It’s an odd place to reveal new discoveries Mayan art, but if you’d like to see a nine-foot long stucco sculpture depicting a crouching jaguar, ca. 300 AD-600AD, as well as a preview of a new museum’s collection, you’ll have to head to the Los Angeles Jewelry, Antique and Design show at the LA Convention Center, Jan. 15 through 19.
The jaguar (left), making its public debut, will be on view along with a limestone panel that was once part of a wall whose the inscription reportedly recounts a dynastic tale spanning from the year 652 AD to 799 AD, a chocolate drinking vessel and many other pre-Columbian ceramics, several dance masks, textiles and a vase (c 600-900 AD) depicting an obese ruler with an elaborate feather headdress and a mask of a huge toad, with its own headband of the “Jester God” (right).
These objects are drawn from the collection of the Museo Maya de America in Guatemala City — a not-yet built structure that is set to break ground in 2016. La Ruta Maya Foundation, which was founded in 1990 to preserve, conserve and recover Mayan objects, is sponsoring the exhibit. It was curated, according to a release, by “Sofia Paredes Maury, Fundacion La Ruta Maya; Ines Guzman, Museo Maya de America; Raymond Senuk, Friends of Ixchel Museum; Professor Peter Markman & Dr. Allison Hanney, Xipe Projects and Adrian Lorenzana, Paiz Foundation with Conceptual Curator Gio Rossilli.”
Treasures of the Maya Spirit is in Los Angeles because, the foundation says, the city has the largest population of Guatemalans living outside their home country. The exhibit include about 200 examples of Mayan art from the Pre-Classic Mayan period (250 BC – 900 AD) through early part of twentieth-century, as well as several contemporary works that won prizes in the Guatemalan Biennale.Â
Guatemala has other museums (see the list here). But the one under discussion — or in planning — is a welcome addition. The museum has a website, and a Foundation, whose mission is “to create a world-class museum responsible for safeguarding the Mayan archeological and ethnographic treasures of Guatemala. As the primary sponsor of the museum, the foundation aims to create a landmark that will bring the world to Guatemala while connecting the country to the world. The foundation’s activities focus on using art and culture as driving forces in the region’s economy.” It’s designed by Harry Gugger Studio and over, under architects of Boston.
All good news! Let’s hope it raise the necessary money to get the museum built and opened.