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)

Los Angeles County Museum of Art   5905 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles

 

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.