The Art Institute of Chicago

Female EffigyAuthor(s): Richard TownsendSource: Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies, Vol. 34, No. 1, Notable Acquisitions at theArt Institute of Chicago (2008), pp. 6-7Published by: The Art Institute of ChicagoStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20205561 .

Accessed: 14/06/2014 02:15

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

The Art Institute of Chicago is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Art Instituteof Chicago Museum Studies.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 185.44.78.129 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 02:15:38 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Female Effigy

C. 200 B.C.

Chupicuaro; Guanajuato or Michoac?n, Mexico Terracotta and pigmented slip; 44.8 x 20 x 8.7 cm

(17 5/8 x 7 7A x 3 V16 in.)

FREDERICK W. RENSHAW ACQUISITION FUND; RESTRICTED GIFT OF

CYNTHIA AND TERRY E. PERUCCA, JAMEE AND MARSHALL FIELD,

AND HELEN ZELL; EDWARD JOHNSON, GRANT J. PICK PURCHASE,

AND HENRY HORNER STRAUS MEMORIAL FUNDS; RESTRICTED

GIFT OF LYNN AND ALLEN TURNER; AFRICAN AND AMERINDIAN

CURATOR'S DISCRETIONARY FUND, 2007.348

A RARE WORK of art such as this female figurine, from a

time and place far different from ours, may sometimes strike

the eye in a way that brings to mind an almost familiar yet elusive sense of recognition?as if an essential memory were

already there, waiting to rise in the viewer's imagination. Our

approach to such objects can seldom rely on ancient written

records. We must begin by looking at the works themselves:

at their materials and modes of manufacture, and at shapes,

colors, patterns, and symbols. Archaeological contexts can

also offer vital information, and analogies may be drawn

from the cultural records of later societies in which ancient

customs and ways of perception have long persisted. This sculptural effigy belongs to the sophisticated

Chupicuaro artistic tradition, which was more concerned

with symbolic abstraction than naturalistic anatomical

proportion. The female figure stands in a formal frontal

pose, the oversize head set with staring, lozenge-shaped

eyes, the nose jutting forward above a receding chin, and the

open mouth showing rows of teeth. Subtly concave in the

middle, the trapezoidal torso abruptly swells in the bulbous

hips, belly, and thighs. The face and body are covered by

burnished, deep red slip, or liquid clay, which sets off a bold

pattern of cream zigzag lines; more delicate designs were

drawn across the cream-painted loins and thighs. There is

an uncanny visual quality to the hieratic stance, stylized

proportions, and brilliant designs, all of which reflect the

6

ritual body paint that Chupicuaro women would have worn

on high ceremonial occasions some two thousand years ago.

Located in Mexico's central highlands, the principal

archaeological site of Chupicuaro was on an island in the

Lerma River that was submerged by the waters of a dam

built in 1946 and 1947. In ancient times, trails along the

riverbanks were traveled by lines of porters bearing colorful

Chupicuaro pottery for trade with the growing metropolis of Teotihuac?n, far to the east in the Valley of Mexico. Yet

impressive Chupicuaro figures like this one were recovered

from the now-inundated homeland burial grounds. It is likely that this and several known related figures commemorated a

girl's coming of age, embodying a

perceived correspondence

between the stages of human life and the earth's annual

cycle of birth, death, and renewal. As burial offerings, these

effigies would have affirmed the matriarchal status of a

high-ranking, mature, and productive member of society,

recalling her initiation into womanhood and family life, and

her active participation in seasonal rites devoted to securing the fertility of the soil, the abundance of crops, and the well

being of the community from year to year.

RICHARD TOWNSEND

This content downloaded from 185.44.78.129 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 02:15:38 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

3

This content downloaded from 185.44.78.129 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 02:15:38 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions