60 Left: Atrium of the new Textile Museum at George Washington University. Photo credit: Jessica McConnell Burt/George Washington University. Right: Embossed plaque. Coclé, Sitio Conte, Panama. C. AD 700–900. Gold. W: 20.1 cm. Penn Museum, inv. 40-13-11. Photo: Penn Museum. LIFE, DEATH, AND GOLD Philadelphia—For more than a thousand years, a cemetery on the banks of the Rio Grande Coclé in Panama lay undisturbed, escaping the attention of gold seekers and looters. In 1927 the river flooded, scattering beads of gold along its banks, and thirteen years later a Penn Museum team led by archaeologist J. Alden Mason excavated at the cemetery, unearthing spectacular finds—large golden plaques and pendants with animal-human motifs; precious and semi-precious stone, ivory, and animal bone ornaments; and literally tons of detail-rich painted ceramics. It was extraordinary evidence of a sophisticated Pre-Columbian people, the Coclé, who lived, died, and painstakingly buried their dead long ago. Beneath the Surface: Life, Death, and Gold in Ancient Panama, at the Penn Museum until November 1, 2015, explores the history of, archaeological evidence about, and new research perspectives on the Coclé people who lived from about 700 to 900 CE. Video footage from the original Sitio Conte excavation and more than 200 objects from the famous excavation provide an immersive experience in this installation. One massive burial, dubbed “Burial 11” by the excavators, yielded the most extraordinary materials from the excavation. Believed to be that of a paramount chief, it contained twenty-three individuals in three distinct layers, accompanied by a vast array of grave objects. A to-scale installation of the burial serves as the exhibition’s centerpiece and features many artifacts displayed in the actual positions in which they were found, as well as digital interactive stations that allow for further exploration. While this is material that has been published and exhibited extensively, this exhibition is a rare opportunity to see these beautiful objects with supporting material to provide context. THE TEXTILE MUSEUM REOPENS Washington DC—In the heart of the George Washington University’s Foggy Bottom campus, a new museum complex will open on March 21 as Washington, DC’s newest cultural destination. The museum is intended to foster the study and appreciation of art, history, and culture, both within the university and throughout the global community. The museum’s walls will house three components: The Albert H. Small Washingtoniana Collection focusing on DC history; artworks from George Washington University’s collections, including paintings, prints and drawings, photography, sculpture, and decorative arts; and the newly reimagined Textile Museum. The latter is an institution with a nearly one-hundred-year history, an established audience, and a respected collection of textile art representing six continents and five millennia. It was founded in 1925 by collector George Hewitt Myers and until 2011 was located in his family’s gracious home and a neighboring structure in northwestern DC. Its move to GWU and a purpose-built museum structure marks an important new chapter in its development. The museum’s inaugural textile exhibition is the largest in its history. Unraveling Identity will unite textiles from across cultures to explore expressions of individual, cultural, political, and social identity throughout the ages. Featuring more than one hundred pieces that span 2,000 years and five continents, this exhibition will showcase the Textile Museum’s world-renowned historic collections augmented by key loans of contemporary art textiles and fashion. It will be on view from March 21–August 24, 2015. Below: Man’s tunic (detail). Wari style, Peru. 8th–9th century. Cotton, camelid hair. 105.7 x 109.5 cm. The Textile Museum, museum purchase, inv. 1962.30.1. Below: Hip wrapper, tapis (detail). Lampung Paminggir people, Sumatra, Indonesia. 19th century. Cotton, silk. 127 x 120.1 cm. The Textile Museum, Ruth Lincoln Fisher Memorial Fund, 1982.37.2.
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