On Friday, the de Young Musuem in Golden Gate Park opened their latest special exhibition, Olmec: Colossal Masterworks of Ancient Mexico, featuring 140 objects from one of the oldest known civilizations in the Americas.
The Olmec were a Pre-Columbian civilization living in the tropical lowlands of south-central Mexico, known today as the Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco.
Olmec architects and artists produced the earliest monumental stone structures and sculptures in North America, including enormous basalt portrait heads of their rulers.
To say these sculptures are enormous is not hyperbole; the “Monument Q” colossal head in the exhibition weighs in at 13,000 pounds. Another sculpture of a female figure is over eight feet tall.
The exhibition also features smaller treasures, including small-scale jadeite objects of religious figures.
Olmec artists were unsurpassed in their ability to work with extremely hard stone like jadeite, using elementary tools of chert, water and sand. What’s also interesting is that the basalt boulders used for many of the colossal heads were not local to where the sculptures were eventually discovered on archaeological expeditions; the first stone head was unearthed in the mid-19th century.
That means the tons of stone would have to have been quarried and transported to the cultural centers to be worked on. No small feat when you see in person how massive these sculptures really are.
The Olmec collection at the de Young is also interesting as a lead-up to the Picasso exhibition that opens in June. While Picasso took a great interest in African primitive art, you can’t help but recall some of his work as you look at the early sculptures of the Olmec.
The objects in the Olmec show are drawn primarily from Mexican national collections with additional loans from over twenty-five museums. The exhibition runs from February 19 until May 8, 2011.
Save $5 off your admission to Olmec: Colossal Masterworks of Ancient Mexico
From now until March 13, you can receive $5 off admission for all ages to the exhibition. Click here to download the coupon and then present it at the museum box office. Or purchase tickets online and use the coupon code: OLMEC at checkout.
Special thanks to Helen for help with this article.
Sarah B.
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