Ancient American Art in the Yale University Art Gallery

This course introduces students to both the how and why of ancient American art in the context of a university museum, with a particular focus on the Yale Art Gallery. Pre-Columbian art at Yale and elsewhere was usually first collected in the context of an anthropology or natural history museum, part of larger collections that addressed the history of humanity and were understood to be of archaeological value; only later did works of American antiquity enter art museums and become the subject of art historical study. A reinstallation of the Yale Art Gallery collection has given it a prominent place on the main floor of the museum. Is it foundational in any respect to the museum as a whole? Fundamental to the contextualizing of ancient American materials is an understanding of cultural setting, archaeological sequence, and formal analysis, beginning with the earliest materials in which works of careful facture were imbued with meaning by their makers. In this class, students study the sweep of culture and chronology, from the Chavín to the Inca in the Andes, and from the Olmec to the Aztec in Mesoamerica.

Taught by Mary Miller Fall 2016