Guaman Poma's “The Bad Confession” image participates in a larger argument about the ability for native Andeans to rule themselves without Spanish intervention.
“Bad Confession” in Guaman Poma’s The First ...
The Nasca were interested in issues of design and abstraction centuries before the rise of abstract art in the twentieth century.
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