Art:
The Maya made magnificent art in paint, stone, jade, and pottery. All of Mayan art was deeply admired. Most art showed the lives of the Maya, mostly of the higher classes. They made jade masks, clay sculptures, etc. Jade masks were Maya’s specialty. The most commonly used materials were, stone, wood, plaster, paint, ceramic, jade, and shells.
The beautiful bright paintings of the Maya have faded over the years because of the humid atmosphere, but we can imagine what they would have looked like.
Mayan art ranged from giant sculptures and masks to tiny carved shell ornaments. They made exquisite works of jade, shell, and flint. Jade was the most precious mineral because the Mayans had minimal access to gold, unlike the Inca and the Aztecs. The most impressive art of the Maya were painted ceramics, (plates and cylindrical vases) scenes of courtly life like processions, dancing, rituals, etc.
Mayan artists usually signed their artwork using their signatures. Actually, most Mayan artists were members of royal families. They were usually the younger brothers or cousins to the king. Maya excelled at mural painting. The colors they used were mostly blue, green, red, orange, and brown.
Mayan artists were also experts at carving jade, a hard and awkward material. A more unusual material for Mayan artists to use was flint. By carefully chipping and flaking flint, it could be shaped into impressive works of art.
A lot of Mayan art had naturalistic portrayal, but artists did sometimes make what appeared to be solely decorative patterns. However, it is not known if the Mayans really made designs, because pure decoration was extremely weird to the Mayans.
Even though their designs are appreciated on an exclusively artistic level, their art alway contained a message. The messages could be easy to decipher, but others could be complex, repeated, and intertwined to form patterns of multi-layered, complex symbolism. Mayan art was beautiful and amazing, and was greatly admired all over Mesoamerica.
The Maya made magnificent art in paint, stone, jade, and pottery. All of Mayan art was deeply admired. Most art showed the lives of the Maya, mostly of the higher classes. They made jade masks, clay sculptures, etc. Jade masks were Maya’s specialty. The most commonly used materials were, stone, wood, plaster, paint, ceramic, jade, and shells.
The beautiful bright paintings of the Maya have faded over the years because of the humid atmosphere, but we can imagine what they would have looked like.
Mayan art ranged from giant sculptures and masks to tiny carved shell ornaments. They made exquisite works of jade, shell, and flint. Jade was the most precious mineral because the Mayans had minimal access to gold, unlike the Inca and the Aztecs. The most impressive art of the Maya were painted ceramics, (plates and cylindrical vases) scenes of courtly life like processions, dancing, rituals, etc.
Mayan artists usually signed their artwork using their signatures. Actually, most Mayan artists were members of royal families. They were usually the younger brothers or cousins to the king. Maya excelled at mural painting. The colors they used were mostly blue, green, red, orange, and brown.
Mayan artists were also experts at carving jade, a hard and awkward material. A more unusual material for Mayan artists to use was flint. By carefully chipping and flaking flint, it could be shaped into impressive works of art.
A lot of Mayan art had naturalistic portrayal, but artists did sometimes make what appeared to be solely decorative patterns. However, it is not known if the Mayans really made designs, because pure decoration was extremely weird to the Mayans.
Even though their designs are appreciated on an exclusively artistic level, their art alway contained a message. The messages could be easy to decipher, but others could be complex, repeated, and intertwined to form patterns of multi-layered, complex symbolism. Mayan art was beautiful and amazing, and was greatly admired all over Mesoamerica.