Ancient Maya Art at Dumbarton Oaks Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection | Washington, D.C

Pre-Columbian Art at Dumbarton Oaks, Number 4

Ancient Maya Art at Dumbarton Oaks dumbarton oaks research library and collection | washington, d.c. Pre-Columbian Art at Dumbarton Oaks, Number 4

Ancient Maya Art at Dumbarton Oaks

j o a n n e p i l l s bu r y, m i r i a m d o u t r i a u x , r e i ko i s h i h a r a - b r i t o, a n d a l e x a n d r e t o kov i n i n e e d i t o r s

With additional contributions by b a r b a r a a r r oyo, r o n a l d l . b i s h o p, o s w a l d o c h i n c h i l l a m a z a r i e g o s , j o h n e . c l a r k , b a r b a r a w. f a s h , v i r g i n i a m . fi e l d s , s t e p h e n d . h o u s t o n , s i m o n m a r t i n , f r e d w. n e l s o n , m e g a n e . o ’ n e i l , d o r i e r e e n t s - bu d e t , k a r l a . t a u b e , g e n e l . t i t mu s , l o a p. t r a x l e r,

a n d a d r i á n ve l á z q u e z c a s t r o

dumbarton oaks research library and collection | washington, d.c. This publication was made possible in part by a gift from the estates of Milton L. and Muriel F. Shurr.

Ancient Maya art at Dumbarton Oaks / Joanne Pillsbury . . . [et al.], editors. p. cm. — (Pre-Columbian art at Dumbarton Oaks ; no. 4) Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-88402-375-3 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Maya art. 2. Maya art—Catalogs. 3. Robert Woods Bliss Collection of Pre-Columbian Art—Catalogs. 4. Dumbarton Oaks—Catalogs. I. Pillsbury, Joanne. II. Dumbarton Oaks. f1435.3.a7a63 2012 709.72—dc23 2011025025

General editor: joanne pillsbury Art director: kathleen sparkes Design and composition: melissa tandysh Managing editor: sara taylor

Jacket illustration: Carved Head, volcanic tuff, Structure 22, Copan, pc.b.146 www.doaks.org/publications Incidents of Travel

Robert Woods Bliss and the Creation of the Maya Collection at Dumbarton Oaks

j o a n n e p i l l s bu r y a n d m i r i a m d o u t r i a u x n 1935, robert woods bliss set out President-elect Herbert Hoover to visit Buenos on an expeditionary trip through the high- Aires as part of his seven-week goodwill tour of lands and tropics of Mexico, Guatemala, Latin America (Figure 3). Well read, well con- Iand Honduras. Recently retired from diplomatic nected, congenial, and observant, Bliss was service, he was eager to satisfy a long-deferred lauded as “a great Ambassador among us” by desire to see the remains of ancient Maya cit- the Argentine press when he stepped down ies. The journey crystallized a dedication to the as ambassador in 1933 (Benson 1993:19; Cairns figure 3 study of the ancient Americas that would ulti- 1963:5). His writings at the time demonstrate Robert Woods Bliss mately take shape as one of the finest collec- that he possessed a nuanced understanding of (third from left), tions of Pre-Columbian art in the United States. Latin American societal dynamics and an acute President-elect Bliss and his wife, Mildred, gave this collection sense of hemispheric politics (Bliss 1930, 1935). Herbert Hoover and their Washington, D.C., home, Dumbarton Although this was due in part to the exigen- (fourth from left), and Oaks, to Harvard University as a center for cies of his diplomatic postings, his knowledge Argentine president humanistic research in 1940 (Carder 2010). of Latin America was equally shaped by a long- Hipólito Yrigoyen Robert Bliss’s initial engagement with Latin standing and deep-seated personal interest in (center), Buenos Aires, America was the result of his diplomatic post- the region. December 1928. Papers ings to Puerto Rico (1900–1903) and Argentina Bliss and his wife took advantage of his first of Robert Woods Bliss (1909–1912). He honed his Spanish-language Argentine posting in 1909 to make an adventur- and Mildred Barnes Bliss, ca. 1860–1969, skills and became familiar with the region’s ous voyage of discovery through Central and hugfp 76.74p, box 15, history, cultures, and politics. In 1927, he was South America. Rather than traveling directly Harvard University appointed U.S. ambassador to Argentina, and, by ship southward along the east coast of Archives. in the following year, he was able to persuade South America to Buenos Aires, they crossed

