1.
Neoclassical architecture
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Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century. In its purest form, it is a style derived from the architecture of classical antiquity, the Vitruvian principles. In form, Neoclassical architecture emphasizes the wall rather than chiaroscuro, Neoclassical architecture is still designed today, but may be labelled New Classical Architecture for contemporary buildings. In Central and Eastern Europe, the style is referred to as Classicism. Many early 19th-century neoclassical architects were influenced by the drawings and projects of Étienne-Louis Boullée, the many graphite drawings of Boullée and his students depict spare geometrical architecture that emulates the eternality of the universe. There are links between Boullées ideas and Edmund Burkes conception of the sublime, the baroque style had never truly been to the English taste. The most popular was the four-volume Vitruvius Britannicus by Colen Campbell, the book contained architectural prints of famous British buildings that had been inspired by the great architects from Vitruvius to Palladio. At first the book featured the work of Inigo Jones. Palladian architecture became well established in 18th-century Britain, at the forefront of the new school of design was the aristocratic architect earl, Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, in 1729, he and William Kent, designed Chiswick House. This House was a reinterpretation of Palladios Villa Capra, but purified of 16th century elements and this severe lack of ornamentation was to be a feature of the Palladianism. In 1734 William Kent and Lord Burlington designed one of Englands finest examples of Palladian architecture with Holkham Hall in Norfolk, the main block of this house followed Palladios dictates quite closely, but Palladios low, often detached, wings of farm buildings were elevated in significance. This classicising vein was also detectable, to a degree, in the Late Baroque architecture in Paris. This shift was even visible in Rome at the redesigned façade for S, by the mid 18th century, the movement broadened to incorporate a greater range of Classical influences, including those from Ancient Greece. The shift to neoclassical architecture is conventionally dated to the 1750s, in France, the movement was propelled by a generation of French art students trained in Rome, and was influenced by the writings of Johann Joachim Winckelmann. The style was adopted by progressive circles in other countries such as Sweden. A second neoclassic wave, more severe, more studied and more consciously archaeological, is associated with the height of the Napoleonic Empire, in France, the first phase of neoclassicism was expressed in the Louis XVI style, and the second in the styles called Directoire or Empire. The Scottish architect Charles Cameron created palatial Italianate interiors for the German-born Catherine II the Great in St. Petersburg, indoors, neoclassicism made a discovery of the genuine classic interior, inspired by the rediscoveries at Pompeii and Herculaneum. These had begun in the late 1740s, but only achieved an audience in the 1760s
2.
Art Nouveau
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Art Nouveau is an international style of art, architecture and applied art, especially the decorative arts, that was most popular between 1890 and 1910. A reaction to the art of the 19th century, it was inspired by natural forms and structures, particularly the curved lines of plants. English uses the French name Art Nouveau, according to the philosophy of the style, art should be a way of life. For many well-off Europeans, it was possible to live in an art nouveau-inspired house with art nouveau furniture, silverware, fabrics, ceramics including tableware, jewellery, cigarette cases, artists desired to combine the fine arts and applied arts, even for utilitarian objects. By 1910, Art Nouveau was already out of style and it was replaced as the dominant European architectural and decorative style first by Art Deco and then by Modernism. Art Nouveau took its name from the Maison de lArt Nouveau, in France, Art Nouveau was also sometimes called by the British term Modern Style due to its roots in the Arts and Crafts Movement, Style moderne, or Style 1900. It was also sometimes called Style Jules Verne, Le Style Métro, Art Belle Époque, in Belgium, where the architectural movement began, it was sometimes termed Style nouille or Style coup de fouet. In Britain, it was known as the Modern Style, or, because of the arts and crafts movement led by Charles Rennie Mackintosh in Glasgow, as the Glasgow style. In Italy, because of the popularity in Italy of designs from Londons Liberty & Co department store, in the United States, due to its association with Louis Comfort Tiffany, it was often called the Tiffany style. In Germany and Scandinavia, a style emerged at about the same time, it was called Jugendstil. In Catalonia the related style was known as Modernisme, in Spain as Modernismo, Arte joven, in Russia, it was called Modern, and Jugendstil, and Nieuwe Kunst in the Netherlands. Some names refer specifically to the forms that were popular with the Art Nouveau artists, Stile Floreal in France, Paling Stijl in the Netherlands. The new art movement had its roots in Britain, in the designs of William Morris. Early prototypes of the include the Red House of Morris. In France, the style combined several different tendencies, in architecture, it was influenced by the architectural theorist and historian Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, a declared enemy of the historical Beaux-Arts architectural style. For each function its material, for each material its form and this book influenced a generation of architects, including Louis Sullivan, Victor Horta, Hector Guimard, and Antoni Gaudí. The French painters Maurice Denis, Pierre Bonnard and Édouard Vuillard played an important part in integrating fine arts painting with decoration, I believe that before everything a painting must decorate, Denis wrote in 1891. The choice of subjects or scenes is nothing and it is by the value of tones, the colored surface and the harmony of lines that I can reach the spirit and wake up the emotions
3.
Art Deco
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Art Deco, sometimes simply referred to as Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture and design that first appeared in France just before World War I. It took its name, short for Arts Decorators, from the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes held in Paris in 1925 and it combined modernist styles with fine craftsmanship and rich materials. During its heyday, Art Deco represented luxury, glamour, exuberance, Art Deco was a pastiche of many different styles, sometimes contradictory, united by a desire to be modern. It featured rare and expensive materials such as ebony and ivory, the Chrysler Building and other skyscrapers of New York were the most visible monuments of the new style. In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, the became more subdued. New materials arrived, including chrome plating, stainless steel and plastic, a more sleek form of the style, called Streamline Moderne, appeared in the 1930s, it featured curving forms and smooth, polished surfaces. Art Deco became one of the first truly international architectural styles, with examples found in European cities, the style came to an end with the beginning of World War II. Deco was replaced as the dominant global style by the functional and unadorned styles of modernism. The term arts décoratifs was first used in France in 1858, in 1868, Le Figaro newspaper used the term art décoratifs with respect to objects for stage scenery created for the Théâtre de lOpéra. In 1875, furniture designers, textile, jewelry and glass designers and it took its present name of ENSAD in 1927. The term Art déco was then used in a 1966 newspaper article by Hillary Gelson in the Times, describing the different styles at the exhibit. Art Deco gained currency as a broadly applied stylistic label in 1968 when historian Bevis Hillier published the first major book on the style. Hillier noted that the term was already being used by art dealers and cites The Times, in 1971, Hillier organized an exhibition at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, which he details in his book about it, The World of Art Deco. The emergence of Art Deco was closely connected with the rise in status of decorative artists, the term arts décoratifs had been invented in 1875, giving the designers of furniture, textiles, and other decoration official status. The Société des artistes décorateurs, or SAD, was founded in 1901, a similar movement developed in Italy. The first international exhibition devoted entirely to the arts, the Esposizione international dArte decorative moderna, was held in Turin in 1902. Several new magazines devoted to decorative arts were founded in Paris, including Arts et décoration, Decorative arts sections were introduced into the annual salons of the Sociéte des artistes français, and later in the Salon dautomne. French nationalism also played a part in the resurgence of decorative arts, in 1911 the SAD proposed the holding of a major new international exposition of decorative arts in 1912
4.
Mexico City
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Mexico City, or City of Mexico, is the capital and most populous city of Mexico. As an alpha global city, Mexico City is one of the most important financial centers in the Americas and it is located in the Valley of Mexico, a large valley in the high plateaus at the center of Mexico, at an altitude of 2,240 metres. The city consists of sixteen municipalities, the 2009 estimated population for the city proper was approximately 8.84 million people, with a land area of 1,485 square kilometres. The Greater Mexico City has a domestic product of US$411 billion in 2011. The city was responsible for generating 15. 8% of Mexicos Gross Domestic Product, as a stand-alone country, in 2013, Mexico City would be the fifth-largest economy in Latin America—five times as large as Costa Ricas and about the same size as Perus. Mexico’s capital is both the oldest capital city in the Americas and one of two founded by Amerindians, the other being Quito. In 1524, the municipality of Mexico City was established, known as México Tenochtitlán, Mexico City served as the political, administrative and financial center of a major part of the Spanish colonial empire. After independence from Spain was achieved, the district was created in 1824. Ever since, the left-wing Party of the Democratic Revolution has controlled both of them, in recent years, the local government has passed a wave of liberal policies, such as abortion on request, a limited form of euthanasia, no-fault divorce, and same-sex marriage. On January 29,2016, it ceased to be called the Federal District and is now in transition to become the countrys 32nd federal entity, giving it a level of autonomy comparable to that of a state. Because of a clause in the Mexican Constitution, however, as the seat of the powers of the federation, it can never become a state, the city of Mexico-Tenochtitlan was founded by the Mexica people in 1325. According to legend, the Mexicas principal god, Huitzilopochtli indicated the site where they were to build their home by presenting an eagle perched on a cactus with a snake in its beak. Between 1325 and 1521, Tenochtitlan grew in size and strength, eventually dominating the other city-states around Lake Texcoco, when the Spaniards arrived, the Aztec Empire had reached much of Mesoamerica, touching both the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. After landing in Veracruz, Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés advanced upon Tenochtitlan with the aid of many of the native peoples. Cortés put Moctezuma under house arrest, hoping to rule through him, the Aztecs thought the Spaniards were permanently gone, and they elected a new king, Cuitláhuac, but he soon died, the next king was Cuauhtémoc. Cortés began a siege of Tenochtitlan in May 1521, for three months, the city suffered from the lack of food and water as well as the spread of smallpox brought by the Europeans. Cortés and his allies landed their forces in the south of the island, the Spaniards practically razed Tenochtitlan during the final siege of the conquest. Cortés first settled in Coyoacán, but decided to rebuild the Aztec site to erase all traces of the old order and he did not establish a territory under his own personal rule, but remained loyal to the Spanish crown
5.
