Mayan Art Essay

The Mayan culture is known for many things, but one important aspect of the culture that many people over look is the artwork created by this great civilization. The art of the Maya, as with every civilization, is a reflection of their lifestyle and culture. Their artwork often consisted of painting upon paper and plaster, as well as carvings in wood obsidian, bone, shells, jade ,stone, and clay. The process of metal working was also used and highly developed, but since resources were scarce, they only created small ornaments in this with this method.
A very popular form of art in the Mayan culture was the stela. Stelas are large stone slabs covered with carvings. The process to create one is quite astonishing. The Maya would somehow transported enormous stones through the jungle without any aid of either wheeled carts or animals. Artists would then use primitive stone tools to engrave intricate carvings before raising the sculptures to their correct positions. The largest Mayan stela weighs about 65 tons and stretches 10.5 meters in length. Many stelas would depict the rulers of

This form of Mayan art gave almost free reign to the artist, who was not required to produce a product that represented the culture in any way. This encouragement of individuality from one artist to another, allowed the products to be given or sold to the royalty of other cities. This principal seems to have been on artistic quality rather than adherence to standardized forms. Furthermore, like Greek and Chinese artists, Mayan painters and sculptors often signed their work for in Mayan culture one’s art was not a "cultural product" or a "city's product" but the artists product. Mayan artists excelled in all aspects of ceramics, including Flasks, Incense burners, burial Urns and articulated