THE ART OF ANCIENT MEXICO: CITY AND COSMOS: THE ARTS OF TEOTIHUACAN

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The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is the home of an exciting new exhibition featuring the art of ancient Mexico. Called ”City and Cosmos: The Arts of Teotihuacan,” the exhibit includes nearly 200 works in various media, including enormous monuments made of volcanic stones; polychrome mural paintings; and numerous smaller objects made with precious greenstones, obsidian, and ceramic. The exhibit brings to life the world of Teotihuacan, the largest urban area in the Americas during the first millennium, with a population of at least 125,000. Although the people of Teotihuacan are known for their ritual sacrifices, they also had a technologically advanced society which included pyramids and multi-family residential complexes.

As City and Cosmos reveals, the city also had fascinating art. There were large murals in the area, and the city created highly-sought obsidian tools. The exhibit is organized in collaboration with Mexico’s Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH) and the de Young Museum, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Most of the objects on view have never been exhibited in America.

LACMA CEO Michael Govan highlighted the significance of the exhibition in the press release announcing its acquisition: “Shaped over centuries by many different peoples and cultures, Teotihuacan was one of the most significant civic centers in the Western Hemisphere. Telling its complex and cosmopolitan history is especially relevant to a place like 21st century Los Angeles, where more than 150 languages are spoken.” Like Los Angeles, Teotihuacan had an incredibly diverse population. Art was used in public spaces to unify the population and create a common culture.