Mexico
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Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a federal republic in the southern half of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States, to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean, to the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea, and to the east by the Gulf of Mexico. Covering almost two million square kilometers, Mexico is the sixth largest country in the Americas by total area, Mexico is a federation comprising 31 states and a federal district that is also its capital and most populous city. Other metropolises include Guadalajara, Monterrey, Puebla, Toluca, Tijuana, pre-Columbian Mexico was home to many advanced Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Olmec, Toltec, Teotihuacan, Zapotec, Maya and Aztec before first contact with Europeans. In 1521, the Spanish Empire conquered and colonized the territory from its base in Mexico-Tenochtitlan, Three centuries later, this territory became Mexico following recognition in 1821 after the colonys Mexican War of Independence. The tumultuous post-independence period was characterized by instability and many political changes. The Mexican–American War led to the cession of the extensive northern borderlands, one-third of its territory. The Pastry War, the Franco-Mexican War, a civil war, the dictatorship was overthrown in the Mexican Revolution of 1910, which culminated with the promulgation of the 1917 Constitution and the emergence of the countrys current political system. Mexico has the fifteenth largest nominal GDP and the eleventh largest by purchasing power parity, the Mexican economy is strongly linked to those of its North American Free Trade Agreement partners, especially the United States. Mexico was the first Latin American member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and it is classified as an upper-middle income country by the World Bank and a newly industrialized country by several analysts. By 2050, Mexico could become the fifth or seventh largest economy. The country is considered both a power and middle power, and is often identified as an emerging global power. Due to its culture and history, Mexico ranks first in the Americas. Mexico is a country, ranking fourth in the world by biodiversity. In 2015 it was the 9th most visited country in the world, Mexico is a member of the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the G8+5, the G20, the Uniting for Consensus and the Pacific Alliance. Mēxihco is the Nahuatl term for the heartland of the Aztec Empire, namely, the Valley of Mexico, and its people, the Mexica and this became the future State of Mexico as a division of New Spain prior to independence. It is generally considered to be a toponym for the valley became the primary ethnonym for the Aztec Triple Alliance as a result. After New Spain won independence from Spain, representatives decided to name the new country after its capital and this was founded in 1524 on top of the ancient Mexica capital of Mexico-Tenochtitlan
6.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
7.
Fine art
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Historically, the five main fine arts were painting, sculpture, architecture, music and poetry, with performing arts including theatre and dance. Today, the fine arts commonly include additional forms, such as film, photography, video production/editing, design, sequential art, conceptual art, and printmaking. However, in some institutes of learning or in museums, fine art, in that sense, there are conceptual differences between the fine arts and the applied arts. The word fine does not so much denote the quality of the artwork in question and this definition originally excluded the applied or decorative arts, and the products of what were regarded as crafts. According to some writers the concept of a category of fine art is an invention of the early modern period in the West. Larry Shiner in his The Invention of Art, A Cultural History locates the invention in the 18th century, There was a traditional “system of the arts” in the West before the eighteenth century. ”Similar ideas have been expressed by Paul Oskar Kristeller, Pierre Bourdieu, and Terry Eagleton, though the point of invention is often placed earlier, in the Italian Renaissance. The separation of arts and crafts that often exists in Europe, in Japanese aesthetics the activities of everyday life are depicted by integrating not only art with craft but man-made with nature. Traditional Chinese art distinguished within Chinese painting between the mostly landscape painting of scholar gentlemen and the artisans of the schools of court painting. A high status was given to many things that would be seen as craft objects in the West, in particular ceramics, jade carving, weaving. Drawing is a form of expression and is one of the major forms of the visual arts. Common instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoals, chalk, pastels, markers, stylus, There are a number of subcategories of drawing, including cartooning. Mosaics are images formed with pieces of stone or glass. They can be decorative or functional, an artist who designs and makes mosaics is called a mosaic artist or a mosaicist. Printmaking is the process of making artworks by printing, normally on paper, except in the case of monotyping, the process is capable of producing multiples of the same piece, which is called a print. Each print is considered an original, as opposed to a copy, the reasoning behind this is that the print is not a reproduction of another work of art in a different medium — for instance, a painting — but rather an image designed from inception as a print. An individual print is also referred to as an impression, prints are created from a single original surface, known technically as a matrix. But there are other kinds, discussed below. Multiple nearly identical prints can be called an edition, in modern times each print is often signed and numbered forming a limited edition
8.
Historic center of Mexico City
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The Zocalo is the largest plaza in Latin America. It can hold up to nearly 100,000 people and this section of the capital has just over nine square km and occupies 668 blocks. It contains 9,000 buildings,1,550 of which have been declared of historical importance, Most of these historic buildings were constructed between the 16th and 20th centuries. It is divided into two zones for preservation purposes, zone A encompasses the pre-Hispanic city and its expansion from the Viceroy period until Independence. Zone B covers the areas all other constructions to the end of the 19th century that are considered indispensable to the preservation of the architectural and cultural heritage. This is where the Spaniards began to build what is now modern Mexico City in the 16th century on the ruins of the conquered Tenochtitlan and this has made it a World Heritage Site. What is now the downtown of Mexico City roughly correlates with the ancient Aztec city of Tenochtitlan. During the prehispanic era, the city developed in a fashion, with streets and canals aligned with the cardinal directions. The calpullis were named Cuepopan, Atzacualco, Moyotla and Zoquipan, which had subdivisions, the intersection of these roads was the center of the city and of the Aztec world. Here were the Templo Mayor, the palaces of the tlatoani or emperors, palaces of nobles such as the House of the Demons, also located here were the two most renowned Aztec schools, the Telpuchcalli for secular studies and the Calmecac for priestly training. When the Spaniards arrived, the city had built by Moctezuma Ilhuicamina. After the Spanish conquest, this remained largely intact, mostly due to the efforts of Alonso Garcia Bravo. This reconstruction conserved many of the main thoroughfares such as Tenayuca, renamed Vallejo, Tlacopan, renamed México Tacuba, and Tepeyac, now called the Calzada de los Misterios. They also kept major divisions of the city adding Christian prefixes to the such as San Juan Moyotla, Santa María Tlaquechiuacan, San Sebastián Atzacualco. In fact, most of the centro historicos is built with the rubble of the destroyed Aztec city, a number of people during this time, all Spaniards, accumulated vast wealth mostly through mining and commerce in the 17th and 18th centuries. This wealth is reflected in the various mansions scattered in the such as the Palace of Iturbide. This house was built in the 16th century in Arab style, historically, the Zócalo, or main plaza, has been a venue for fine and popular cultural events. Some example of events held here recently are Spencer Tunicks photo shoot, the Ashes and Snow Nomadic museum, the Festival de México is an annual event with programs dedicated to art and academia
9.
Alameda Central
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Alameda Central is a public municipal park in downtown Mexico City, adjacent to the Palacio de Bellas Artes, between Juarez Avenue and Hidalgo Avenue. The Alameda Central park is a garden with paved paths and decorative fountains and statues. The area used to be an Aztec marketplace, the park was created in 1529, when Viceroy Luis de Velasco decided to create green space here as a public park. The name comes from the Spanish word álamo, which means poplar tree and this park was part of the viceroys plan to develop what was, at that time, the western edge of the city. It has become a symbol of a traditional Mexican park and many parks in the country take on the name Alameda as well. The original park was less than half the size of the current one, what is now the western section of the park originally was a plain plaza built during the Inquisition in Mexico and known as El Quemadero or The Burning Place. Here witches and others convicted by the Inquisitors were publicly burned at the stake, by the 1760s, the Inquisition had nearly come to an end and in 1770, viceroy Marqués de Croix had this plaza torn up to expand the park. The park was expanded again in 1791, when the Count of Revillagigedo built a fence around the park to make it exclusive for the nobility. However, when Mexican Independence was won in 1821, the Alameda was the center of popular celebrations, in 1846, when President Santa Anna rode triumphantly into Mexico City, he ordered the fountains in the park be filled with alcohol. The five classical fountains are of French design and inspired by Greco-Roman mythology, more statues were added to the park in the 19th century. Gas lamps were installed in 1868, which were replaced by electrical lighting 1892, by the end of the 19th century, the park had become popular with all social classes in Mexico. Much of the current layout of the park, with its starburst pattern of paths around fountains, by the late 19th century, the park included a bandstand and gas lamps. On the south side of the park, facing toward the street is the Hemiciclo a Juárez, which is a large white semi-circular monument to Benito Juárez, in 2012, the park went through a rehabilitation which began in May and was completed in December. The renewal included replacing the pavement with marble, the improvement of the vegetation, new light posts. As part of the rehabilitation, the once ubiquitous street vendors are no longer allowed to operate within the park, Alameda Central can be accessed by Metro Bellas Artes. Media related to Alameda Central at Wikimedia Commons
10.
Mexican War of Independence
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The Mexican War of Independence was an armed conflict, and the culmination of a political and social process which ended the rule of Spain in 1821 in the territory of New Spain. September 16 is celebrated as Mexican Independence Day, the movement for independence was inspired by the Age of Enlightenment and the liberal revolutions of the last part of the 18th century. By that time the elite of New Spain had begun to reflect on the relations between Spain and its colonial kingdoms. Changes in the social and political structure occasioned by Bourbon Reforms, political events in Europe had a decisive effect on events in most of Spanish America. In 1808, King Charles IV and Ferdinand VII abdicated in favor of French leader Napoleon Bonaparte, the same year, the ayuntamiento of Mexico City, supported by viceroy José de Iturrigaray, claimed sovereignty in the absence of the legitimate king. That led to a coup against the viceroy, when it was suppressed, despite the defeat in Mexico City, small groups of conspirators met in other cities of New Spain to raise movements against colonial rule. From 1810 the independence movement went through stages, as leaders were imprisoned or executed by forces loyal to Spain. Secular priest José María Morelos called the separatist provinces to form the Congress of Chilpancingo, after the defeat of Morelos, the movement survived as a guerrilla war under the leadership of Vicente Guerrero. By 1820, the few rebel groups survived most notably in the Sierra Madre del Sur, the reinstatement of the liberal Constitution of Cadiz in 1820 caused a change of mind among the elite groups who had supported Spanish rule. Monarchist Creoles affected by the constitution decided to support the independence of New Spain, agustín de Iturbide led the military arm of the conspirators and in early 1821 he met Vicente Guerrero. Both proclaimed the Plan of Iguala, which called for the union of all insurgent factions and was supported by both the aristocracy and clergy of New Spain and it called for monarchy in an independent Mexico. Finally, the independence of Mexico was achieved on September 27,1821, after that, the mainland of New Spain was organized as the Mexican Empire. This ephemeral Catholic monarchy changed to a republic in 1823, due to internal conflicts. After some Spanish reconquest attempts, including the expedition of Isidro Barradas in 1829, after the suppression of that mid-16th-century conspiracy, elites raised no substantial challenge to royal rule until the Hidalgo revolt of 1810. Elites in Mexico City in the century did force the removal of a reformist viceroy. The crowd was reported to shout, Long live the King, the attack was against Gelves as a bad representative of the crown and not against the monarchy or colonial rule itself. There was also a conspiracy in the mid-seventeenth century to unite creole elites, blacks. The man pushing this notion called himself Don Guillén Lampart y Guzmán, lamports conspiracy was discovered, and he was arrested by the Inquisition in 1642, and executed fifteen years later for sedition
11.
