98 C: COMPOSITION Only a brief mention is necessary to summarize the basic iconographic compositions in which the human-type face appears. This is a subject this author has expounded upon in other articles and books, observing that pre- Columbian Peruvian textile artists utilized many of the same solutions “innovated” by modern and contemporary Western artists. The most eye-catching of these, comparable in impact with the role that the portrait has traditionally enjoyed in Western art, is the “big image,” amply illustrated in various examples in this article. A thousand-year-old Huari rendition of smiling faces (fig. 28) cannot help but bring to mind such works as twentieth-century Jean Dubuffet’s 1948 La Bouche en Croissant (smiling face). A second major compositional form containing human-type faces and their accompanying personages is that of serial imagery, in which the same figures, either exactly identical or displaying slight differences of costume, color, or other factors, are repeated across the graphic surface (fig. 29). Claude Monet was instrumental in bringing this into the modern artistic lexicon through repetitive individual paintings. Andy Warhol made it widely recognizable. Peruvian weavers have used it since the beginning of their craft. The third major category is when the human-type face and body are just one element in broader compositional mo- FIG. 26a–c: Full view and two details of a tapestrywoven mantle. Chancay/Chimu border area, Central Coast, Peru. AD 1100–1460. Camelid wool. 134.6 x 132.1 cm. Private collection, Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Photos: Meg Shoemaker, New York. FIG. 27a and b: Full view and detail of a tapestry-woven mantle. Siguas, South Coast, Peru. 500 BC–AD 100. Camelid wool. 91.4 x 129.5 cm. Private collection, Westchester, New York.
I-IVCoverT68 E_CoverF Vuvi
To see the actual publication please follow the link above