MUSEUM NEWS
74
Artistic Exchange in the Caribbean
NEW YORK CITY—On view for more than a year from
December 16, 2019, through January 10, 2021, Arte
del mar (“Art of/from the Sea”) explores the pre-sixteenth
century artistic exchange around the rim of the
Caribbean Sea between the Taíno civilizations of the
Antilles archipelago and their powerful peers on the
continental mainland. Recent archaeological, ethnohistorical,
and art-historical research has deepened our
understanding of indigenous Caribbean concepts of ritual
knowledge, ceremonial performance, and political
power. Artists in the region—which includes the Antilles
archipelago and countries such as Colombia, Panama,
Costa Rica, and Honduras—sought to express the
distinct force of their deities and ancestors, known to
the Taínos as zemí (or cemí), which pervaded the environment
and were crucial to the foundation of communities.
Pendants and other objects worn and used
by leaders in ceremonies were created from imported
luxury materials and share a formal grammar that is inextricably
linked with deeply rooted mythological narratives.
Curated by James Doyle, Assistant Curator for
the Art of the Ancient Americas, works of art on view in
the exhibition, largely drawn from The Met collection,
celebrate the region’s ancestral traditions.
RIGHT: Deity fi gure, zemí.
Taíno; Dominican Republic (?).
13th–15th century.
Sandstone. H: 68.6 cm.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York, The Michael C. Rockefeller
Memorial Collection, bequest of Nelson
A. Rockefeller, 1979,
inv. 1979.206.1209.
FAR RIGHT: Deity fi gure,
zemí. Taíno; Dominican
Republic (?). C. AD 1000.
Wood (Guaiacum), shell. H: 68.5 cm.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York, The Michael C. Rockefeller
Memorial Collection, bequest of Nelson
A. Rockefeller, 1979, inv. 1979.206.380.
BELOW: Pendant fi gure, zemí.
Taíno; reportedly La Caleta,
Distrito Naçional, Dominican
Republic (?).
13th–15th century.
Stone. H: 7.6 cm.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York, The Michael C. Rockefeller
Memorial Collection, purchase, Oscar de
la Renta Gift, 1997, inv. 1997.35.3.