Adamo Boari
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Adamo Boari was an Italian civil engineer and architect. He studied at the University of Ferrara and afterwards at the University of Bologna where he graduated in 1886, after he had done some works in Turin he went to Brazil in 1889 where he had to organize an exhibition. In 1899 he got permission to work in the United States as an architect. In 1903 he went to Mexico where he became known for his works at churches in 1898, for the construction of the Templo Expiatorio in 1899. He was commissioned to the construction of the Palacio de Bellas Artes, some of his works he did at the bureau of Frank Lloyd Wright. The Palacio de Correos was finished in 1907, although Boari began with the construction of the Palacio de Bellas Artes in 1901 he could not finish his work due to the upcoming revolution and resulting technical and financial problems. In 1916 he returned to Italy, where he led the construction of the new theatre of Ferrara which was finished by his brother Sesto, some details of this building are reminiscent of the Mexican Palacio de Bellas Artes. Boari died in Rome in 1928, the Palacio de Bellas Artes was finished after his death. Adamo Boari at the archINFORM database, works of Adamo Boari at praella. com
12.
Mexican Revolution
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The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle c. 1910–1920 that radically transformed Mexican culture and government. Although recent research has focused on local and regional aspects of the Revolution and its outbreak in 1910 resulted from the failure of the 35-year long regime of Porfirio Díaz to find a managed solution to the presidential succession. This meant there was a crisis among competing elites and the opportunity for agrarian insurrection. Madero challenged Díaz in 1910 presidential election, and following the rigged results, armed conflict ousted Díaz from power and a new election was held in 1911, bringing Madero to the presidency. The origins of the conflict were broadly based in opposition to the Díaz regime, with the 1910 election, elements of the Mexican elite hostile to Díaz, led by Madero, expanded to the middle class, the peasantry in some regions, and organized labor. In October 1911, Madero was overwhelmingly elected in a free, Huerta remained in power from February 1913 until July 1914, when he was forced out by a coalition of different regional revolutionary forces. Then the revolutionaries attempt to come to a political agreement following Huertas ouster failed, Zapata was assassinated in 1919, by agents of President Carranza. The armed conflict lasted for the part of a decade, until around 1920. Revolutionary forces unified against Huertas reactionary regime defeated the Federal forces, although the conflict was primarily a civil war, foreign powers that had important economic and strategic interests in Mexico figured in the outcome of Mexicos power struggles. The United States played a significant role. Out of Mexicos population of 15 million, the losses were high, perhaps 1.5 million people died, nearly 200,000 refugees fled abroad, especially to the United States. Politically, the promulgation of the Mexican Constitution of 1917 is seen by scholars as the end point of the armed conflict. The period 1920–1940 is often considered to be a phase of the Revolution, during which power was consolidated, after the presidency of his ally, General Manuel González, Díaz ran for the presidency again and legally remained in office until 1911. The constitution had been amended to allow presidential re-election, Díazs re-election was ironic, since he had challenged Benito Juárez on the platform no re-election. During the Porfiriato there were regular elections although there were contentious irregularities, the contested 1910 election, was a key political event that led to the Mexican Revolution. As Díaz aged, the question of succession became increasingly important. In 1906, the office of president was revived, with Díaz choosing his close ally Ramón Corral from among his Cientifico advisers to serve in the post. By the 1910 election, the Díaz regime had become highly authoritarian and he had been a national hero, opposing the French Intervention in the 1860s and distinguishing himself in the Battle of Puebla on 5 May 1862
13.
Mural
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A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other permanent surface. A distinguishing characteristic of painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture. Some wall paintings are painted on canvases, which are then attached to the wall. Whether these works can be accurately called murals is a subject of controversy in the art world. Murals of sorts date to Upper Paleolithic times such as the paintings in the Chauvet Cave in Ardèche department of southern France, many ancient murals have been found within ancient Egyptian tombs, the Minoan palaces and in Pompeii. During the Middle Ages murals were executed on dry plaster. The huge collection of Kerala mural painting dating from the 14th century are examples of fresco secco, in Italy, circa 1300, the technique of painting of frescos on wet plaster was reintroduced and led to a significant increase in the quality of mural painting. In modern times, the became more well-known with the Mexican muralism art movement. There are many different styles and techniques, the best-known is probably fresco, which uses water-soluble paints with a damp lime wash, a rapid use of the resulting mixture over a large surface, and often in parts. The colors lighten as they dry, the marouflage method has also been used for millennia. Murals today are painted in a variety of ways, using oil or water-based media, the styles can vary from abstract to trompe-lœil. Initiated by the works of artists like Graham Rust or Rainer Maria Latzke in the 1980s, trompe-loeil painting has experienced a renaissance in private. The buon fresco technique consists of painting in pigment mixed with water on a layer of wet, fresh. The pigment is absorbed by the wet plaster, after a number of hours. After this the painting stays for a time up to centuries in fresh. Fresco-secco painting is done on dry plaster, the pigments thus require a binding medium, such as egg, glue or oil to attach the pigment to the wall. By the end of the century this had largely displaced the buon fresco method. This technique had, in reduced form, the advantages of a secco work, in Greco-Roman times, mostly encaustic colors applied in a cold state were used
14.
Diego Rivera
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Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez, known as Diego Rivera was a prominent Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the Mexican mural movement in Mexican art, between 1922 and 1953, Rivera painted murals among others in Mexico City, Chapingo, Cuernavaca, San Francisco, Detroit, and New York City. In 1931, a exhibition of his works was held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Rivera had a marriage with fellow Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. Rivera was born in Guanajuato, Mexico, to a well-to-do family, Diego had a twin brother named Carlos, who died two years after they were born. Rivera was said to have Converso ancestry, Rivera wrote in 1935, My Jewishness is the dominant element in my life. Rivera began drawing at the age of three, a year after his brothers death. He had been drawing on the walls. His parents, rather than punishing him, installed chalkboards and canvas on the walls, as an adult, he married Angelina Beloff in 1911, and she gave birth to a son, Diego. Maria Vorobieff-Stebelska gave birth to a daughter named Marika in 1918 or 1919 when Rivera was married to Angelina and he married his second wife, Guadalupe Marín, in June 1922, with whom he had two daughters, Ruth and Guadalupe. He was still married when he met art student Frida Kahlo and they married on August 21,1929 when he was 42 and she was 22. Their mutual infidelities and his violent temper led to divorce in 1939, Rivera later married Emma Hurtado, his agent since 1946, on July 29,1955, one year after Kahlos death. His mural Dreams of a Sunday in the Alameda depicted Ignacio Ramírez holding a sign which read and this work caused a furor, but Rivera refused to remove the inscription. The painting was not shown for nine years – until Rivera agreed to remove the inscription. He stated, To affirm God does not exist, I do not have to hide behind Don Ignacio Ramírez, I am an atheist, from the age of ten, Rivera studied art at the Academy of San Carlos in Mexico City. He was sponsored to study in Europe by Teodoro A. Dehesa Méndez. In those years, Paris was witnessing the beginning of Cubism in paintings by such eminent painters as Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, from 1913 to 1917, Rivera enthusiastically embraced this new school of art. Around 1917, inspired by Paul Cézannes paintings, Rivera shifted toward Post-Impressionism with simple forms and his paintings began to attract attention, and he was able to display them at several exhibitions
15.
David Alfaro Siqueiros
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David Alfaro Siqueiros was a Mexican social realist painter, better known for his large murals in fresco. Along with Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco, he established Mexican Muralism and he was a Marxist-Leninist in support of the Soviet Union and a member of the Mexican Communist Party who participated in an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Leon Trotsky in May 1940. His surname would normally be Alfaro by Spanish naming customs, like Picasso and Lorca, Siqueiros changed his given name to David after his first wife called him by it in allusion to Michelangelos David. Another factual confusion is the year of his birth, he was born in 1896, but many sources state 1898 or 1899. Many details of his childhood, including date, birthplace, first name. Often, he is reported to have been born and raised in 1898 in a town in the state of Chihuahua, Siqueiros was born in Chihuahua in 1896, the second of three children. He was baptized José de Jesús Alfaro Siqueiros and his father, Cipriano Alfaro, originally from Irapuato, was well-off. Siqueiros had two siblings, a sister, Luz, three years older, and a brother Chucho, a year younger, davids mother died when he was four, their father sent the children to live with their paternal grandparents. Davids grandfather, nicknamed Siete Filos, had a strong role in his upbringing. In 1902 Siqueiros started school in Irapuato, Guanajuato and he credits his first rebellious influence to his sister, who had resisted their fathers religious orthodoxy. Around this time, Siqueiros was also exposed to new political ideas, one such political theorist was Dr. Atl, who published a manifesto in 1906 calling for Mexican artists to develop a national art and look to ancient indigenous cultures for inspiration. Their protests eventually led to the establishment of an academy in Santa Anita. At the age of eighteen, Siqueiros and several of his colleagues from the School of Fine Arts joined Venustiano Carranzas Constitutional Army fighting Huertas government and his military travels around the country exposed him to Mexican culture and the raw everyday struggles of the working and rural poor classes. After Carranzas forces had gained control, Siqueiros briefly returned to Mexico City to paint before traveling to Europe in 1919, first in Paris, he absorbed the influence of cubism, intrigued particularly with Paul Cézanne and the use of large blocks of intense color. Although many have said that Siqueiros artistic ventures were frequently interrupted by his political ones, by 1921, when he wrote his manifesto in Vida Americana, Siqueiros had already been exposed to Marxism and saw the life of the working and rural poor while traveling with the Constitutional Army. The manifesto also claimed that a spirit is essential to meaningful art. Through this style, Siqueiros hoped to create a style that would bridge national and universal art, in 1922, Siqueiros returned to Mexico City to work as a muralist for Álvaro Obregóns revolutionary government. Then Secretary of Public Education José Vasconcelos made a mission of educating the masses through public art and hired scores of artists, Siqueiros, Rivera and José Orozco worked together under Vasconcelos, who supported the muralist movement by commissioning murals for prominent buildings in Mexico City
16.
