LEFT: Textile fragment.
Nazca, probably Nazca Valley,
South Coast, Peru.
AD 200–500.
Camelid wool, cotton, plain weave of
discontinuous single interlocking warps
and wefts. 51.8 × 32.7 cm.
Art Institute of Chicago, restricted gift of
Mrs. Edwin A. Seipp, inv. 1956.76.
RIGHT: Textile patch.
Lambayeque, probably North
Coast, Peru, AD 1000–1476.
Cotton, camelid wool, slit and single
interlocking tapestry weave with
eccentric wefts. 17.8 x 15.2 cm.
Art Institute of Chicago, Kate S.
Buckingham Endowment,
inv. 1955.1750.
BELOW RIGHT: Bowl with
bean and architectural motifs.
Nazca, South Coast, Peru.
AD 180–500.
Ceramic, pigment. D: 17.5 cm.
Ex Eduard Gaffron (1861–1931), Lima
and Berlin. Art Institute of Chicago, Kate
S. Buckingham Endowment,
inv. 1955.1886.
BELOW: Bowl depicting a
costumed ritual performer
with abstract plants, holding a
captive.
Nazca, South Coast, Peru.
AD 180–500.
Ceramic, pigment. D: 17.2 cm.
Ex Eduard Gaffron (1861–1931), Lima
and Berlin. Art Institute of Chicago, Kate
S. Buckingham Endowment,
inv. 1955.1934.
54
ABOVE: Mask.
Bwa, Uele region, DR
Congo. Late 19th/early
20th century.
Wood, kaolin, pigment.
H: 28.6 cm.
Ex Jean Willy Mestach, Brussels;
Allan Frumkin Gallery, Chicago.
Art Institute of Chicago, Samuel
A. Marx Restricted Fund,
inv. 1961.915.
LEFT: Mask. Bete or
Guro, Côte d’Ivoire. Late
19th/early 20th century.
Wood, fur, kaolin, metal, twine,
leather. H: 35.6 cm.
Ex Carlebach Gallery, New York.
Art Institute of Chicago,
Buckingham Fund, inv. 1958.118.
MUSEUM NEWS
Super/Natural
CHICAGO—Over the course
of millennia, textiles were the
primary form of aesthetic expression
and communication for the diverse cultures
that developed throughout the desert coasts and
mountains of the Andean region. Worn as garments,
suspended on walls of temples and homes, and used in
ritual settings, textiles functioned in multiple contexts,
yet, within each culture, the techniques, motifs, and
messages remained consistent.
Super/Natural: Textiles of the Andes, on view at
the Art Institute of Chicago until June 23, 2019, features
more than sixty textiles along with a selection of
ceramics from the museum’s collection that together
explore the ways select Andean cultures developed
distinct textile technologies and approaches to design.
While emphasizing the unique aspects of each culture
and highlighting Andean artistic diversity, the exhibition
also invites comparisons across cultures and time
periods. These objects speak to shared ideas concerning
everyday life, the natural world, the supernatural
realm, and the afterlife, demonstrating a unifi ed visual
language that spans the Andes region from its ancient
past to modern communities.
Also at the Art Institute is a newly reconsidered and
reinstalled gallery of African art. Though the gallery retains
its previous geographic arrangement, illustrating
the vastness and diversity of the African continent as
well as the relationships between neighboring cultures,
the new installation features new acquisitions as well as
several exceptional loans from the Field Museum and
presents fresh perspectives through both the physical
display and interpretation of every object on view.