Evening star., 1940-08-25
Works From
D. G.. Shown
In New York
Twenty Centuries
OF Mexican Art
Are Depicted
Br Florence S. Berrvman.


country IS years ago, was a great
novelty. In the interim, We have
become intimately acquainted with
the contemporary art OF Mexico,
which is. as a matter of fact. scarcely
two decades old. But of the art
of the various nations of South
America. although it is shown
with increasing frequency here. we
still have much to learn.
The visitor TO New York City this
summer has an excellent oppor-
tunity to study various aspects of
Latin American art The most I'M
portant exhibition there during the
season. outside of the Worlds Fair,
is that entitled Twenty Centuries
OF Mexican Art shown at the Mu-
scum of Modern Art. 1t is quite
as comprehensive as the title Sug-
gests. and infinitely more interesting
and revealing than the average per-
son would expect 1t to be. baSlng MS
anticipation on Smatterlng OF
knowledge cleaned from arChaelo2l-
cal exhibits. occasional travelling
shows. Mexican souvenirs in gilt
shops and the muth-publlclzed eX-
ploits of Rivera and Orozco tboth
Of whom are. of course. included IN
the present exhibition.
An hour with this show Will prob
ably explain to a visitor better than
ANYTHING else could explain it. the
oft-repeated assertion that despite
the implications of the Monroe
Doctrine. cultural bonds have eX-
tended horizontally rather than
vertically-from North America to
Western Europe. rather than from
north to south in this hemisphere.
Twenty Centuries of Mexican
Art supplies reason. or consider
ably more than a hint OF one-cltl-
gens of the United States were tenn
peramentally much closer TO the
peoples of Western Europe prior to
last Nav than 10 our southern
neiehbors. The ability of the latter
not only to turn penetrating gaze
upon torture. agony and death but
to depict these in the most realistic
manner betokens an outlook quite
different from our own, In the
present violent period OF history
ve are learning to repress our shud-
ders and revise our viewpoint; we
may reach the unhappy conclusion
that the MeXicans have been the
only consistent reallsts.
Oldest Remains Shown.
Twenty Centuries of Mexican
Art" begins with the oldest remains
in MeXico-the artistic output OF
the Archaic or Middle Cultures
figurines made by people who lived
between $50 BIC. and $50 AID. But
this work is not primitive: unlike
our North American Indians OF
that period and later, these people
we're corn and cotton raisers living
in permanent settlements and they
used stone. bone and clay tools.
The exhibition. admirably in
Installed. leads the visitor chrono-
logically through successive cultures
and eras. as various tribes or races
conquered their predecessors and
became eminent for a time or
others. isolated, reached some mys-
terious peak in their comparatively
untroubled development.
Evidence of the increasing import
ence of public and private collec-
tions in Washington is seen in
loans to this exhibition of Mexican
art. as we'll as to the Worlds Fair
shows. One of the earliest exhibits,
for instance. is the extraordinary
Tuxtla statuette of dark green jade,
carved about SO BIC. from the
United States National Museum.
This is the oldest dated sculpture
ever found in the Western Hemis-
phere. From the Dumbarton Oaks
Collection of Mr., and Mrs. Robert
Woods Bliss, there is male figure
of Olmec workmanship.
The Olmec people. who lived in
Southern Vera Cruz. were master
workers of American Jade ,jadelte
and nephite). There are also Olmec
masks and a case of objects eXhib-
itine their technique of working
stone figures and vases. which will
make them seem all the more re-
markable to the present day OBJ
server These craftsmen's tools were
stone hammers. leather thongs, bone
drills and sand and water
The most ineratiating of the early
sculpture is that Of the Totonac
culture. to Judge from some OF the
exhibits in the present show. little
laughing heads and two prone fig
ures which look as happy as SUM-
bathers. The rich and varied To-
tonac sculpture also includes masks
of strong individuality, which were
hung on corpses for burial.
The finest production OF the great
empire of the Mayans '73l-889 ADJ
was in Guatemala. outside the geo.
graphical limits of the present show.
hut numerous Mayan works are on
view: Ceremonial equipment, in
Guiding carved vessels and models
of the earliest Mayan temples yet
discovered
High Ceremonial Art.
Among the beautiful small items
are Mixteca- -Puebla gold ornaments,
cast by the lost wax process. This
civilization carried to high degree
the principles of ceremonial art.
drawing on polychrome vases and
fine designs on stone, bone and
gold
More appealing are the imasina-
hive little pottery figures of Tarascan
origin, such as a group representing
nine dancing women surrounding
men musicians seated on the ground
with their instruments. Larger fig
ures display realistic representa-
ton of natural forms, as we'll as
bowls and vases. found in graves
as companions for. the dead,
One may admire the Flower
Bird goddess of spring and hap
piness, but the highly revered Coat
licue, "she OF the serpent skirt >
with a deaths head and claws, is
hideously grotesque. and the life
sized pottery man 'Mazapan cult
ureJ wearing a fayed human skin