Word: mayan
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...term "expressionistic" can be applied to any one of the Aztec pieces entitled "Standing Figure Of A Man" as well as to anything done in this century or the last. But there is a difference: the Aztec and Mayan works have innate expressionism whereas most works produced by contemporary men have a formal expressionism. The former arises from within and is neither a commentary nor judgment upon actual people or events; the latter, that which is prevalent in some circles today, carries with it the personal condemnation or approbation of the artist concerning everything imaginable, and this opinion is imposed...
...genius of the Mayan and Aztec artists cannot be refuted when one brings to mind the finely wrought gold articles, the sensitively constructed miniature animals, and the suitability of the material used for the object created. This early art is sturdy, grotesque, and static. Yet it contains a certain animating power which is so subtly interwoven with the actual material that its effect is tenacious and clinging rather than sudden. There is in it a silent sort of tension which is capable of producing a response within the mind of the spectator, a response which is only communicable by means...