1973.17 Mask (Olmec, Mexico, Veracruz) | DMA Staging Content Management System

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

The vast Mesoamerican culture area encompasses most of what is today central and southeastern Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize, and the western areas of Honduras and El Salvador. Its first highly developed civilization, the Olmec, built Mesoamerica's earliest planned ceremonial centers and, through colossal stone heads and figural sculpture, established a tradition of portraiture. This life‑size mask is one of a number recovered from Rio Pesquero, Veracruz, after fishermen discovered hundreds of Olmec jade and serpentine objects there, underwater, in the late 1960s. The quantity and quality of the ritually cached objects, together with nearby evidence of ceremonial architecture and monumental sculpture, suggest that Rio Pesquero was an important Olmec shrine from about 900 to 500 BCE.

Many objects from the site, including the Dallas Museum of Art's mask, have an altered surface color, which may indicate that they were burned, possibly in ritual cremation. The mottled white of the museum's mask represents such altered color. The Arroyo Pesquero masks represent predominantly human faces. With pierced eyes and holes at the top and sides, they could have been worn by living men. Western cultures tend to think of masks as obscuring the real face. But for Mesoamerican peoples, masks have always revealed the true inner being of an individual. Masks worn by living people often showed their supernatural forms. Masks worn by deceased rulers preserved for eternity their human form.

Adapted from

Bonnie Pitman, ed., "Olmec Mask (1973.17)," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), 36.
Carol Robbins, "Olmec Mask (1973.17)," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, ed. Suzanne Kotz (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, 1997), 182.
Carol Robbins, Label text, A. H. Meadows Galleries, 2010.

NOTES

Olmec, Middle Formative period, 900–500 B.C.E., updated by KJones in TMS on 06/19/14, 03/14/16, and 03/21/16.
Label text in TMS does not match wall label in galleries.

Catalogue essays

A Gift of Ancient Art from Mexico

Artist/designers

Cultures

Olmec

Pre-Columbian (American): AAT: 300016619

Gulf Coast Mesoamerican styles: AAT: 300108063

Olmec: AAT: 300017051

Geography

Veracruz (state): TGN: 7005599

Mexico (nation): TGN: 7005560

Las Choapas (Veracruz): TGN: 1017741

Río Pesquero (Arroyo Pesquero / river / region): DMA

Process/materials

Olmec Jade and Greenstone

jadeite (mineral): AAT: 300011121

carving: AAT: 300053149

polishing (finishing): AAT: 300053867

drillwork (sculpture technique): AAT: 300186211

Historical periods

Middle Preclassic Period (Formative): AAT: 300016973

Late Preclassic Period (Formative): AAT: 300016976

Preclassic (Archaic / Formative / Mesoamerican period): AAT: 300016967

Formative Period (Preclassic): AAT: 300016973

Individuals

Subject terms

Olmec Masks

masks (costume): AAT: 300138758

funerary objects: AAT: 300234126

supernatural (concepts): AAT: 300055947

green (color): AAT: 300128438

RELATED OBJECTS

PROVENANCE

n.d: Dr. and Sra. Josué Sáenz, Mexico, D.F. [1], [2]

Until 1973: Edward H. Merrin Gallery, Inc. [1], [2]

From 1973: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene McDermott and The Eugene McDermott Foundation and Mr. and Mrs. Algur H. Meadows and the Meadows Foundation, Incorporated, purchased from the above [1], [2], [3]

[1] The main source for this provenance is Object Worksheet (n.d., copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.

[2] The main source for this provenance is Acquisition Record (dated March 13, 1973, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.

[3] The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.

AUDIO ASSETS

VIDEO ASSETS

12937054: UMO. Curator Carol Robbins discusses this mask.

IMAGE ASSETS

WEB RESOURCES

ARCHIVAL RESOURCES

Exhibition - Publications Department. ID: 02/04. Box 16: Centennial Publication, Box 1. Folder 30: 30. Gulf Coast Olmec Mask (1973.17) and the Pre-Columbian Collection - Carol Robbins.
Exhibition - Publications Department. ID: 02/04. Box 18: Centennial Publication, Box 3. Folder 30: 30. Gulf Coast Olmec Mask (1973.17) and the Pre-Columbian Collection.

FUN FACTS

TEACHING IDEAS

TI Olmec Mask

RULES

Apply to objects where number equals 1973.17

General Description

The vast Mesoamerican culture area encompasses most of what is today central and southeastern Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize, and the western areas of Honduras and El Salvador. Its first highly developed civilization, the Olmec, built Mesoamerica's earliest planned ceremonial centers and, through colossal stone heads and figural sculpture, established a tradition of portraiture. This life‑size mask is one of a number recovered from Rio Pesquero, Veracruz, after fishermen discovered hundreds of Olmec jade and serpentine objects there, underwater, in the late 1960s. The quantity and quality of the ritually cached objects, together with nearby evidence of ceremonial architecture and monumental sculpture, suggest that Rio Pesquero was an important Olmec shrine from about 900 to 500 BCE.

Many objects from the site, including the Dallas Museum of Art's mask, have an altered surface color, which may indicate that they were burned, possibly in ritual cremation. The mottled white of the museum's mask represents such altered color. The Arroyo Pesquero masks represent predominantly human faces. With pierced eyes and holes at the top and sides, they could have been worn by living men. Western cultures tend to think of masks as obscuring the real face. But for Mesoamerican peoples, masks have always revealed the true inner being of an individual. Masks worn by living people often showed their supernatural forms. Masks worn by deceased rulers preserved for eternity their human form.