Textile
Museum Associates Of Southern California, Inc.
Present
Colonial
Andean Tapestries:
Tradition
and Transformation
in
the Inca Heartland
With
Elena Phipps, PhD.
Senior Museum
Conservator,
the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York City
|
W |
hen
the Spanish arrived on the northern coast of what is now Peru in 1532, they
encountered a complex empire with deeply rooted artistic traditions. The Inca,
whose domain extended across much of the Andean region, utilized art and
architecture to express their power and sovereignty. Textiles were among the most valued
assets of Inca society and were (and still are) a primary expressive medium in
the region. Building on thousands of years of Andean artistic mastery, weavers
crafted exquisite tapestry-woven garments contributing to an Inca aesthetic.
Tapestries made after the Spanish arrival drew from these native Andean
traditions as well as a variety of new influences, incorporating European
concepts and materials in unique ways.
This talk will present some examples of these hybrid works of Colonial
production, highlighting the evolution of the tradition, from the early 16th
through the end of the 18th centuries.
Elena Phipps is Senior Museum Conservator, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where
she has worked since 1977. Between
1989-1995, her responsibilities at the Museum included the design and
development of the Antonio Ratti Textile Center. She has her PhD in Pre-Columbian art
from the Department of Art History and Archaeology, Columbia University (1989).
Her interests focus on the history of textile materials and techniques in
relation to cultural perspectives and has published on various aspects of
Andean textiles, including �Color in the Andes: Inka garments and 17th
Century Colonial Documents� in DHA,
2003 and �Tornesol: a Colonial Synthesis of European and Andean Textile
Traditions� in TSA Symposium
2000. In conjunction with her
research on Colonial Andean textiles, she has been a Museum Guest Scholar, Getty Research Institute for the History of
Art and the Humanities and received a National Endowment for the Humanities,
Fellowship for Independent Scholars. In 2004 she was co-curator of an
exhibition and co-author of the catalogue The
Colonial Andes: Tapestries and Silverwork
1430-1830, at the MMA.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
11:15 a.m. (prompt) Program
Dorothy Collins Brown
Auditorium (Bing Center Building, lower level)
Parking is now available in
the new 6th Street parking garage, located just east of Fairfax Avenue, and in
the Spaulding lot (Spaulding Avenue south of Wilshire.) The charge is $7 and may be prepaid at
all Welcome Centers, with credit cards now accepted.
Admission: TMA/SC
Members & Guests: Gratis
No Refreshments
will be served. You may arrive
early and get a coffee at the Museum caf�, but no food or drink may be brought
into the auditorium.