Enchanted: Visual Histories of the Central Andes at The Menil Collection

 

Javier Silva Meinel, The Three Windows, Machu Picchu, 2003-6. Digital scan from original negative. Courtesy of the artist.

 
 

Enchanted

Visual Histories of the Central Andes

July 30, 2021 — November 14, 2021

 

Enchanted: Visual Histories of the Central Andes presents a window into a captivating, multifaceted world with the Menil’s first display of archaeological material and post-16th century examples of visual culture from the Peruvian Andes.

The exhibition explores the imagery of pre-Hispanic textiles and ceramic vessels, colonial-era ceremonial works and religious painting, and elaborate 20th-century festival dress in the museum’s permanent collection and on loan from the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

It also highlights a group of recently conserved photographs by Pierre Verger (1902–1996), who gifted John and Dominique de Menil two portfolios of nearly two-hundred original gelatin silver prints from his trips through the Central Andes. After meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1941, the de Menils supported Verger’s ambition to photograph the fusion of indigenous traditions and Catholicism represented by the different religious festivals and pilgrimages in the Andes. Their support culminated in Verger’s first major publication Fiestas y Danzas en el Cusco y en los Andes (1945). On view for the first time at the Menil, Verger’s photographs picture the drama and dynamism of these seasonal events: packed celebratory crowds, evocative moments of regional dances, and portraits of festival characters wearing knitted masks, hats, and embroidered capes similar to those presented in the exhibition.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Exhibition Preview

 

Pierre Verger
Untitled (The Qhapaq Qolla, Fiesta de la Virgen del Carmen, Paucartambo, Cuzco, Peru), 1939-1945
Gelatin silver print
8 × 7 1/4 in. (20.3 × 18.4 cm)
The Menil Collection, Houston 2021-5.1.83

Pierre Verger
Untitled (The Royal Tomb, Machu Picchu), 1939-1945 Gelatin silver print
Image: 7 7/8 × 7 1/4 in. (20.1 × 18.4 cm)
Sheet: 9 1/2 × 7 1/4 in. (24.1 × 18.4 cm)
The Menil Collection, Houston
2021-5.2.22

Martín Chambi, Totora-reed Boat in Titicaca Lake, Puna, ca. 1924-1928. Gelatin silver print, 9 1/2 x 7 1/8 in. (24 x 18 cm). Courtesy of the Jan Mulder Collection.

Horacio Ochoa, Inti Raymi, Festival of the Sun, Sacsayhuamán, Cuzco, Peru, ca. 1945. Digital scan from original negative. Collection of Adelma Benavente.

Martín Chambi, Panorama of Machu Picchu, ca. 1924.
Gelatin silver prints, 18 x 48 cm (7 1/8x 18 ¾ in.).
Courtesy of the Jan Mulder Collection

Pierre Verger
Untitled (Stone Wall of Sacsayhuamán, Cuzco, Peru), 1939-1945 Gelatin silver print
7 1/4 × 9 1/2 in. (18.4 × 24.1 cm)
The Menil Collection, Houston
2021-5.2.15

Pierre Verger.
Untitled (A crowd of perspiring Indian bearers, Fiesta de San Santiago, Cuzco, Peru), 1939–45.
Digital scan from original negative.
Courtesy of Fundação Pierre Verger, PVF 37869

Pierre Verger, Untitled (Quenachos with Their Battle-Dress of Tiger Skins Dancing, Fiesta de San Pedro, Tiwanaku, Bolivia), 1939–45. Digital scan of original negative. Courtesy of the Pierre Verger Foundation, PVF 23728

Julio Cordero, Aymara Man and Llama, Copacabana, Bolivia, ca. 1920. Digital scan from original negative. Courtesy of Peter Yenne.

Pierre Verger
Untitled (The Qhapaq Qolla, Fiesta de la Virgen del Carmen, Paucartambo, Cuzco, Peru), 1939-1945
Gelatin silver print
8 × 7 1/4 in. (20.3 × 18.4 cm)
The Menil Collection, Houston 2021-5.1.85

Pierre Verger
Untitled (Devils with Long and Sharply Pointed Horns like Sabers, Fiesta de San Pedro, Ichu, Puno, Peru), 1939-1945
Gelatin silver print
8 × 7 1/4 in. (20.3 × 18.4 cm)
The Menil Collection, Houston 2021-5.1.11

 

Drinking Cup (Kero) in the Form of Head, Possibly Representing a Person from the Forest (Anti or Chuncho), late 15th-18th century
Quechua
Colonial Period
Peru
Wood, natural resin, and pigments
8 1/4 × 6 3/8 × 7 3/8 in. (21 × 16.2 × 18.7 cm)
The Menil Collection, Houston 1974-021 DJ

Textile Fragment Depicting Male Figure, Plants, and Monkeys, ca. 1400–1460 Chimú
Late Intermediate Period
Peru
Camelid fiber and cotton
9 5/8 × 7 1/4 in. (24.4 × 18.4 cm) The Menil Collection, Houston
X 2122

Waisted Cup (Kero) Depicting Two Musicians and Floral Elements, late 15th-mid 18th century
Quechua
Colonial Period
Peru
Wood, natural resin, and pigments
5 3/4 × 5 3/8 × 5 1/4 in. (14.6 × 13.7 × 13.3 cm)
The Menil Collection, Houston 1974-020 DJ

Shirt or Tunic (Unku) Reconstructed from Textile Fragments, ca. 600-1100 Wari
Middle Horizon
Peru, South Coast
Camelid fiber and cotton
38 × 42 1/2 in. (96.5 × 108 cm)
The Menil Collection, Houston X 2038

Textile Fragment Depicting Captives (known as the Chimú Prisoner Textile), ca. 1200-1290
Chimú
Late Intermediate Period
Peru, Central Coast, Huarmey
Cotton with natural red, ocher, green, and blue dyes 73 7/8 × 125 7/8 in. (187.7 × 319.8 cm)
The Menil Collection, Houston
X 2037

Mantle or Hanging Panel, 600-900
Wari
Middle Horizon
Peru, probably Corral Redondo
Feathers, cotton, and camelid textile
27 1/4 × 80 3/8 in. (69.2 × 204.2 cm)
The Menil Collection, Houston 1966-38 DJ

Polychrome Round Bottom Vessel Depicting Fish, Possibly Sardines, 100-800
Nazca style
Early Intermediate Period
Peru, South Coast
Ceramic and slip paint
3 7/8 × 5 1/4 × 5 1/4 in. (9.9 × 13.3 × 13.3 cm)
The Menil Collection, Houston, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. J. J. Klejman 1968-24