Aztec+Art

= __**Aztec Art - Jennie Chastain**__ =

====.... When the Spanish conquistadors arrived in the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, now the modern day Mexico City, they described it as a place of fantasy (Miller). Although the city was decorated in precious metals and brilliant colors; the conquistadors quickly found that the city was also adorned with what they thought was crude and cruel art work (Pasztory). Most people now also think of Aztec art as blood thirsty, however, although much of their public art depicted sacrifice inspiration for the art was the Aztec's belief in mythology and religion. ====

==== .... Although seen as a fierce society, the Aztecs highly respected the arts (Pasztory). Art functioned as a way for all people to communicate, and because of the absence of money in the society it also showed a person's economic status(Pasztory). The Aztecs had various mediums for their art which included **codices,** which were written books, monumental and stone sculptures, dance & music, **lapidary arts**, which were things made of precious stones, gold, dough, costumes and masks, feather work, and even poetry (Pasztory). ====

====.... The highest form of art in Aztec society was actually considered to be public stories and poems and anyone was able to join in (Brown). However, the most expensive arts were those made of feathers and gold, and could only be used by the aristocracy or military. Gold was called **teocuicatl**, meaning excrement of the gods (Miller). Feathers were also associated with Aztec gods, in particular Coyotlinahual, or the coyote deity of war (Phillips). The colors of the feathers were also important as they often resembled the colors of green shoots, maize, and water (Phillips). So, because of the importance placed on gold and feathers, the many masks and costumes that were made from these materials were only for military use, or for the more elite to use when they needed to resemble a deity. ====



====.... The most impressive of the arts, by far, are the monumental stone structures that were created from volcanic stone and bedrock from the Mexico basin (Brumfield). Sculptural art really expressed the way in which Aztecs viewed their world, and three main themes are often repeated in this type of art. First, the Aztecs used these sculptures to prove that they had not only the political right, but also the religious right to rule the world. Second, the art shows that everything that the Aztecs had came from the gods. Lastly, it explained what the cosmic universe was, and the role of an Aztec in that cosmos (Smith). ====

====... According to Aztec mythology, after being driven from their mythical home **Aztlan**, the ancestors wandered around in search of their new home. This new home had been described to them by their war and sun god**, Huitzilopochtli**, who had been born on a hill near the city of Tula. The god Huitzilopochtli told his people that he would lead them to an island surrounded by water, and that there they will see an eagle sitting on a cactus and clutching a snake. The Aztec found this place, and named it **Tenochtitlan**, meaning "place of the cactus rock" (Miller). ====

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==== <span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.... So, it is no surprise that the main focus of worship to the Aztec people was god Huitzilopochtli. The Aztec immediately began to erect statues and buildings in his honor, and because he was supposedly born near the city of Tula, much of the early Aztec art work was forged from the ideas of the Toltec people who also lived near Tula at the city of Teotihuacan (Brumfield). ====

====<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.... What is shown below is the Aztec goddess **Coatlicue**, meaning "She of the Serpent Skirt". This is considered the greatest of the Aztec sculptures. This sculpture tells the story of the birth of the Aztec sun god Huitzilopochtli. Coatlicue had many brothers and sisters who were jealous of her, and when they found out she was going to have a child, her sister Coyolxauhqui had them chop off her head. Huitzilopochtli then emerged from her body fully grown, and armed. He immediately killed Coyolxauhqui; and she was considered the first Aztec sacrifice (Miller). The two snakes are a symbol of flowing blood, and she wears a skirt made of severed hands and hearts. On the underside of the statue is the earth monster, **Tlaltecuhtli**, which the Aztecs believed represented the earth that they had to satisfy with sacrifices (Miller). Tlaltecuhtli is also often found on sacrificial items like offering slabs, in burials, or on sculptures of other deities, because he is said to support the earth (Brumfield).====

====<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.... Although this may be considered crude by some, it embodies the sacredness in Aztec art. This sculpture is very realistic in its 3-D form and gives an identity to the sculpture. The Aztec believed that no new life could be created without the death of something else, because there had to be a balance in the cosmos and nature (Pasztory). This is the perfect example for their belief that death resulted in the creation of life.====



====<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.... The following sculpture, 10 feet in diameter, is also one of the most impressive and important examples of Aztec art. Her name is **Coyolxauhqui**, which means "She of the Rattles on her Cheeks". She was one of the major goddesses in Aztec mythology. This is a representation of the triumph of the sun over night, and also of the Aztecs triumph over their enemies (Brumfield). Coyolxauhqui is a moon goddess. She is considered to be the representation of the first Aztec sacrifice, and as such she is shown decapitated and dismembered after she was slain by her brother Huitzilopochtli, the sun god (Miller). The fact that she is nude symbolizes what an Aztec enemy would look like after being captured, and her distorted body symbolizes what a body would look like after being rolled down the steps of a temple after being sacrificed (Smith). Bells decorate her cheeks; and to show her wickedness, she wears a skull on her belt and serpent armbands with claws. The Aztec were so creative with this piece that it's thought that this sculpture would lay horizontal, and the light of the sun and the moon would crawl across it during the day representing the 3rd quarter, 1st quarter, new moon, and full moon cycles according to the areas that were lit or in shadows (Brumfield). Once again, this shows a great example of the Aztec belief in the cyclic pattern of life and nature, and that they were divinely blessed to triumph over any of their enemies (Pasztory)====