Aztec
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The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica from the 14th to 16th centuries. The Nahuatl words aztecatl and aztecah mean people from Aztlan, a place for the Nahuatl-speaking culture of the time. Often the term Aztec refers exclusively to the Mexica people of Tenochtitlan, situated on an island in Lake Texcoco, who referred to themselves as Mēxihcah Tenochcah or Cōlhuah Mexihcah. From the 13th century, the Valley of Mexico was the heart of Aztec civilization, here the capital of the Aztec Triple Alliance, the Triple Alliance formed a tributary empire expanding its political hegemony far beyond the Valley of Mexico, conquering other city states throughout Mesoamerica. At its pinnacle, Aztec culture had rich and complex mythological and religious traditions, as well as achieving remarkable architectural and artistic accomplishments. Subsequently, the Spanish founded the new settlement of Mexico City on the site of the ruined Aztec capital, the term extends to further ethnic groups associated with the Aztec empire such as the Acolhua and Tepanec and others that were incorporated into the empire. In older usage the term was used about modern Nahuatl speaking ethnic groups. In recent usage these ethnic groups are referred to as the Nahua peoples. Linguistically the term Aztecan is still used about the branch of the Uto-Aztecan languages that includes the Nahuatl language and its closest relatives Pochutec, to the Aztecs themselves the word aztec was not an endonym for any particular ethnic group. Rather it was a term used to refer to several ethnic groups, not all of them Nahuatl speaking. In the Nahuatl language aztecatl means person from Aztlan and this usage has been the subject of debate in more recent years, but the term Aztec is still more common. For the same reason the notion of Aztec civilization is best understood as a horizon of a general Mesoamerican civilization. Particular to the Aztecs of Tenochtitlan was the Mexica patron God Huitzilopochtli, twin pyramids, the Aztec Empire was a tribute empire based in Tenochtitlan that extended its power throughout Mesoamerica in the late postclassic period. Soon Texcoco and Tlacopan became junior partners in the alliance, which was de facto led by the Mexica of Tenochtitlan, the empire extended its power by a combination of trade and military conquest. The political clout of the empire reached far south into Mesoamerica conquering cities as far south as Chiapas and Guatemala, the Nahua peoples began to migrate into Mesoamerica from northern Mexico in the 6th century. They populated central Mexico, dislocating speakers of Oto-Manguean languages as they spread their influence south. As the former nomadic hunter-gatherer peoples mixed with the civilizations of Mesoamerica, adopting religious and cultural practices. During the Postclassic period they rose to power at such sites as Tula, in the 12th century the Nahua power center was in Azcapotzalco, from where the Tepanecs dominated the valley of Mexico
17.
Quetzalcoatl
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Quetzalcoatl forms part of Mesoamerican literature and is a deity whose name comes from the Nahuatl language and means feathered serpent. The worship of a serpent is first documented in Teotihuacan in the first century BC or first century AD. That period lies within the Late Preclassic to Early Classic period of Mesoamerican chronology, in the Postclassic period, the worship of the feathered serpent deity was based in the primary Mexican religious center of Cholula. It is in period that the deity is known to have been named Quetzalcoatl by his Nahua followers. In the Maya area, he was approximately equivalent to Kukulkan and Gukumatz, Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec god of wind and learning, wears around his neck the wind breastplate ehecailacocozcatl, the spirally voluted wind jewel made of a conch shell. In codex drawings, Quetzalcoatl and Xolotl were both pictured as wearing an ehecailacocozcatl around each of their necks. There has additionally been at least one major cache of offerings with knives and idols adorned with the symbols of more than one god, some of which were adorned with wind jewels. It is a matter of debate among historians to which degree, or whether at all. He was also the god of the Aztec priesthood, of learning. Quetzalcoatl was one of several important gods in the Aztec pantheon, along with the gods Tlaloc, Tezcatlipoca, two other gods represented by the planet Venus are Quetzalcoatls ally Tlaloc who is the god of rain, and Quetzalcoatls twin and psychopomp, who is named Xolotl. Animals thought to represent Quetzalcoatl include resplendent quetzals, rattlesnakes, crows, in his form as Ehecatl he is the wind, and is represented by spider monkeys, ducks, and the wind itself. In his form as the star, Venus, he is also depicted as a harpy eagle. In Mazatec legends, the astrologer deity Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, who is represented by Venus. A feathered serpent deity has been worshiped by many different ethno-political groups in Mesoamerican history, the existence of such worship can be seen through studies of iconography of different Mesoamerican cultures, in which serpent motifs are frequent. This depiction is believed to have made around 900 BC. The first culture to use the symbol of a serpent as an important religious. At temples such as the aptly named Quetzalcoatl temple in the Ciudadela complex, feathered serpents figure prominently, the earliest depictions of the feathered serpent deity were fully zoomorphic, depicting the serpent as an actual snake, but already among the Classic Maya the deity began acquiring human features. Feathered serpent iconography is prominent at all of these sites, Cholula is known to have remained the most important center of worship to Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec/Nahua version of the feathered serpent deity, in the post-classic period
18.
Reform War
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The War of the Reform is one of many episodes of the long struggle between Liberal and Conservative forces that dominated the country’s history in the 19th century. The Liberals wanted to eliminate the political, economic, and cultural power of the Catholic church as well as undermine the role of the Mexican Army, both the Catholic Church and the Army were protected by corporate or institutional privileges established in the colonial era. Liberals sought to create a modern nation-state founded on liberal principles, the liberals passed a series of separate laws implementing their vision of Mexico, and then promulgated the Constitution of 1857, which gave constitutional force to their program. The Liberals lack military experience and lost most of the early battles, Liberal victories accumulated thereafter until Conservative forces surrendered in December 1860. After the end of the Mexican War of Independence, the country was divided as it tried to recover from more than a decade of fighting. From 1821-57,50 different governments ruled the country and these included dictatorships, constitutional republican governments and a monarchy. The political division was divided into two groups, the Liberals and the Conservatives. The Liberal political movements had their beginnings in the meetings of the Freemasonry. The secret nature of the society allowed for discreet political discussion, Conservatives favored a strong centralized government, with many wanting a European-style monarchy. Conservatives favored protecting many of the institutions inherited from the period, including tax and legal exemptions for the Catholic Church. Liberals favored the establishment of a federalist republic based on ideas coming out of the European Enlightenment, until the end of the Reform period Mexico’s history would be dominated by these two factions vying for control and fighting against foreign incursions at the same time. The Reform Era of Mexican history is defined from 1855-76. In the 1850s the Liberal ousted Antonio López de Santa Anna under the Plan of Ayutla in 1855 and this ascendancy came after the loss of about half of Mexico’s national territory to the US in the Mexican–American War. Liberals believed that the power of the Roman Catholic Church. The Liberals challenge to the Catholic Churchs hegemony in Mexico came about in stages even before the 1850s and this included Catholic newspapers such as La Cruz and conservative groups that strongly attacked Liberal policies and ideology. This ideology had roots in the European Enlightenment, which sought to reduce the role of the Catholic Church in society. The Reforms began in the 1830s and 1840s coalesced into the laws of the Reform era. The 1857 Constitution of Mexico was promulgated near the end of the first phase, more Reform laws were passed from 1861–63 and after 1867 when the Liberals emerged victorious after two civil wars with Conservative opponents
19.
Torre Latinoamericana
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The Torre Latinoamericana is a skyscraper in downtown Mexico City, Mexico. Its central location, height and history make it one of the citys most important landmarks and it is also widely recognized internationally as an engineering and architectural landmark since it was the worlds first major skyscraper successfully built on highly active seismic land. The old skyscraper withstood the 1985 Mexico City earthquake without damage, the Torre Latinoamericana was Mexico Citys tallest building from 1956, when it was built, until the 1984 completion of the Torre Ejecutiva Pemex, which is 22 m higher. It is situated on the corner of the Eje Central and Madero Street, many think it was the first skyscraper in Mexico. However, skyscrapers may have first appeared in Mexico City between 1910 and 1935, the tallest of the time, the International Capital Building was completed in 1935. This building was surpassed by the Edificio Miguel E. Abed, the Latinoamericana Tower opened its doors on April 30,1956. The Torre Latinoamericana was built to headquarter La Latinoamericana, Seguros, the building took its name from this company as it began to be built during the postwar boom of the late 1940s, that lasted until the early 1970s. At the time of its construction, the company was controlled by the Mexican tycoon Miguel S. Macedo. Originally the insurance company occupied a building at the same location. In 1947 it temporarily relocated to an office while the tower was built. Once it was finished in 1956, the company moved into the towers 4th to 8th floors. The rest of the office space was for lease. At the time of its completion the Torre Latinoamericana was the 45th tallest building in the world and it was also the tallest building in Latin America, and the fourth in height in the world outside New York. Its public observation deck on the 44th floor is the highest in Mexico City, the project was designed and executed by Dr. Leonardo Zeevaert and his brother Adolfo Zeevaert, Mexican civil engineers born in Veracruz. Nathan M. Newmark was the main consultant, before construction, both engineers carried out a number of soil mechanics studies in the construction site, and designed the structure accordingly. Today this is common and even mandatory practice, but at the time it was quite an innovation, the tower gained notoriety when it withstood the magnitude 7.91957 earthquake, thanks to its outstanding design and strength. This feat garnered it recognition in the form of the American Institute of Steel Construction Award of Merit for the tallest building ever exposed to a huge seismic force, the Torre Latinoamericana withstood this force without problems, and has thus become a symbol of safety in Mexico City. Today the tower is considered one of the safest buildings in the city despite its dangerous location
20.
Operetta
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Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. By this time, the part of the genre name had become misleading. With this new connotation, opéra comique had dominated the French operatic stage since the decline of tragédie lyrique, most researchers acknowledge that the credit for creating the operetta form should go to Hervé, a singer, composer, librettist, conductor, and scene painter. In 1842 he wrote the little opérette, LOurs et le pacha, based on the vaudeville show by Scribe. In 1848, Hervé made his first notable appearance on the Parisian stage, with Don Quichotte et Sancho Pança, hervés most famous works are the Gounod-parody Le Petit Faust and Mamzelle Nitouche. Jacques Offenbach further developed and popularized operetta, giving it its enormous vogue during the Second Empire, Offenbachs earliest one-act pieces included Les deux aveugles, Le violoneux and Ba-ta-clan, and his first full-length operetta success was Orphée aux enfers. Offenbachs tradition was carried on by Robert Planquette, André Messager. What characterizes Offenbachs operettas is both the way they portray life, and the extremely frivolous way this is done. The character was modeled after Offenbachs female star Hortense Schneider. Considering how Zolas Nana describes an Offenbach-style operetta performance in Paris, it is not surprising that the mostly male, upper-class audiences in other cities like Vienna and Berlin longed to see these shows in their home towns as well, which inspired worldwide performance of Offenbachs works. The highly erotic way Offenbachs operettas were originally played, with stars like Hortense Schneider created a reaction from certain parts of the general public. Operetta was considered an art form. Indeed, together with its grotesque qualities, frivolity is one of the elements of authentic operetta à la Offenbach. It was only later, when audiences widened and became more middle and lower class, the most significant composer of operetta in the German language was the Austrian Johann Strauss II. His first operetta was Indigo und die vierzig Räuber and his third operetta, Die Fledermaus, became the most performed operetta in the world, and remains his most popular stage work. Its libretto was based on a written by Offenbachs librettists. In all, Strauss wrote 16 operettas and one opera, most with great success when first premiered, many of his lesser operettas are now largely forgotten, since his later librettists were less talented and he often composed independently of the plot. Strausss operettas, waltzes, polkas, and marches often have a strongly Viennese style, the Theater an der Wien never failed to draw huge crowds when his stage works were first performed
21.
Palacio de Correos de Mexico
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The Palacio de Correos de Mexico also known as the Correo Mayor is located in the historic center of Mexico City, on the Eje Central near the Palacio de Bellas Artes. It was built at the beginning of the 20th century. Its design and construction was the most modern of the time, in the 1950s, the building was modified in a way that caused stress and damage, so when the 1985 earthquake struck Mexico City, this building was heavily damaged. In the 1990s, restoration work has brought the building back to original construction, in 1901, the Dirección General de Correos was made a separate government agency. Before, it has been a division of the Secretariat of Communications. It was then decided that this function should have its own building, in part due the volume of mail being handled annually at that time, the site chosen was the old Hospital of Terceros Franciscanos, which was demolished in 1902. The foundation laid was a new technique called Chicago consisting of a slab with a thickness of 70 cm reinforced with steel beams. This foundation was constructed in New York, by the Millinken Brothers. The first stone of the building was placed on 14 September 1902, for some time after it was built, this palace was also called the Quinta Casa de Correos, since it was the fifth building to house postal services in Mexico City. The building has remained in operation as a post office since 1907. Modifications for the Bank destroyed much of the elements that were originally in this section. They also added greatly to the weight of the building and have overloaded the steel structure and this would cause damage to the building, along with the 1985 Mexico City earthquake. It was designed by Italian architect Adamo Boari and constructed by Mexican military engineer Gonzalo Garita y Frontera, the building also has Moorish, Neoclassical, Baroque and Art Deco elements. There is also a mix of materials and design elements from Europe, the palace contains ornaments of marble, plaster of paris and white cantera stone from Puebla. The post office is made with a very light-colored, almost translucent variety of a stone called chiluca, the exterior is covered in decorative details such as iron dragon light fixtures and intricately carved stone around the windows and the edge of the roof. Much of the work around the windows and other parts of the facade highly polished brass. An example of the complicated design is that each of the floors has windows of a different architectural style. The facades unity is kept through the repetition of arches, the main entrance has a large ironwork canopy which is typical of the Art Nouveau that was fashionable in the early 20th century
22.
Tiffany glass
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In 1865, Tiffany traveled to Europe, and in London he visited the Victoria and Albert Museum, whose extensive collection of Roman and Syrian glass made a deep impression on him. He admired the coloration of glass and was convinced that the quality of contemporary glass could be improved upon. His inventiveness both as a designer of windows and as a producer of the material with which to them was to become renowned. Tiffany wanted the glass itself to transmit texture and rich colors, the glass was manufactured at the Tiffany factory located at 96-18 43rd Avenue in the Corona section of Queens from 1901 to 1932. Some opalescent glass was used by several stained glass studios in England from the 1860s and 1870s onwards, notably Heaton, Butler, opalescent glass is the basis for the range of glasses created by Tiffany. Tiffany patented Favrile glass in 1892, Favrile glass often has a distinctive characteristic that is common in some glass from Classical antiquity, it possesses a superficial iridescence. This iridescence causes the surface to shimmer, but also causes a degree of opacity and this iridescent effect of the glass was obtained by mixing different colors of glass together while hot. Streamer glass refers to a sheet of glass with a pattern of glass strings affixed to its surface, Tiffany made use of such textured glass to represent, for example, twigs, branches and grass. Streamers are prepared from very hot glass, gathered at the end of a punty that is rapidly swung back and forth and stretched into long, thin strings that rapidly cool. These hand-stretched streamers are pressed on the surface of sheet glass during the rolling process. Fracture glass refers to a sheet of glass with a pattern of irregularly shaped, Tiffany made use of such textured glass to represent, for example, foliage seen from a distance. The irregular glass wafers, called fractures, are prepared from very hot, colored molten glass, a large bubble is forcefully blown until the walls of the bubble rapidly stretch, cool and harden. The resulting glass bubble has paper-thin walls and is shattered into shards. These hand blown shards are pressed on the surface of the glass sheet during the rolling process. Fracture-streamer glass refers to a sheet of glass with a pattern of glass strings, Tiffany made use of such textured glass to represent, for example, twigs, branches and grass, and distant foliage. The process is as above except that both streamers and fractures are applied to glass during the rolling process. Ring mottle glass refers to glass with a pronounced mottle created by localized, heat-treated opacification. Ring mottle glass was invented by Tiffany in the early 20th century, tiffanys distinctive style exploited glass containing a variety of motifs such as those found in ring mottle glass, and he relied minimally on painted details
23.
Iztaccihuatl
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Iztaccíhuatl, is a 5,230 m dormant volcanic mountain in Mexico located on the border between the State of Mexico and Puebla. It is the third highest, after Pico de Orizaba 5,636 m. The name Iztaccíhuatl is Nahuatl for White woman, reflecting the four individual snow-capped peaks which depict the head, chest, knees, Iztaccíhuatl lies to the north of Popocatépetl, to which it is connected by the high altitude Paso de Cortés. Depending on atmospheric conditions the dormant volcano is visible much of the year from Mexico City some 70 km to the northwest, the first recorded ascent was made in 1889, though archaeological evidence suggests the Aztecs and previous cultures climbed it previously. It is the lowest peak containing permanent snow and glaciers in Mexico, the summit ridge of the massive 450 km3 volcano is a series of overlapping cones constructed along a NNW-SSE line to the south of the Pleistocene Llano Grande caldera. Andesitic and dacitic Pleistocene and Holocene volcanism has taken place from vents at or near the summit, areas near the El Pecho summit vent are covered in flows and tuff beds post-dating glaciation approximately 11 ka. The most recent vents are located at El Pecho and a depression at 5,100 m along the summit ridge midway between that summit and Los Pies, in Aztec mythology, Iztaccíhuatl was a princess who fell in love with one of her fathers warriors, Popocatépetl. The emperor sent Popocatépetl to war in Oaxaca, promising him Iztaccíhuatl as his wife when he returned, Iztaccíhuatl was falsely told Popocatépetl had died in battle, and believing the news, she died of grief. When Popocatépetl returned to find his dead, he took her body to a spot outside Tenochtitlan. The gods covered them with snow and changed them into mountains, iztaccíhuatls mountain is called White Woman because it resembles a woman lying on her back, and is often covered with snow. (The peak is sometimes nicknamed La Mujer Dormida Popocatépetl became an active volcano, iztaccihuatl is usually listed at 5,286 m. SRTM data and the Mexican national mapping survey assert that a range of 5,220 to 5,230 m is more accurate, the Global Volcanism Program cites 5,230 m
24.
Leonardo Bistolfi
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Leonardo Bistolfi was an Italian sculptor, an important exponent of Italian Symbolism. Bistolfi was born in Casale Monferrato in Piedmont, north-west Italy, to Giovanni Bistolfi, a sculptor in wood, in 1876 he enrolled in the Brera Art Academy in Milan, where his teacher was Giosuè Argenti. In 1880 he studied under Odoardo Tabacchi at the Accademia Albertina in Turin and his first works, executed between 1880 and 1885, show the influence of the Milanese Scapigliatura. In the early 1890s he was made a member of the Accademia Albertina. In 1892 he began a task of decorating Chapel XVI of the Sacro Monte di Crea, one of the Sacri Monti of Piedmont. In 1893 he married Maria Gusberti, also during the years 1892–1908 Bistolfi executed numerous funerary monuments, including the memorial plaque for André Gladis. In 1902, along with Davide Calandra, Giorgio Ceragioli, Enrico Reycend and Enrico Thovez, during the years 1895–1905 he exhibited at a number of editions of the Venice Biennale. In 1906 he produced a monument to the painter Giovanni Segantini La bellezza liberata dalla materia known also as Lalpe, for the Monument of Vittorio Emanuele II in Rome Bistolfi produced the marble group Il sacrificio. In 1923 he was made a Senatore del Regno, in 1928 Bistolfi produced the Monumento ai Caduti for Casale Monferrato. Bistolfi died at La Loggia, in the province of Turin and he was interred in the cemetery of Casale Monferrato. His work is exhibited at La Loggia, at the Musée dOrsay in Paris, at The National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo, and at the Galleria dArte Moderna in Turin. The largest collection, however is at the Gipsoteca “Leonardo Bistolfi” in Casale Monferrato and these include drawings and sketches as well as works and bozzetti in terracotta, plasticine, and gesso and some sculptures in marble and bronze. The initial version of this article was based on a translation of its equivalent on the Italian Wikipedia, biografia di Leonardo Bistolfi, from the site of the Comune di La Loggia. Site of the Gipsoteca “Leonardo Bistolfi” Leonardo Bistolfi
25.
Maria Callas
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Maria Callas, Commendatore OMRI, was a Greek-American soprano, and one of the most renowned and influential opera singers of the 20th century. Many critics praised her bel canto technique, wide-ranging voice and dramatic interpretations and her musical and dramatic talents led to her being hailed as La Divina. Born in New York City and raised by a mother, she received her musical education in Greece. Forced to deal with the exigencies of wartime poverty and with myopia that left her nearly blind onstage, she endured struggles and scandal over the course of her career. She turned herself from a woman into a svelte and glamorous one after a mid-career weight loss, which might have contributed to her vocal decline. The press exulted in publicizing Callass temperamental behavior, her rivalry with Renata Tebaldi. Callass father had shortened the surname Kalogeropoulos first to Kalos and subsequently to Callas in order to make it more manageable, If you marry this man, I will never be able to help you. Evangelia had ignored his warning, but soon realized that her father was right, the situation was aggravated by Georges philandering and was improved neither by the birth of a daughter, named Yakinthi, in 1917 nor the birth of a son, named Vassilis, in 1920. Vassiliss death from meningitis in the summer of 1922 dealt another blow to the marriage, the family left for New York in July 1923, moving first into an apartment in Astoria, Queens. Evangelia was convinced that her child would be a boy. Maria was christened three years later at the Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in 1926, when Maria was 4, George Callas opened his own pharmacy, settling the family in Manhattan on 192nd Street in Washington Heights where Callas grew up. Around the age of three, Marias musical talent began to manifest itself, and after Evangelia discovered that her youngest daughter also had a voice, Callas later recalled, I was made to sing when I was only five, and I hated it. George was unhappy with his wife favoring their elder daughter, as well as the put upon young Mary to sing. The marriage continued to deteriorate and in 1937 Evangelia decided to return to Athens with her two daughters, I was the ugly duckling, fat and clumsy and unpopular. It is a thing to make a child feel ugly. Ill never forgive her for taking my childhood away, during all the years I should have been playing and growing up, I was singing or making money. Everything I did for them was good and everything they did to me was mostly bad. In 1957, she told Norman Ross, Children should have a wonderful childhood, I have not had it – I wish I had
26.
Carrara marble
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Carrara marble is a type of white or blue-grey marble of high quality, popular for use in sculpture and building decor. It is quarried in the city of Carrara located in the province of Massa and Carrara in the Lunigiana, Carrara marble has been used since the time of Ancient Rome. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the quarries were monitored by the Cybo and Malaspina families who ruled over Massa. The family created the Office of Marble in 1564 to regulate the mining industry. The city of Massa, in particular, saw much of its plan redesigned in order to make it worthy of an Italian countrys capital, following the extinction of the Cybo-Malaspina family, the state was ruled by the House of Austria and management of the mines rested with them. The Basilica of Massa is built entirely of Carrara marble and the old Ducal Palace of Massa was used to showcase the precious stone, by the end of the 19th century, Carrara had become a cradle of anarchism in Italy, in particular among the quarry workers. According to a New York Times article of 1894, workers in the quarries were among the most neglected labourers in Italy. Many of them were ex-convicts or fugitives from justice, the work at the quarries was so tough and arduous that almost any aspirant worker with sufficient muscle and endurance was employed, regardless of their background. The quarry workers and stone carvers had radical beliefs that set apart from others. Anarchism and general radicalism became part of the heritage of the stone carvers, many violent revolutionists who had been expelled from Belgium and Switzerland went to Carrara in 1885 and founded the first anarchist group in Italy. In Carrara, the anarchist Galileo Palla remarked, “even the stones are anarchists. ”The quarry workers were the protagonists of the Lunigiana revolt in January 1894. It was unveiled by future UK Prime Minister Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery on 6 April 1882. Marble Arch, London Some sections of the Palace of the Marqués de Dos Aguas, Valencia, Spain Prem Mandir, Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh, India Duomo di Siena, Siena, the Carrara quarries have produced more marble than any other place on earth. Working the quarries has been dangerous and continues so to this day, in September 1911, a collapsing cliff face at the Bettogli Quarry crushed 10 workers who were on lunch break under a precipice. A2014 video made at a Carrara quarry shows workers with missing fingers, the prized yield from Carrara quarries through millennia has been Statuario, a pure white marble. However, by the end of the 20th century, the deposits of Statuario near Carrara are played out. The quarries continue to remove and ship up to a million tons/year of less-esteemed marble, calcite, obtained from an 80 kg sample of Carrara marble, is used as the IAEA-603 isotopic standard in mass spectrometry for the calibration of δ18O and δ13C. List of types of marble Lizza di Piastreta Marmifera di Carrara railway Lardo, the Economy of Renaissance Florence, JHU Press, ISBN0801889820 Newman, Cathy
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Pegasus
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Pegasus is one of the best known creatures in Greek mythology. He is a winged divine stallion usually depicted as white in color. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as horse-god and he was the brother of Chrysaor, born at a single birthing when his mother was decapitated by Perseus. Greco-Roman poets write about his ascent to heaven after his birth and his obeisance to Zeus, king of the gods, friend of the Muses, Pegasus is the creator of Hippocrene, the fountain on Mt. Helicon. He was captured by the Greek hero Bellerophon near the fountain Peirene with the help of Athena, Pegasus allows the hero to ride him to defeat a monster, the Chimera, before realizing many other exploits. His rider, however, falls off his back trying to reach Mount Olympus, Zeus transformed him into the constellation Pegasus and placed him up in the sky. Hypotheses have been proposed regarding its relationship with the Muses, the gods Athena, Poseidon, Zeus, Apollo, the symbolism of Pegasus varies with time. Pegasus is the subject of a rich iconography, especially through the ancient Greek pottery and paintings. The poet Hesiod presents an etymology of the name Pegasus as derived from πηγή pēgē spring, well, the pegai of Okeanos. A proposed etymology of the name is Luwian pihassas, meaning lightning, and Pihassassi, the proponents of this etymology adduce Pegasus role, reported as early as Hesiod, as bringer of thunderbolts to Zeus. It was first suggested in 1952 and remains widely accepted, according to legend, everywhere the winged horse struck his hoof to the earth, an inspiring spring burst forth. Hesiod relates how Pegasus was peacefully drinking from a spring when the hero Bellerophon captured him, Hesiod also says Pegasus carried thunderbolts for Zeus. In another version, when Perseus beheaded Medusa, they were born of the Earth, a variation of this story holds that they were formed from the mingling of Medusas blood, pain and sea foam, implying that Poseidon had involvement in their making. The last version bears resemblance to Hesiods account of the birth of Aphrodite from the foam created when Uranuss severed genitals were cast into the sea by Cronus, Pegasus aided the hero Bellerophon in his fight against both the Chimera. The next morning, still clutching the bridle, he found Pegasus drinking at the Pierian spring and caught Pegasus, michauds Biographie universelle relates that when Pegasus was born, he flew to where thunder and lightning are released. Then, according to versions of the myth, Athena tamed him and gave him to Perseus. In fact Pegasus is an addition to the story of Perseus. Pegasus and Athena left Bellerophon and continued to Olympus where he was stabled with Zeus other steeds, because of his faithful service to Zeus, he was honoured with transformation into a constellation
28.
Muses
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The Muses are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts in Greek mythology. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric songs and they were later adopted by the Romans as a part of their pantheon. In current English usage, muse can refer in general to a person who inspires an artist, writer, the earliest known records of the Nine Muses are from Boeotia, the homeland of Hesiod. Some ancient authorities thought that the Nine Muses were of Thracian origin, there, a tradition persisted that the Muses had once been three in number. They were again called Melete or Practice, Mneme or Memory, three ancient Muses were also reported in Plutarchs Quaestiones Convivales. According to Pausanias in the second century AD, there were three original Muses, worshiped on Mount Helicon in Boeotia, Aoidḗ, Melétē, and Mnḗmē. Together, these three form the picture of the preconditions of poetic art in cult practice. In Delphi three Muses were worshiped as well, but with other names, Nḗtē, Mésē, and Hýpatē, alternatively they later were called Kēphisṓ, Apollōnís, and Borysthenís, which names characterize them as daughters of Apollo. In later tradition, a set of four Muses were recognized, Thelxinóē, Aoidḗ Archē, one of the people frequently associated with the Muses was Pierus. By some he was called the father of a total of seven Muses, called Neilṓ, Tritṓnē, Asōpṓ, Heptápora, Achelōís, Tipoplṓ, and Rhodía. According to Hesiods Theogony, they were daughters of Zeus, the second king of the gods. For Alcman and Mimnermus, they were even more primordial, springing from the deities, Uranus. Sometimes the Muses are referred to as water nymphs, associated with the springs of Helicon and it was said that the winged horse Pegasus touched his hooves to the ground on Helicon, causing four sacred springs to burst forth, from which the muses were born. Athena later tamed the horse and presented him to the muses, classical writers set Apollo as their leader, Apollon Mousagetēs. In one myth, the Muses judged a contest between Apollo and Marsyas and they also gathered the pieces of the dead body of Orpheus, son of Calliope, and buried them. In a later myth, Thamyris challenged them to a singing contest and they won and punished Thamyris by blinding him and robbing him of his singing ability. He thus challenged the Muses to a match, resulting in his daughters, Pausanias records a tradition of two generations of Muses, the first are the daughters of Uranus and Gaia, the second of Zeus and Mnemosyne. Another, rarer genealogy is that they are daughters of Harmonia, some Greek writers give the names of the nine Muses as Kallichore, Helike, Eunike, Thelxinoë, Terpsichore, Euterpe, Eukelade, Dia, and Enope
29.
Apollo
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Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in classical Greek and Roman religion and Greek and Roman mythology. The ideal of the kouros, Apollo has been recognized as a god of music, truth and prophecy, healing, the sun and light, plague, poetry. Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto, and has a twin sister, Apollo is known in Greek-influenced Etruscan mythology as Apulu. As the patron of Delphi, Apollo was an oracular god—the prophetic deity of the Delphic Oracle. Medicine and healing are associated with Apollo, whether through the god himself or mediated through his son Asclepius, yet Apollo was also seen as a god who could bring ill-health and deadly plague. Amongst the gods custodial charges, Apollo became associated with dominion over colonists, as the leader of the Muses and director of their choir, Apollo functioned as the patron god of music and poetry. Hermes created the lyre for him, and the instrument became an attribute of Apollo. Hymns sung to Apollo were called paeans, Apollo and Helios/Sol remained separate beings in literary and mythological texts until the 3rd century CE. The name Apollo—unlike the related older name Paean—is generally not found in the Linear B texts, the etymology of the name is uncertain. The spelling Ἀπόλλων had almost superseded all other forms by the beginning of the common era and it probably is a cognate to the Doric month Apellaios, and the offerings apellaia at the initiation of the young men during the family-festival apellai. According to some scholars the words are derived from the Doric word apella, apella is the name of the popular assembly in Sparta, corresponding to the ecclesia. R. S. P. Beekes rejected the connection of the theonym with the noun apellai, several instances of popular etymology are attested from ancient authors. Thus, the Greeks most often associated Apollos name with the Greek verb ἀπόλλυμι, in the ancient Macedonian language πέλλα means stone, and some toponyms may be derived from this word, Πέλλα and Πελλήνη. The role of Apollo as god of plague is evident in the invocation of Apollo Smintheus by Chryses, the Hittite testimony reflects an early form *Apeljōn, which may also be surmised from comparison of Cypriot Ἀπείλων with Doric Ἀπέλλων. A Luwian etymology suggested for Apaliunas makes Apollo The One of Entrapment, Apollos chief epithet was Phoebus, literally bright. It was very commonly used by both the Greeks and Romans for Apollos role as the god of light, like other Greek deities, he had a number of others applied to him, reflecting the variety of roles, duties, and aspects ascribed to the god. However, while Apollo has a number of appellations in Greek myth. Aegletes, from αἴγλη, light of the sun Helius, literally sun Lyceus light, the meaning of the epithet Lyceus later became associated with Apollos mother Leto, who was the patron goddess of Lycia and who was identified with the wolf
30.
