Mayan textile show a triple treat – ‘Arte Textil Maya’ a stunner at Mexican museum – Chicago

“Casual visitors to the National Museum of Mexican Arts new exhibition, “Arte Textil Maya: Collections of the Centro de Textiles del Mundo Maya,” might be forgiven for expecting a display of ancient artifacts from before the Spanish conquest of Mexico in the 16th century. The Mayan culture, as viewers of the recent film “Apocalypto” might assume, is a lost world, a thing of the past, right?

Not exactly. As this gorgeous show of mostly 20th century textiles triumphantly demonstrates, the indigenous Maya people of southwestern Mexico and Guatemala are maintaining and extending their centuries-old artistic traditions to this day. Other than a few charred fragments, pre-Hispanic Mayan textiles are essentially nonexistent, but their dazzling patterns, cosmological symbols and vivid colors live on in tapestries, blouses, tunics, shawls and ceremonial garments made by contemporary Maya artisans who have literally and figuratively taken up the mantle of their ancestors.”

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