====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.... Sculptures like the **Chacmool** below were commonly seen around the temples of Tenochtitlan. Although this Chacmool "warrior" was built in the image of **Tlaloc**, the god of rain, water and fertility, the idea for this sculpture was taken from the Toltec people (Brumfield). It continues to emphasize the fact that the Aztecs believed that death resulted in the creation of life (Pasztory). Evidently, they were not the only people in Mesoamerica that held this belief. Items like the Chacmool were used during special rituals as a sacrificial altar. The person to be sacrificed would be placed across the center of the Chacmool warrior statue and disemboweled while music and sacred hymns were played in the background. The heart would be removed, along with some blood, and then the Chacmool would display and store the human hearts (Phillips). The Aztec believed it was their place in the cosmos to provide nourishment to the gods, and in return they would receive nourishment from the gods. In this way, the cycle of life could continue. Offerings were made regularly to provide nourishment to the gods, and this Chacmool seems to be eternally waiting for his bloody offerings (Brown). ====



====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.... The Aztec art work, now known as **Mixteca-Puebla style**, was not only influenced by the Toltec, but other people of Mexico as well. In fact, many foreign artists came to live in Tenochtitlan (Miller). The people of coastal Mesoamerica also heavily influenced the Aztec art style with the idea of large, hollow ceramic sculptures, and also the idea of a maize goddess and fertility god (Smith). ====

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====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.... The maize goddess out numbered other forms of stone sculpture, but the figure of Xipe-Totec would be found more often in the Aztec public temples (Pasztory). **Xipe-Totec** was known as "our lord the flayed one" (Miller). Gulf coast influence can be identified in this object by the way it is shaped. It is not as crude as earlier sculptures. It has a nice smooth roundedness, but still has the three-dimensional form that was seen earlier (Miller). ====

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====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.... The first food of the day was always offered to the sun and earth every day, but in order to be able to have food the Aztecs saw the importance of Xipe-Totec, the god of planting (Brumfield). Xipe-Totec imitated the life of a maize kernel in that the human skin of a sacrificed person would be worn until it rotted, and then a new clean person would emerge like a sprout from a seed (Miller). Notice on the sculpture how there are extra hands that hang loosely on the sides, and it looks like there is a mask made of skin over the face (Miller). This is a wonderful example of how the Aztecs believed that everything they had was given to them by the gods. The sprouting of the maize kernel probably had a sexual connotation associated to it too, and the flayed skin symbolized death (Pasztory). Again, this represents the cycle of life and death, but it is also representing how sexuality also resulted in the creation of life. ====



====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.... Throughout Aztec art the idea of a both constructive and destructive universe can be noted, but no other monumental sculpture can capture this idea better than the Sun Stone, which is more commonly known to people as the **Aztec Solar Calendar**. The Aztec believed that the calendar was created by the mythical god Quetzalcoatl, who was also the king of the city Tula (Pasztory). ====

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====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.... At the center of the stone is the earth monster, Tlaltecuhtli, with arms stretched out holding severed hearts, and encircling the earth monster are fire serpents with the names of twenty days (Miller). There are also four main points that face outward from the earth monster either symbolizing the four directions or the four past suns (Miller). The outer edge of the stone has a "skirt" depicting sacrificial knives, and war scenes. ====

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====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.... Although the stone has writing on it that indicates twenty names of days, it was never used like a normal everyday calendar. Instead, the calendar was more of a record that celebrated the sun as the ruler and the five eras of creation (Brumfield). For the Aztecs, the solar calendar was responsible for time, and the end of the world, or as they have depicted when the sun has fallen on the earth (Miller). The calendar counted days and phases of years, or suns, and at the end of each sun the world would end according to what type of sun it was. For instance the sun of wind, would cause the end of the world by destroying it with turbulent winds. After the old world would end, a new world and sun would begin (Miller). The Aztec predicted that the current sun is called 4 movement, or earthquake (Miller). ====



====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.... In conclusion, Aztec art was very diverse not only in the mediums that were used, but also in the subject matter of the art. Public art was not created exclusively for the purpose of enjoyment, but was also a functional art that represented the Aztecs belief in their gods and religion. The connection between life and death that was continuously displayed in the rich public art was worshiped by the Aztecs, but terrified the Spanish, and it will surely continue to be researched by future generations. ====

<span style="font-size: 120%; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; text-align: center; display: block;">Bibliography
Brown, Dale M. (1992). Aztecs: Reign of Blood and Splendor. Time-Life Books. Alexandria, Virginia.

Brumfield, Elizabeth (2008). The Aztec World. Gary, Feinman, and Abrams. New York, New York.

Milbrath, Susan (1997). Decapitated Lunar Goddesses in Aztec Art, Myth and Ritual. Ancient Mesoamerica. Vol. 8, Issue 2.

Miller, Mary Ellen (1986). The Art of Mesoamerica from Olmec to Aztec. Thames and Hudson. New York, New York.

Pasztory, Esther (1983). Aztec Art. Harry N. Abrams Inc. New York, New York.

Phillips, Charles (2005). The Aztec and Maya World. Anness Publishing Ltd. London, England.

Smith, Michael E. (1996). The Aztecs. Blackwell Publishers Inc. Cambridge, Massachussettes.

Townsend, Richard Fraser (1979). State and Cosmos in the Art of Tenochtitlan. Dumbarton Oaks. Washington, D.C.