Chaac
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For the region on Io see Chaac-Camaxtli Region Chaac is the name of the Maya rain deity. With his lightning axe, Chaac strikes the clouds and produces thunder, Chaac corresponds to Tlaloc among the Aztecs. Like other Maya gods, Chaac is both one and manifold, four Chaacs are based in the cardinal directions and wear the directional colors. In 16th-century Yucatán, the directional Chaac of the east was called Chac Xib Chaac Red Man Chaac, contemporary Yucatec Maya farmers distinguish many more aspects of the rain and the clouds and personify them as different, hierarchically-ordered rain deities. The Chorti Maya have preserved important folklore regarding the process of rain-making, the rain deities had their human counterparts. According to a Late-Postclassic Yucatec tradition, Chac Xib Chaac was the title of a king of Chichen Itza, among the rituals for the rain deities, the Yucatec Cha-Chaac ceremony for asking for rain is a ceremonial banquet for the rain deities. It includes four boys acting and chanting as frogs, asking for rain and crops was also the purpose of 16th-century rituals at the karstic wells, or cenotes, of Yucatán. Young men and women were lowered into these wells and left to drown there, alternatively, they were thrown into the wells later to be drawn up again, and give oracles. The rain deity is a patron of agriculture, a well-known myth in which the Chaacs have an important role to play is about the opening of the mountain in which the maize was hidden. In Tzotzil mythology, the deity also figures as the father of nubile women representing maize. In some versions of the Qeqchi myth of Sun and Moon, later, Chocl commits adultery with his brothers wife and is duly punished, his tears of regret give origin to the rain. Versions of this show the rain deity Chac in his war-like fury, pursuing the fleeing Sun and Moon. Chaac is usually depicted with a body showing reptilian or amphibian scales, and with a non-human head evincing fangs. In the Classic style, a shell serves as his ear ornament and he often carries shield and lightning-axe, the axe being personified by a closely related deity, god K, called Bolon Dzacab in Yucatec. The Classic Chaac sometimes shows features of the Central Mexican precursor of Tlaloc, a large part of the most important Maya book, the Dresden Codex, is dedicated to the Chaacs, their locations, and activities. It illustrates the relationship existing between the Chaacs, the Bacabs, and the aged goddess, Ixchel. The main source on the 16th-century Yucatec Maya, Bishop Diego de Landa, combines the four Chaacs with the four Bacabs, the Bacabs were aged deities governing the subterranean sphere and its water supplies. In the Classic period, the king often impersonated the rain deity while the pictogram of the deity can accompany the kings other names
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Maya civilization
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The Maya civilization developed in an area that encompasses southeastern Mexico, all of Guatemala and Belize, and the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador. The Archaic period, prior to 2000 BC, saw the first developments in agriculture, the first Maya cities developed around 750 BC, and by 500 BC these cities possessed monumental architecture, including large temples with elaborate stucco façades. Hieroglyphic writing was being used in the Maya region by the 3rd century BC, in the Late Preclassic a number of large cities developed in the Petén Basin, and Kaminaljuyu rose to prominence in the Guatemalan Highlands. Beginning around 250 AD, the Classic period is defined as when the Maya were raising sculpted monuments with Long Count dates. This period saw the Maya civilization develop a number of city-states linked by a complex trade network. In the Maya Lowlands two great rivals, Tikal and Calakmul, became powerful, the Classic period also saw the intrusive intervention of the central Mexican city of Teotihuacan in Maya dynastic politics. In the 9th century, there was a political collapse in the central Maya region, resulting in internecine warfare, the abandonment of cities. The Postclassic period saw the rise of Chichen Itza in the north, in the 16th century, the Spanish Empire colonized the Mesoamerican region, and a lengthy series of campaigns saw the fall of Nojpetén, the last Maya city in 1697. Classic period rule was centred on the concept of the divine king, kingship was patrilineal, and power would normally pass to the eldest son. A prospective king was expected to be a successful war leader. Maya politics was dominated by a system of patronage, although the exact political make-up of a kingdom varied from city-state to city-state. By the Late Classic, the aristocracy had greatly increased, resulting in the reduction in the exclusive power of the divine king. Maya cities tended to expand haphazardly, and the city centre would be occupied by ceremonial and administrative complexes, different parts of a city would often be linked by causeways. The principal architecture of the city consisted of palaces, pyramid-temples, ceremonial ballcourts, the Maya elite were literate, and developed a complex system of hieroglyphic writing that was the most advanced in the pre-Columbian Americas. The Maya recorded their history and ritual knowledge in screenfold books, there are also a great many examples of Maya text found on stelae and ceramics. The Maya developed a complex series of interlocking ritual calendars. As a part of their religion, the Maya practised human sacrifice, the Maya civilization developed within the Mesoamerican cultural area, which covers a region that spreads from northern Mexico southwards into Central America. Mesoamerica was one of six cradles of civilization worldwide, the Mesoamerican area gave rise to a series of cultural developments that included complex societies, agriculture, cities, monumental architecture, writing, and calendrical systems
32.
Rufino Tamayo
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Rufino Tamayo was a Mexican painter of Zapotec heritage, born in Oaxaca de Juárez, Mexico. Tamayo was active in the century in Mexico and New York. Tamayos Zapotec heritage is often cited as an early influence, after his parents death, Tamayo moved to Mexico City to live with his aunt. While there, he devoted himself to helping his family with their small business, however, after a while, Tamayo’s aunt enrolled him at Escuela Nacional de Artes Plasticas at San Carlos in 1917 to study art. As a student, he experimented with and was influenced by Cubism, Impressionism and Fauvism, among other art movements of the time. Although Tamayo studied drawing at the Academy of Art at San Carlos as an adult, he became dissatisfied. That was when he began working for José Vasconcelos at the Department of Ethnographic Drawings, Rufino Tamayo, along with other muralists such as Rivera, Orozco, and Siqueiros, represented the twentieth century in their native country of Mexico. After the Mexican Revolution, Tamayo devoted himself to creating an identity in his work. He disagreed with these muralists in their belief that the revolution was necessary for the future of Mexico but considered, instead, that the revolution would harm Mexico. In his painting, Niños Jugando con Fuego, Tamayo shows two individuals being burnt by a fire they have created, a symbol of the Mexican people being injured by its own choice and action. Tamayo claimed, “We are in a situation, and the danger is that man may be absorbed and destroyed by what he has created. Due to his opinion, he was characterized by some as a traitor to the political cause, Tamayo came to feel that he could not freely express his art, he therefore decided in 1926 to leave Mexico and move to New York City. Prior to his departure, Tamayo organized a show of his work in Mexico City where he was noticed for his individuality. The artist returned to Mexico in 1929 to have another solo show, Rufino Tamayo’s legacy in the history of art lies in his oeuvre of original graphic prints in which he cultivated every technique. Rufino Tamayo’s graphic work, produced between 1925 and 1991, includes woodcuts, lithographs, etchings and Mixografia prints. With the help of Mexican painter and engineer Luis Remba, Tamayo expanded the technical and this technique is a unique fine art printing process that allows for the production of prints with three-dimensional texture. It not only registered the texture and volume of Rufino Tamayos design, Rufino Tamayo was delighted with the Mixografia process and created some 80 original Mixographs. One of their most famous Mixografia is titled Dos Personajes Atacados por Perros, in 1935, Tamayo joined the Liga de Escritores y Artistas Revolucionarios
33.
Roberto Montenegro
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Roberto Montenegro Nervo was a painter, muralist and illustrator, who was one of the first to be involved in the Mexican muralism movement after the Mexican Revolution. Most of his career is dedicated to illustration and publishing, portrait painting, Roberto Montenegro Nervo was born on February 19,1885 in Guadalajara. His parents were Coronel Ignacio L Montenegro and María Nervo, aunt of poet Amado Nervo, Montenegro had four sisters, Rosaura, Ana, Eva and María Eurgenia and one brother, Arturo. The family was one of the beneficiaries of the Porfirio Díaz regime and they returned in the mid 1920s. Little is known of Montenegros childhood, one photo exists of him as a teenager in a park with Jorge Enciso and Luis Castillo Ledón. In interviews he only talked about things from this time such as going to buy pastry and admiring the colors. His education began at a school for boys where he had his first experience with drawing and this led to clashes with Italian Felix Bernardelli, who had a painting and music school in Guadalajara and introduced Montenegro to Art Nouveau. He arrived to Mexico City in 1903, sent by his father to study architecture, through his cousin Amado Nervo, he was able to meet many of the social elite of Mexico City including José Juan Tablada, Manuel de la Parra and Justo Sierra. From 1904 to 1906 he studied drawing and history at the Academy of San Carlos and his teachers included Leandro Izaguirre, Germán Gedovius and Alberto Fuster and his classmates were Diego Rivera, Ángel Zárraga, Francisco Goitia and Saturnino Herrán. He became familiar with Japanese art whose influence can be some of his illustrations for Revista Moderna. In 1906, he and Diego Rivera were finalists for a chance to go to Europe, the decision was made by coin toss with Montenegro winning. But Rivera would go months later, Montenegro was first in Madrid, studying at the Academy of San Fernando under engraver Ricardo Baroja. He became a fanatic of the Prado Museum studying the works of El Greco, Goya, from 1907 to 1910 he was in Paris where he had his first contact with Cubism, meeting Picasso, Georges Braque and Juan Gris. Despite this, he did not have a Cubist period in his work, for two years he studied in Paris as the student of Colin Cowrstuos and exhibited his work in the city. He also traveled to London and Italy, when World War I broke out in 1914, he moved to Barcelona then to Mallorca accompanied by a painter named Gandara, where he painted and also made a living fishing. He also met painter Hermen Anglada Camarasa there, Montenegro moved back to Mexico permanently in 1921. He kept a wide circle of friends that included writers, journalists, artists and he died in Pátzcuaro on October 13,1968. During his lifetime, Montenegro had good relationships with writers including José Juan Tablada
34.
