Maya Masterpieces at the Kimbell: Why you’ll likely never see these rare works again

Lindsey Wilson·
ArtDallas/Ft Worth
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The term “once in a lifetime” gets thrown around a lot, but it is entirely accurate in the case of Lives of the Gods: Divinity in Maya Art  at the Kimbell Art Museum. On view through Sept. 3, 2023, the exhibition features nearly 100 rarely seen pieces from the Classic period (A.D. 250–900). Co-organized with The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (where it spent six months before traveling to Fort Worth), “Lives of the Gods” features masterpieces lent from major museum collections in Europe, the United States, and Latin America, including 17 new discoveries from Palenque (Mexico) and El Zotz (Guatemala). Approximately 50 of the works have never been seen before in the U.S.

“Getting works from Mexico and Guatemala is not easy, and it’s becoming very difficult to mount exhibitions like this,” says Jennifer Casler Price, curator for Asian and non-Western art at the Kimbell, and co-curator of this show with The Met’s James Doyle. “If you don’t see it here, you might have to go to Mexico and Guatemala to see some of these works.”

The Kimbell has a long history of presenting major Maya exhibitions, from “The Blood of Kings: Dynasty and Ritual in Maya Art” in 1986 to “Fiery Pool: The Maya and the Mythic Sea” in 2010. But as Price points out, it’s been more than a decade since the museum has been able to feature its 20 or so pieces in such a significant way.

“In the last five or ten years, scholars in the field have begun to ID artists’ names, either painted or carved onto the artworks,” Price says. “This exhibition features seven works where we know the artist’s name or can see artist attribution. That’s huge. What that tells us is these artists were recognized in their own time, when they were creating, and were considered high in status. Some signatures also include the ruler’s name, showing a connection between artist and patronage.”

The ancient Maya believed that gods endured a life cycle, just as we do, and creatively depicted the origins of the sun, the moon, maize, and royal dynasties in monumental sculpture as well as in delicate ornaments and ceramics. This show opens with the massive Stela 51, a 10-foot-tall slab of solid limestone discovered in the Calakmul municipality that’s carved to show a lavishly dressed royal. It was more or less permanently installed at the Museo Nacional de Antropología in Mexico before this exhibition, so Price says she can “almost guarantee it will never travel again.”

Another impressive piece is a carved wooden lintel on loan from Basel, Switzerland, that relays the story of a rivalry between two kingdoms. “Wood Is very, very rare to have survived, and I think only three lintels have come from this site,” says Price. “Not everyone would have seen these at the top of the temple, so it’s amazing that we all get to see them now.”

Along with these immense pieces, there are also works of carved jade, shell, and incised bone. “Jade is a precious stone in the Maya world, and these expertly crafted pieces would have been worn by royalty,” notes Price. A set of five ceramic lidded vessels (“think casserole dishes,” Price laughs) were recovered from a royal tomb at the El Zotz excavation site, and Price calls them some of the most imaginative pieces in the exhibition. Heads of animals, such as howler monkeys and a mythological turtle, function as the knobs, and one vessel was discovered with quail bones still in it.

“I call this Maya 101, as there’s something for everyone,” says Price. In that spirit of inclusivity, all labels and text panels in the exhibition are presented in English, Spanish, and Pech, a native Maya language. “The Maya still exist—we have to remember that,” Price says. Another nod to living culture is an 18-minute film made by Ricky Lopez Bruni that runs continuously in the downstairs viewing room. The video shows the Dance of the Macaws, a mythical story that explains the origins of social institutions and the rationale for religious rituals dedicated to the gods of the earth and the mountains. These young dancers in Santa Cruz Verapaz, Guatemala, tell through movement what’s shown on the ceramic vessels displayed in the exhibition, with narration in the Poqomchi’ Maya language.

“We are so thrilled to be presenting this exhibition here at the Kimbell and continue with this tradition of presenting examples of Maya art that represent real breakthroughs in the field,” says Price. “Across the board, no matter whether you’re looking at little carved jade ornaments or tremendous wooden panels, it’s all on the highest level of technical and artistic achievement.”

—LINDSEY WILSON

Lindsey Wilson

Lindsey Wilson is a Dallas-based arts writer and critic with a journalism master's from Syracuse University and an undying love for chips and salsa. When not at the theater (which is rare), she enjoys reading, playing with her dogs, and traveling. Photo by Jeffrey Hummel.