MUSEUM news THE DUMBARTON OAKS BIRTHING FIGURE Washington, D.C.—An Aztec-style birthing figure in the Dumbarton Oaks collection has incited fascination and controversy for more than a century. Celebrated by some as a masterpiece, maligned by others as a fake, it has provided inspiration to generations of artists from Surrealist Man Ray and muralist Diego Rivera to Modernist Eduardo Paolozzi and filmmaker Steven Spielberg (the golden idol in Raiders of the Lost Ark was an interpretation of it). The piece is a sculptural rendering of a birthing woman, often identified as the Aztec deity Tlazolteotl, a gender-neutral name meaning 50 “filth deity” and thought to be the filth eater, purifier, and confessor. Informants describe her as one who both gave and took away sin. They also mention her overlapping identity with Ixcuina, a four-sister weaving goddess. As Tlazolteotl Ixcuina, she was “filth god-Lady Cotton,” associated with spinning and weaving and fertility. Her role with regard to motherhood was as a fertility goddess at a grandiose scale, but not as the patroness of childbirth. This compelling small sculpture is one of the most famous pieces in the collection of Mildred and Robert Bliss, who were the founding donors of Dumbarton Oaks, and it is presently the center of a small exhibition titled The Dumbarton Oaks Birthing Figure, on view until March 2, 2014. Although it has been esteemed as an icon of fertility, some have questioned the piece’s authenticity and recent studies suggest it may be a nineteenth-century idealized conception of Aztec artistic expression. Despite the controvresy the piece has acquired a cultural identity transcending issues of validity and stands on its own as a rare and iconic rendering of the power and pain of childbirth. The present exhibition focuses less on the possible antiquity of the figure and more on its influence on Western art and thought over the course of the last century. This exhibition is part of a year-long program of exhibitions and events to celebrate 50 Years of Pre-Columbian Art at Dumbarton Oaks. “THE NEW FOUND LAND” Chapel Hill—“The New Found Land”: Engravings by Theodor de Bry from the Collection of Michael N. Joyner, at the Ackland Art Museum at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill until April 13, 2014, highlights prints made by the Franco-Flemish engraver Theodor de Bry (1528–1598) to illustrate the 1590 edition of A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia by Thomas Harriot. De Bry’s images (based on the watercolor paintings by colonist John White) and Harriot’s text offered Europeans a detailed account of the appearance and customs of Native Americans encountered in 1585 by the British settlers on Roanoke Island, off the coast of what is now North Carolina. Published in four languages and widely distributed, the book and its illustrations gave Europeans a first—and lasting—impression of Native Americans. In addition to the illustrations for Harriot’s book, the installation includes portraits, maps, and other materials related to the so-called “Age of Exploration” 400 years ago, as well as a selection of Native American artifacts from societies close in time, place, or lifeway to those encountered by the Roanoke settlers. Theodor de Bry, Franco- Flemish (1528–1598), engraver; John White, English (c. 1593–1606), active in America, c. 1540, designer, An aged Man in His Winter Garment (right) and A Weroan, or Great Lord of Virginia (bottom). Plates 9 and 3 from Thomas Harriot’s A Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia, published 1590. Engraving (with later hand coloring on plate 9). Above: Birthing figure. Late Post-Classic Aztec style. Possibly 19th century. Aplite. H: 20.3 cm. Dumbarton Oaks collection. PC.B.071.
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