Tlaloc
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For the fictional character from the Legends of Dune books, see Titan #Tlaloc. Tlaloc was part of the pantheon of gods in Aztec religion, as supreme god of the rain, Tlaloc was also by extension a god of earthly fertility and of water. Tlaloc is also associated with caves, springs, and mountains and his animal forms include herons and water-dwelling creatures such as amphibians, snails, and possibly sea creatures, particularly shellfish. The Mexican marigold, Tagetes lucida, known to the Aztecs as yauhtli, was another important symbol of the god, the cult of Tlaloc is one of the oldest and most universal in ancient Mexico. An underground Tlaloc shrine has been found at Teotihuacan, in Aztec cosmology, the four corners of the universe are marked by the four Tlalocs which both hold up the sky and function as the frame for the passing of time. Tlaloc was the patron of the Calendar day Mazātl, in Aztec mythology, Tlaloc was the lord of the third sun which was destroyed by fire. Additionally, Tlaloc is thought to be one of the deities of the trecena of 1 Quiahuitl. Trecenas are the thirteen-day periods into which the 260-day calendar is divided, the first day of each trecena dictates the augury, or omen, and the patron deity or deities associated with the trecena. In the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan, one of the two shrines on top of the Great Temple was dedicated to Tlaloc, the high priest who was in charge of the Tlaloc shrine was called Quetzalcoatl Tlaloc Tlamacazqui. It was the northernmost side of temple that was dedicated to Tlaloc. In this area, a bowl was kept in which sacrificial hearts placed on certain occasions, here the Aztec ruler came and conducted important ceremonies once a year, and throughout the year pilgrims offered precious stones and figures at the shrine. Many of the offerings found here also related to water and the sea, in Aztec iconography, Tlaloc is usually depicted with goggle eyes and fangs. He is most often coupled with lightning, maize, and water in visual representations and this differs from the Maya version of Tlaloc, however, as the Maya version shows no specific relation to jaguars. The inhabitants of Teotihuacan thought of thunder as the rumblings of the jaguar and it is likely that this god was given these associations because he is also known as the provider among the Aztecs. Offerings dedicated to Tlaloc in Tenochtitlan were known to include several jaguar skulls, jaguars were considered the ultimate sacrificial animal due to their value. Tlalocs impersonators often wore the mask and heron-feather headdress, usually carrying a cornstalk or a symbolic lightning bolt wand. Along with this, Tlaloc is manifested in the form of boulders at shrine-sites, in Coatlinchan, a colossal statue weighing 168 tons was found that was thought to represent Tlaloc. However, one believes that the statue may not have been Tlaloc at all
35.
Yautepec District
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Yautepec District is located in the east of the Sierra Sur Region of the State of Oaxaca, Mexico. The district lies in the end of the Sierra Madre del Sur and is mountainous. The temperature is temperate, warmer in the lower areas and cooler higher up. Trees include mahogany, cedar, oak, guanacaste and pine, mango, tamarind, plum, sapodilla, lemon, avocado and papaya fruits are grown. Wild fauna include boar, ocelots, snakes, mountain lion. Indigenous people include Zapotec, Mixe and Chontal, economic activities include agriculture, growing maize, sorghum, peanuts, beans, coffee and various fruits. Some cattle is raised, and villagers often raise goats, sheep, hunting and fishing are typically practiced on a small scale for personal consumption. There is some logging activity, and the wild maguey is harvested for its juice, the district includes the following municipalities, with population statistics as of 2005
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Oaxaca
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Oaxaca, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca, is one of the 31 states which, along with the Federal District, make up the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided into 570 municipalities, of which 418 are governed by the system of Usos y costumbres with recognized forms of self governance. Its capital city is Oaxaca de Juárez, Oaxaca is located in Southwestern Mexico. It is bordered by the states of Guerrero to the west, Puebla to the northwest, Veracruz to the north, to the south, Oaxaca has a significant coastline on the Pacific Ocean. The state is best known for its indigenous peoples and cultures, the most numerous and best known are the Zapotecs and the Mixtecs, but there are sixteen that are officially recognized. These cultures have survived better than most others in Mexico due to the states rugged, most live in the Central Valleys region, which is also an important area for tourism, attracting people for its archeological sites such as Monte Albán, native culture and crafts. Another important tourist area is the coast, which has the major resort of Huatulco, Oaxaca is also one of the most biologically diverse states in Mexico, ranking in the top three, along with Chiapas and Veracruz, for numbers of reptiles, amphibians, mammals and plants. The name of the state comes from the name of its capital city and this name comes from the Nahuatl word Huaxyacac, which refers to a tree called a guaje found around the capital city. The name was applied to the Valley of Oaxaca by Nahuatl-speaking Aztecs. The modern state was created in 1824, and the seal was designed by Alfredo Canseco Feraud. Nahuatl word Huaxyacac was transliterated as Oaxaca using Medieval Spanish orthography, in which the x represented the voiceless postalveolar fricative, however, during the sixteenth century the voiceless fricative sound evolved into a voiceless velar fricative, and Oaxaca began to be pronounced. Most of what is known about pre-historic Oaxaca comes from work in the Central Valleys region, evidence of human habitation dating back to about 11,000 years BC has been found in the Guilá Naquitz cave near the town of Mitla. More finds of nomadic peoples date back to about 5000 BC, by 2000 BC, agriculture had been established in the Central Valleys region of the state, with sedentary villages. The diet developed around this time would remain until the Spanish Conquest, consisting primarily of harvested corn, beans, chocolate, tomatoes, chili peppers, squash, meat was generally hunted and included tepescuintle, turkey, deer, peccary, armadillo and iguana. The oldest known settlements, such as Yanhuitlán and Laguna Zope are located in this area as well. The latter settlement is known for its small figures called pretty women or baby face, between 1200 and 900 BC, pottery was being produced in the area as well. This pottery has been linked with work done in La Victoria. Other important settlements from the time period include Tierras Largas, San José Mogote and Guadalupe
37.
Dr. Atl
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Gerardo Murillo Cornado was a Mexican painter and writer who signed his works Dr. Atl. He was born in Pihuamo, state of Jalisco, where he began the study of painting at an early age, at the age of 21, Murillo entered the Academy of San Carlos in Mexico City to further his studies. After showing his abilities, Murillo was granted a pension in 1897 by President Porfirio Díaz to study painting in Europe. There he broadened his scope of learning, with study of philosophy and law at the University of Rome and his strong interest in politics led him to collaborate with the Socialist Party in Italy and work in the Avanti newspaper. In 1902 he was baptized Dr. Atl by Leopoldo Lugones, Dr. Atl became very active in Mexico when he returned. He was also commissioned by the Diaz government to design a curtain for the Institute of Fine Arts under construction in Mexico City. The curtain featured the two volcanoes overlooking the capital and he was also commissioned to paint a mural, which was postponed by the eruption of the Mexican Revolution against Porfirio Díaz in 1910. In 1911, Dr. Atl returned to Europe, Dr. Atl supported the Constitutionalist faction in the Mexican Revolution, leaning towards biblical socialism and promoting the growth of art, literature, and science. When he returned from Europe, he joined the Constitutionalist forces led by Venustiano Carranza, during the Revolution, he persuaded two young art students, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros, to join the Carrancistas and illustrated La Vanguardia, the carrancista official paper. Dr. Atls strong love of the outdoors and his active nature are seen in his paintings which portray the landscapes of his era. Among his interests was the study of volcanoes, and he spent much time visiting both Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl, in his 1950 book, Cómo nace y crece un volcán, el Paricutín, he told of his experience of witnessing the eruption of Paricutín in 1943. He was injured while observing the eruption and his leg was amputated, besides painting volcanic landscapes, he was considered an expert volcanologist and his papers were valuable to understanding volcanos. His literary writings include Cuentos de todos los colores, which focuses on the themes of the Mexican Revolution and has been hailed as one of the best narrations of that historical period. His book La Perla inspired the writing of the novella, much the same and he gave the Nahuatl name Nahui Olin to Carmen Mondragón, a Mexican poet and painter with whom he established a very intense love relationship. Dr. Atl received numerous awards for his literature and art, including the Belisario Domínguez Medal of Honor, in 1956, in 1961 Alcoa Presents, One Step Beyond aired an episode based on an experience of Dr. Atl in 1920. The plot description states, On the run from the authorities, of course, Atl is too intelligent a man to believe in such nonsense—until the Federale who is pursuing him is mysteriously strangled to death. The real Dr. Atl makes a guest appearance in the closing scene and he died in Mexico City in 1964. He is buried in Panteon Civil de Dolores cemetery in the capital, bordan, Iain and Jane Rendell, eds
38.
Mexican art
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Mexican art consists of various visual arts that developed over the geographical area now known as Mexico. Mexican art is also filled most of the times with intricate patterns, during this time, all influences on art production were indigenous, with art heavily tied to religion and the ruling class. There was little to no distinction among art, architecture. After Independence, art remained heavily European in style, but indigenous themes appeared in works as liberal Mexico sought to distinguish itself from its Spanish colonial past. The first dominant Mesoamerican culture was that of the Olmecs, which peaked around 1200 BCE, the Olmecs originated much of what is associated with Mesoamerica, such as hieroglyphic writing, calendar, first advances in astronomy, monumental sculpture and jade work. They were a forerunner of later cultures such as Teotihuacan, north of Mexico City, the Zapotecs in Oaxaca, while empires rose and fell, the basic cultural underpinnings of the Mesoamerica stayed the same until the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire. These included cities centered on plazas, temples built on pyramid bases, Mesoamerican ball courts. While the art of Mesoamerica is more varied and extends over more time than anywhere else in the Americas, unlike modern Western art, almost all Mesoamerican art was created to serve religious or political needs, rather than art for art’s sake. It is strongly based on nature, the political reality. Octavio Paz states that Mesoamerican art is a logic of forms, lines and he goes on to state that this focus on space and time is highly distinct from European naturalism based on the representation of the human body. Even simple designs such as stepped frets on buildings fall into this representation of space and time, life, Art was expressed on a variety of mediums such as ceramics, amate paper and architecture. Most of what is known of Mesoamerican art comes from works that cover stone buildings and pottery, mostly paintings, ceramics date from the early the Mesoamerican period. They probably began as cooking and storage vessels but then were adapted to ritual, ceramics were decorated by shaping, scratching, painting and different firing methods. The earliest of these are female figures, probably associated with fertility rites because of their often oversized hips and thighs. When male figures appear they are most often soldiers, the production of these ceramic figures, which would later include animals and other forms, remained an important art form for 2000 years. In the early Olmec period most were small but large-scale ceramic sculptures were produced as large as 55 cm, after the middle pre-Classic, ceramic sculpture declined in the center of Mexico except in the Chupícuaro region. In the Mayan areas, the art disappears in the late pre-Classic, to reappear in the Classic, mostly in the form of whistles and other musical instruments. In a few areas, such as parts of Veracruz, the creation of ceramic figures continued uninterrupted until the Spanish conquest, Mesoamerican painting is found in various expressions—from murals, to the creation of codices and the painting of ceramic objects