2 Ancient Maya Art At Dumbarton Oaks the Isthmus of Panama, sailing down the west D.C. (now the headquarters of the Organization coast of South America, calling at Lima, Iquique, of American States) (Phillips 2007).4 In New and other ports, and finally disembarking at York, George Heye established the Museum of Valparaíso.1 After a stay in Santiago, they crossed the American Indian in the 1910s, supporting the Andes into Argentina, possibly taking advan- field research and assembling a massive Native tage of the Trans-Andean Railway that opened American and Pre-Columbian collection. Pre- to the public the following year.2 The trip intro- Columbian objects and casts were also on view duced them to a diversity of landscapes, commu- at the American Museum of Natural History in nities, and social practices. New York; the Field Columbian Museum (now After his first diplomatic posting to Argen the Field Museum) in Chicago; the Peabody tina, Bliss was appointed secretary and counselor Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, at the U.S. Embassy in Paris, and it was there that Harvard University; the U.S. National Museum he first became aware of Pre-Columbian art. (now the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Around 1912, his good friend and advisor Royall Natural History) in Washington, D.C.; and else- Tyler alerted him to some unusual objects from where (Fane 1993; Fash 2004). Mexico and Peru in the shop of the antiquaire Although Pre-Columbian material culture Joseph Brummer (Benson 1993:18; Bliss 1957:7; achieved a greater visual presence in the early Boone 1996:4; Carder 2010; Jones 2010b).3 Bliss decades of the twentieth century, the aesthetic purchased several of these pieces over the next and artistic importance of Pre-Columbian two years and later wrote of having caught the objects remained a subject of debate (Benson “collector’s microbe” at this time. Yet more than 1993; Boone 1996; Braun 1993; Jones 2010b; Kubler two decades would pass before he traveled to the 1991). Only a few decades before, the explorer Maya region and, upon his return, began collect- and photographer Désiré Charnay (1887:376) ing Pre-Columbian art in earnest. noted that, while Maya architecture was impressive, Maya ceramics were of no value as works of art. At the time, ceramics were recognized as Pre-Columbian Art and the Public Eye fundamental to the development of typologies There was a growing interest in things Pre- in archaeology but were usually not viewed as Columbian in both Europe and the United works of art in themselves (Miller 1989a). Other States during the early decades of the twenti- forms of Maya art, such as sculpture and manu- eth century. In the United States, the civiliza- scripts, were accepted more readily. During this tions of the ancient Americas were brought to time, Pre-Columbian sculpture in Europe and a broader public prominence through world’s the United States was, with a few exceptions, fairs and expositions, such as the 1884–1885 most often displayed in the context of private World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial collections and emerging natural history muse- Exposition in New Orleans; the 1893 World’s ums.5 Displays of Pre-Columbian objects in Columbian Exposition in Chicago; the 1904 museums, such as the Musée d’Ethnographie Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis; the du Trocadéro in Paris, were often a sorry affair, 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in with many objects jumbled together in dimly lit, San Francisco; and the 1915 Panama-California dusty, and unheated spaces (Boone 1993:331). Exposition in San Diego (Gonzalez 2011; Tenorio- It was principally in the wake of artists’ Trillo 1996). Photographs of Pre-Columbian interest in Pre-Columbian sculpture that ancient ruins, antiquities, and casts of sculptures and American objects began to be considered as buildings introduced a striking new visual world art. Writers such as Roger Fry and Guillaume to the American public, and these exhibitions Apollinaire praised the complexity and power- helped fuel a vogue for a Pre-Columbian aes- ful forms of Pre-Columbian works (Braun 1993; thetic that was discernible in the fine arts, dance, Jones 2010b:55). As interest in modern art grew, and architecture of the United States (Braun so did interest in some of its sources, and as a 1993). Pre-Columbian motifs, particularly Maya- result, Pre-Columbian art began to be displayed derived designs, were integrated into both public with greater regularity in art museums in Europe and private architecture, including the 1908–1910 and the United States.6 In 1920, Royall Tyler lent Pan American Union building in Washington an object to an exhibition of Pre-Columbian

Incidents Of Travel 3 art at the Burlington Fine Arts Club in London, “their extraordinary mastery of the carver’s art” where Fry’s study, Vision and Design, which in (Cahill 1933:10–11; see also pc.b.146, Plate 6). A cluded a chapter on ancient American art, had canon of masterpieces of Maya art was begin- just been published (Burlington Fine Arts Club ning to be formed. 1920; Fry 1920; Jones 2010b:59). By 1927, the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University devoted one gallery to Maya art loaned by the Peabody Archaeological Research Museum (Cahill 1933:21; Peabody Museum of While art history was still a relatively young dis- Archaeology and Ethnology 1940). cipline in the United States in the early twen- In 1928, Ernest Brummer, brother of anti- tieth century,7 the fields of archaeology and quarian Joseph Brummer, prepared a survey of anthropology were active and strong. Begin Pre-Columbian art with Adolphe Basler (Basler ning in 1929, the Blisses supported several and Brummer 1928) and gave an inscribed copy fieldwork projects, including excavations at to Mildred Bliss. As with earlier studies of Antioch. They also funded expeditions to Asia ancient American art and architecture, the vol- and smaller ventures in the Americas (Younger ume, L’art précolombien, was filled with compari- and Quilter 2001).8 sons to other ancient civilizations. The Maya In Maya studies, the challenge for early twen- were the Greeks, and the Aztecs the Romans, of tieth-century archaeologists was to reconcile the New World. Maya art was praised for its nar- findings at the ruins in Mexico, Guatemala, and rative qualities, even though the authors noted Honduras with the new understandings of Maya that the Maya sculptor was a slave to “ritual antiquity based on texts. Ernst Förstemann, convention” (Basler and Brummer 1928:32). The Eduard Seler, and others had made strides in book’s 190 plates include photographs of monu- reading Maya glyphs, particularly in understand- ments, small jades, and ceramic vessels. ing the numerical system. Knowledge of archae- In Paris, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs orga- ological sites, however, was still based largely nized the exhibition Arts anciens de l’Amérique at on the occasional reports of much earlier trav- the Musée du Louvre in 1928. The exhibition of elers, including the immensely popular Incidents approximately 1,246 objects from Alaska, Canada, of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan Mexico, Central America, and South America (1841) and Incidents of Travel in Yucatan (1843) by included loans from the Musée d’Ethnographie the American diplomat John Lloyd Stephens. du Trocadéro and other public museums in These volumes documented several important France; private collections throughout Europe Maya sites with vivid descriptions of the author’s (including that of Marcel Mauss [Musée des Arts discoveries and experiences as well as detailed Décoratifs 1928:cat. no. 269]); and the Museo engravings based on Frederick Catherwood’s Nacional de Arqueología, Historia y Etnografía field drawings. Stephens was among the first to in Mexico. Three objects were loaned by Royall assert that the great Maya centers were built not Tyler and his wife, Elisina (Musée des Arts by the “lost tribes of Israel” or other nonindige- Décoratifs 1928:cat. nos. 478, 727, 730). nous groups but by the ancestors of the current In 1933, a smaller exhibition of Pre-Columbian populations of the area. The development of art was organized at the Museum of Modern photography around the same time also encour- Art, New York. The exhibition included 233 Pre- aged a growing interest in Pre-Columbian ruins Columbian objects and thirty-three works by (Pillsbury 2012). Later systematic explorations contemporary artists, such as Jean Charlot, Diego by Alfred Maudslay (1889–1902) and Teobert Rivera, David Alfaro Siquieros, Max Weber, and Maler (1901, 1908, 1911) set new standards for William Zorach. The catalogue, first published the documentation of Maya monuments and as American Sources of Modern Art, was repub- architecture. lished later that year with the title Aztec, Incan At the turn of the twentieth century, archae- and Mayan Art (Cahill 1933). Holger Cahill’s essay ological fieldwork still lagged behind epigraphic in the catalogue extols the virtues of Maya art, studies, although a few archaeologists were noting that the highest development of sculpture beginning to generate a more systematic knowl- in the round could be found at Copan. A head of edge of the region’s ancient history. The Peabody a maize god lent by the Peabody Museum reveals Museum’s large-scale excavations at Copan in

4 Ancient Maya Art At Dumbarton Oaks the 1890s began to shed light on the occupation development, and decline of Uaxactun and, by of that site. Other field projects were conducted extension, Classic Maya culture. Chichen Itza, in the first two decades of the twentieth century, on the other hand, was seen as embodying most concerned primarily with description and the later “New Empire”; the institution’s work chronology. From 1904 to 1910, E. H. Thompson focused on understanding the site’s chronology dredged the cenote at Chichen Itza and explored a and function, as well as on the reconstruction of number of other ruins, including those at Labna. some of its principal buildings (Weeks and Hill Edgar Hewett and Sylvanus G. Morley excavated 2006:10; William Ringle, personal communica- at Quirigua, Raymond Merwin at Holmul, and tion, 2010). Alfred Tozzer at Tikal and Nakum (Weeks and The 1920s were a period of innovation in Hill 2006:6; Willey and Sabloff 1980:62). Maya studies (Weeks and Hill 2006:12). Archae In 1909, Herbert Spinden completed his the- ological investigations were becoming more sis in anthropology at Harvard University; it multidisciplinary, and—particularly under the was later published as A Study of Maya Art: Its direction of Alfred V. Kidder—the investiga- Subject Matter and Historical Development (1913). tions of the Carnegie Institution of Washington Spinden’s work benefited from recent decipher- became more broadly anthropological, incor- ments of some Maya glyphs and correlations porating findings from ethnology, geography, of Maya dates with the Christian calendar— geology, linguistics, and other social and environ- figure 4 both of which allowed for the development of mental sciences. Charles Lindbergh’s flights over Robert Woods Bliss a seriation, or sequence, of monuments.9 His the Yucatan Peninsula in 1929 helped launch the on the banks of the Copan River, March studies reflected—and helped change—the per- institution’s use of aerial photography in archae- 20, 1935. pcpfa, ception of Maya art. In his 1917 handbook of ology, thus fostering a greater understanding pc.rwb.1935.154, the Mexican and Central American collections of landscapes and relationships between sites. Dumbarton Oaks of the American Museum of Natural History, Excitement over these developments no doubt Research Library Spinden (1917:65) noted that “artists are every- encouraged an already enthusiastic Robert Bliss and Collection. where of the opinion that the sculptures and other products of the Mayas deserve to rank among the highest art products of the world.” He inscribed a copy of the handbook to Robert Bliss “with the warm appreciation of Herbert Joseph Spinden.” The pace of archaeological investigation began to change in 1914, when the Carnegie Institution of Washington embarked on an ambitious, long-term program in Middle Ameri can archaeology. Rather than focusing on individual sites and chronologies, the institution’s projects attempted to synthesize a cultural history for the broader Maya region. Not surprisingly, they concentrated on larger, more important sites (such as Copan and Quirigua) as well as on two sites believed to represent different ends of the chronological spectrum of Maya civilization. Uaxactun, a site in the department of Peten, Guatemala, was associated with the “Old Empire” due to the presence of one of the oldest dated monuments, Stela 9. Its long occupational history allowed archaeologists to track the rise and fall of a Classic Maya site. By trenching monuments and stripping down the “onion-skin” sequential layers of a building, archaeologists could reveal the growth,

Incidents Of Travel 5 to undertake one of the most rugged travel experiences of his lifetime.

Bliss Travels in the Maya Region Fascinated by what he had heard and read, Bliss set out on a two-month journey to the Maya heartland in 1935. As he wrote in his travel diary, “the mystery of Mayan civilization had for years appealed strongly to my imagination. In spare moments, a book by Morley, Gann or Spinden aroused a determination to see the great carved temples and strange stelae of Yucatan and Guatemala, the silent enigmatic remains of a race which had evolved a perfect calendar and bred master builders and sculptors two thousand years ago.”10 Familiar with both the popular writings of early explorers and the reports of more recent scientific expeditions undertaken by his contemporaries, Bliss was eager to see for himself the wonders of the Maya world. Bliss traveled in the company of Frederic Walcott (Figures 4–6), a member of the Board of Trustees at the Carnegie Institution of Washington. The two men visited each of the figure 5 sites under excavation by the institution, expe- Frederic Walcott on riencing some of the most innovative archaeo- the banks of the Copan logical research in the world and meeting some River, March 20, 1935. of the leading Mayanists of the day. They braved pcpfa, pc.rwb.1935.155, harsh environmental conditions, poor accom- Dumbarton Oaks modations, and unreliable transportation as Research Library they traveled through the rainforest. Walcott and Collection. wrote of counting “two hundred and seventy garrapata [tick] heads in matterating bites between the knee and the thigh of my left leg [ . . . ] That’s the price of travelling through jun- gle and sleeping in it night after night, but the dividends are large in the great variety of flora and fauna.”11 For Bliss, it was the ancient cities, rich cultural history, and colorful local lore that made the journey well worth enduring the hardships. At the Late Classic/Early Postclassic–period site of Chichen Itza, the men were hosted by figure 6 Sylvanus G. Morley, who gave them a tour of Robert Woods Bliss the sprawling complex. Some of the buildings using his camera, March 1935. pcpfa, had been recently cleared and restored, but many pc.rwb.1935.001, were still concealed under earth and vegetation. Dumbarton Oaks Bliss wrote to his wife that “far from being dis- Research Library appointed, after having [his] imagination fired up and Collection. by what [he] had read, the City of the Itza nation

6 Ancient Maya Art At Dumbarton Oaks of the Maya people was the work of a highly (1946), Eric Thompson, and others in Bliss’s cir- advanced civilization.” He described his visit to cle of friends and colleagues must have been various sectors of the site— including El Castillo, powerful for someone who had seen the devas- the Temple of the Warriors, the Group of a tation of war firsthand.16 Thousand Columns, and El Mercado—conclud- Traveling on to Guatemala City by rail, the ing, “[A] thrilling time, I had, and I cannot wait to two men visited Kidder’s project at the large, take you to those ruins. Why did I choose diplo- Preclassic-period site of Kaminaljuyu. A cut macy for a profession instead of archaeology?”12 through two inconspicuous mounds had exposed Over the course of the next several days, impressive remains apparently from the city’s Bliss would have the opportunity to visit the apogee, which Kidder and his team were investi- site by moonlight and to observe it from the air. gating. Bliss described the strategraphic excava- Fascinated by the architecture, he was “constantly tions: “They are bringing to light only fragments struck by the effect shadows produced at all of pottery and obsidian implements—discarded hours of the day by the varied and splendid carv- knives, etc.; but it is interesting and instructive ings,” and pondered “whether the effect of the to see the difference—when it is explained— great friezes and the columns carved in relief all between the fragments taken from different lev- in colours, would be more pleasing than they are els.”17 An additional planned excursion to the now—in the natural white of the limestone with University of Pennsylvania’s archaeological proj- frequent discoloration by weathering.” Treated ect at Piedras Negras had to be cancelled due to to a nighttime concert of The Philadelphia problems with the water supply at the site. Orchestra on a phonograph that Morley set up in After resting for a few days, Bliss and Walcott the ballcourt, Bliss was impressed with the place’s set out for the distant site of Copan (Figures “astonishing acoustic properties.”13 7–10). The monumental, Classic-period site was Bliss and Walcott subsequently headed to well known from early travelers’ descriptions, Guatemala to visit the smaller, Classic-period the Peabody Museum’s innovative survey and site of Quirigua. Nestled in dense woods, the excavation project begun in the late nineteenth site was difficult of access; as a result, its rel- century, and Morley’s volume on Copan’s inscrip- atively modest ceremonial architecture re tions (1920). In 1935, the Carnegie Institution was mained unexcavated. Yet Bliss was eager to visit Quirigua on account of its exceptional sculpture, including, as he wrote to his wife, “the figure 7 two recently discovered altars, one of which A visitor near Stelae was reproduced and which [they] saw together B (left) and C (right), in Washington.”14 The men spent several hours Copan, March 19, 1935. touring the site and admiring the fine carv- pcpfa, pc.rwb.1935.161, ings and stelae. Describing this experience, Dumbarton Oaks Bliss wrote: “It is impressive to see these finely Research Library and Collection. carved monuments standing in the midst of forests to mark the passage of a departed race about which we know so little, whose ‘civilization’ reached a high development and whose existence was obliterated by an avaricious people who considered them only savages to be plundered for their gold and killed.”15 Bliss had witnessed the First World War in Paris; in the mid-1930s, he and Mildred, along with many others, had grave concerns about the future of European civilization in the run up to the Second World War (Carder 2010). The rise and fall of ancient states surely provided a poignant opportunity for reflection. The notion of a peaceful Maya that was advocated by Morley

Incidents Of Travel 7 figure 8 Frederic Walcott at Copan, March 19, 1935. pcpfa, pc.rwb.1935.167, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection.

just preparing to excavate and further restore them at Uaxactun. His work at the site focused the site, much of which was shrouded in dense on excavating poorly preserved remains from the vegetation. Bliss reacted with interest to the Late Classic period to reveal well-preserved struc- veiled grandeur of what he saw, marveling at tures from the Early Classic period and earlier the great extent of the place, the massive size (Figure 11). Witnessing the work in progress, Bliss of the constructions, and the numerous stone was inspired to compare what he saw to projects carvings, including stelae stone carvings, stat- visited earlier on the trip: “The ruins of Uaxactun ues, altars, and the strewn blocks of the hiero- [ . . . ] are not particularly fine, as are those at glyphic stairway. He recognized Altar Q, which Chichen Itza, and are being gradually torn down had been described and illustrated in Stephens’ in an effort to reach an understanding of what the Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Mayas did there in building one structure over the Yucatan (1841), and wrote that “the trip to Copan other and in the hope of finding the graves and was well worth while.”18 their cache.”19 Returning from Uaxactun, the Following the Copan visit, the travelers flew group passed through the largely unexcavated to the Peten region, where they set out on a two- city of Tikal. and-a-half-day muleback ride to their final destina- The expedition as a whole was formative tion: the sites of Uaxactun and Tikal. They were for Bliss, who would draw on his experiences in accompanied by Kidder, his wife, their daugh- the Maya heartland for the rest of his life when ter, and two friends. A. Ledyard Smith, another contacting prominent scholars, reading new archaeologist at the Carnegie Institution, hosted publications, or assessing objects to add to his

8 Ancient Maya Art At Dumbarton Oaks figure 9 On the trail near Soloma, Huehuetenango, Guatemala, March 3, 1935. pcpfa, pc.rwb.1935.009, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection.

figure 10 On the road to Jocotan, Chiquimula, Guatemala, March 18, 1935. pcpfa, pc.rwb.1935.151, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection.

Pre-Columbian collection.20 His travel diary and by photographs or written accounts.”21 Seeing letters attest to his interest in the remarkable and experiencing the sites firsthand cemented achievements of the Maya and his fascination his admiration for the ancient people who once with the size of their cities, the monumentality built and populated them. It also fueled his of their architecture, and the enigmatic beauty desire to bring their artistic achievements to the of their art. He had read extensively about their attention of the American public. culture and had seen their art in exhibitions in Indeed, although he was already enthusiastic the United States and Europe. Yet the ruins, about the beauty and quality of Pre-Columbian as he put it, “far surpass any conception given artworks, Bliss was not engaged in collecting

Incidents Of Travel 9 figure 11 Uaxactun, Structure A–V, March 24–28, 1935. pcpfa, pc.rwb.1935.086, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection.

them seriously or consistently before his 1935 indigenous cultures of the ancient Americas trip. His Pre-Columbian holdings at the time before the arrival of Europeans.22 consisted of a little over two dozen pieces, all but Bliss stood apart from many of his con- two of which were acquired in two block pur- temporaries in his steady interest in ancient chases made by proxy in Europe in 1913 and 1929, American art. Few collectors veered into this both at the urging of his friend Royall Tyler. It domain at the time, and those who did tended to was not until 1937, two years after returning acquire Pre-Columbian works as part of larger, from his Central American trip, that Bliss would diverse collections of non–Western objects. acquire his first Maya objects—four small pieces Pieces were often purchased for their formal of carved jade—and become personally and qualities rather than for their cultural signifi- actively engaged in acquiring Pre-Columbian cance. Nelson Rockefeller collected what was art. From the late 1930s until his death in 1962, he then called “primitive art,” including African collected systematically and deliberately, mak- and Oceanic art (Braun 1993), while Edith and ing several carefully considered Pre-Columbian Alistair Martin acquired works from a broad acquisitions every year. range of cultures (including the Pre-Columbian) for their Guennol Collection (Fane 2000).23 Other collectors of Pre-Columbian art, includ- Bliss Collecting ing Robert and Lisa Sainsbury, were inspired Robert Bliss developed into a meticulous and by the modernist painters and sculptors whose directed collector of Pre-Columbian art after work was influenced by Pre-Columbian art his 1935 trip. The 1940 gift of the Blisses’ prop- (Hooper 1997). erty, Dumbarton Oaks, to Harvard University Bliss himself was not immune to modern- transferred responsibility for their collection of ist aesthetics, exclaiming in a letter to Samuel Byzantine and other Western arts to experts at Lothrop that the beautiful lines of a Classic that institution. This freed Bliss to concentrate Veracruz palma, a type of sculpture associated fully on developing his ancient American col- with the ballgame, “could easily have been lection, which had become a primary interest. done by Brancusi!”24 He was attracted by the With gusto and a clear sense of purpose, Bliss strength and simplicity of many Pre-Columbian focused his attention on pieces created by the pieces but equally appreciative of the intricacy

10 Ancient Maya Art At Dumbarton Oaks and intensity of Pre-Columbian iconography. acquisitions and aspirations of other collectors, From the outset, Bliss’s collection included with whom he was alternately collaborative and a variety of styles and media. He sought fine playfully competitive. Never averse to horse workmanship, materials of the highest quality, trading, he sometimes purchased items with a and designs that were interesting or unusual. view to tempt other collectors into relinquishing Known among art dealers as “the stone man,” their prized possessions. He quizzed Stendahl he prized this material above others for the about whether Arensberg might consider selling hardness of its finely polished surfaces and for “the jade mask”26 and asked Lothrop whether the many variegated colors of jade and other George Heye would be disposed to sell any semiprecious stones. Mexican mosaics.27 Stendahl and others stoked The aesthetic and sensory appeal of Pre- Bliss’s competitive spirit by describing pieces that Columbian art prompted Bliss to develop a would “give Joe [Brummer] a sinking feeling in scholarly curiosity about its historical and tech- his stomach as he has boasted for years in having nological origins. It is no coincidence that he the best”28 or would bring Bliss the satisfaction asked William F. Foshag, a mineralogist at the of “flick[ing] three caps in [John] Wise’s face.”29 Smithsonian, to contribute to the first full- Bliss’s funds were not unlimited; he financed the color catalogue produced of his collection (Bliss acquisition of one lot of Pre-Columbian mate- 1957). To Bliss, Pre-Columbian art was not sim- rial, from which several objects in this catalogue ply the timeless muse of the modernists; it was came, by selling Edgar Degas’s painting Woman a window into the rich cultural history of the at her Bath.30 On another occasion, he joined American continent. Keenly aware of the diver- forces with Arensberg to purchase a desirable lot sity and complexity of Pre-Columbian art, he of high-quality objects; the men subsequently was eager to explore and show the best of it in divided it selecting pieces in turn.31 his collection. Ongoing interactions with Pre-Columbian To this end, Bliss interacted regularly with scholars further influenced Bliss’s outlook. He art dealers and other collectors in the field. As corresponded actively with academics—includ- noted earlier, his first lot of Pre-Columbian ing some of the researchers he had initially met objects was purchased sight-unseen from the during his 1935 travels to the Maya region—at well-known and well-respected Paris gallery several distinguished institutions along the east- of Joseph Brummer. Bliss gradually became ern seaboard. Chief among his contacts were acquainted with U.S.-based dealers—including Alfred V. Kidder, the chairman of the Division of Earl Stendahl, Alphonse Jax, Robert Stolper, Historical Research at the Carnegie Institution John Wise, and Karl Curtis—who alerted him of Washington; Alfred Tozzer, a former class- to objects of possible interest. By far the most mate and the chairman of the Division of influential of these contacts was Earl Stendahl, Anthropology at Harvard University; Samuel K. who sold Bliss more than 150 objects over the Lothrop, a curator at the Peabody Museum; course of several decades. A bon vivant with Matthew Stirling, the head of the Bureau of galleries in New York and Los Angeles, Stendahl American Ethnology in Washington, D.C.; and traveled regularly to Latin America and was Gordon Ekholm, the curator in charge of Middle well connected in museum and collecting cir- America at the American Museum of Natural cles. In one letter to Bliss, he boasted of hav- History in New York. These scholars weighed in ing introduced the director of the Philadephia on many of Bliss’s acquisitions, offering expert Museum of Art to Pre-Columbian art in the opinions, advice, and general guidance on read- collections of “[Walter] Arensberg, [Walter] ing materials, exhibitions, and other specialists Maitland, [Charles] Laughton, etc.”25 Stendahl who might be contacted. Bliss responded with would become a friend who kept Bliss abreast enthusiasm and, not infrequently, with com- of other collectors and developments in the Pre- mentary and scholarly citations of his own. Columbian art market and museum world. One of Bliss’s guiding motivations in cre- Bliss’s goal was to acquire objects that ating his collection was to bring together would not only add to his collection but would exceptional examples that could be of value also round it out and enhance it thematically to scholarship. Ever a stickler for accuracy, and aesthetically. He kept informed about the he was particularly intent on rooting out any

Incidents Of Travel 11 fraudulent material. On one occasion, he in meticulously kept track of the books he owned vited Ekholm, Lothrop, Stirling, and Tozzer to and eagerly sought new publications in the field come together to identify patterns in forger- of Pre-Columbian studies, often soliciting his ies, as well as their possible points of origin, scholarly friends for opinions or advice. Tozzer so that the objects could be eliminated at the and Lothrop, among others, informed him about source.32 Finding no way to rid the growing new archaeological publications, while Stendahl Pre-Columbian art market of fakes, Bliss regu- occasionally passed along articles about objects larly consulted experts, whose work he came and exhibitions. In 1948, Bliss contacted the to know quite well: “I have respect for [Dudley] Peabody Museum in order to complete his file Easby’s opinion, but I have more respect for of their publications on Pre-Columbian topics [Samuel Lothrop’s]. [Gordon] Ekholm, on the in Latin America. He returned papers on other other hand, seems inclined to doubt everything topics, stating, “I must resist and stay within that presents something out of the ordinary.”33 bounds, especially as time grows short in which In spite of his best intentions, a number of to learn about my own pets.”37 dubious pieces entered his collection, and In building his library in the 1940s, Bliss Bliss offered to donate them to the Peabody ordered catalogues of new exhibitions as well Museum for the instruction of students. He as relevant publications of which he became remarked at the time: “Just for my reputation, aware through the Explorers’ Book Service. let me add that some of these pieces were pres- Occasionally, he purchased an entire personal ents and not all purchases of mine!”34 library, culling duplicate publications to donate Aesthetic considerations were paramount or to exchange for ones he did not have. A in Bliss’s selection of objects. He sought out the major reference work in his library was Pál unique, the exceptional, and the highest quality Kelemen’s Medieval American Art, first pub- craftsmanship, and he was always open to deac- lished in 1943.38 This two-volume study became cessioning a lesser work in favor of acquiring a sourcebook for a generation, and Bliss con- a better one. Conversely, he refused to obtain sulted it as he built his collection.39 He also pieces that would duplicate those of equal continued to receive and consult European or better quality already in his collection. He publications, particularly José Pijoán’s Arte pre- remarked: “My collection is notable because it colombiano, mexicano y maya (1946), to which he is made up of comparatively small objects (with referred in correspondence with his advisors.40 the exception of the two snakes) of great artis- Conversely, in correspondence with a book- tic quality—and to that type of object I think seller over Lord Kingsborough’s Antiquities of I should continue to limit myself.”35 Making a Mexico (1831–1848), Bliss expressed his reluc- strong distinction between works of interest to tance to purchase such an expensive publication the archaeologist and works with artistic value, whose objective was to prove that “lost tribes” he expressed hope that his collection, once settled in the Americas.41 exhibited, would “result in awakening not only By the end of his life, Bliss had assembled an interest in the objects of the pre-Columbian a serious library in Pre-Columbian studies, finds which have lain for many years on the with more than one thousand volumes, numer- shelves of museums of natural history, but that ous offprints, and other materials. Even in his the public will be awakened to the art values final years, Bliss added to his trove of schol- which so many of those objects embody.”36 arly books, continuing to acquire with dis- cernment. His library included archaeological journals and monographs (many from Latin Bliss’s Library America), ethnographies, facsimiles of Mexican Years before he became a major collector of manuscripts, and a smaller number of exhibi- Pre-Columbian art, Bliss had acquired a number tion catalogues. Also among his holdings were of publications on Pre-Columbian topics—vol- some rare and costly items, such as Alexander umes that helped pique his interest in the 1935 von Humboldt’s Vues des cordillères, et monu- trip to the Maya region. As he embarked on mens des peuples indigènes de l’Amérique (1810) and creating a collection of objects, he also became Antonio Peñafiel’s Monumentos del arte mexicano more serious about building his library. He antiguo (1890).

12 Ancient Maya Art At Dumbarton Oaks letter of thanks, the duplication of materials was Bliss and Museums useful for comparative studies.42 Bliss had always been an enthusiastic visitor and Arguably one of Bliss’s most important supporter of museum collections and exhibi- Maya pieces, a sculpted head from Copan tions. Beginning in the 1930s, he sent yearly con- (Figure 12; pc.b.146, Plate 6), was acquired by tributions to the Peabody Museum Association exchange from the collection of the Peabody of Harvard University, thus helping to finance Museum. John O. Brew, the museum director some of the museum’s exhibitions and scientific from 1948 to 1967, and Tozzer, the chairman of activities, including field projects and conserva- the Division of Anthropology at Harvard Uni tion efforts. As his interest in the field of Pre- versity, approved the exchange in 1952, but it Columbian studies grew, he became more closely took almost two years of correspondence to involved with the Peabody Museum. He visited finalize the agreement. The letters shed some regularly, often when attending meetings of the light on Bliss’s approach to objects and collect- Harvard Board of Overseers or the Dumbarton ing. He requested a photograph of the piece Oaks Committee, and became acquainted with so that he could “talk with [Tozzer] with a the collections and staff. He sometimes brought little more knowledge.”43 A Peabody conser- his own objects or requested that dealers send vator made suggestions for restorations, but works directly to the museum, where experts Bliss declined, writing that he preferred the could examine them at their leisure. He relied head “as is.” Discussion of what Bliss could heavily on the museum’s conservators, who offer in exchange prompted him to explain studied, repaired, and stabilized a number of his that he could not spare a Teotihuacan pot “for pieces. On some occasions, he donated items the reason that they make a very harmonious that did not fit within his own collection but that group [in the exhibit at the National Gallery of added to the museum’s comprehensive holdings, Art (see below)] and, if one is taken away, the where, as director Donald Scott indicated in a arrangement becomes lopsided.”44 In the end,

figure 12 Copan stone head (pc.b.146, Plate 6) in front of an Andean textile at the Indigenous Art of the Americas exhibition at the National Gallery of Art. pcpfa, pc.b.ng.022, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection.

Incidents Of Travel 13 the Peabody received more than forty objects, was really a fine one and would have enthralled including jade carvings from Costa Rica, obsid- you.”47 Bliss’s own copy of the catalogue bears ian and stone objects from Mexico, and worked his notations. Different versions of this exhibi- metal and gold pieces from Panama.45 tion circulated in Europe and Los Angeles until In 1940, the Fogg Art Museum collaborated 1964 (Los Angeles County Museum of Art 1963; with the Peabody Museum on an exhibition Musée du Petit Palais 1962; Tate Gallery 1953) of Pre-Columbian art (Peabody Museum of and were seen by a reported nine million people Archaeology and Ethnology 1940). The Blisses (Brown 1963:viii).48 lent a number of objects to this show, using the Closer to home in Washington, D.C., Bliss name “Dumbarton Oaks Collection.” Other was involved with the young National Gallery lenders to the exhibit included Lothrop and his of Art, which opened in 1941. During the wife, Tozzer and his wife, the Museo Nacional in 1940s, the Gallery mounted a number of Latin Mexico City, and other museums in the United American–focused exhibitions in collabora- States. Several dealers were also represented, tion with the arts program of the Office of the some by works that would eventually enter Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs (Barnet- the Bliss collection (see, for example, Peabody Sánchez 1993:198; Finley 1973:148–149). This pro- Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology gram, guided by an advisory committee to the 1940:cat. no. 165 [now pc.b.059], illustrated in Department of State, of which Bliss was a mem- Evans 2010:54–55). ber, funded exhibitions and exchanges between The Blisses lent an Olmec figure to the land- the United States and Latin America.49 One of mark exhibition Twenty Centuries of Mexican Art, the exhibitions that the National Gallery of Art which also opened in 1940, at the Museum of initiated, George Kubler’s panel show The Figure Modern Art, New York, where Mildred Bliss of Man in Ancient American Art, included photo- was on the board. As with the museum’s 1933 graphs of Bliss’s objects and was circulated to a exhibition, American Sources of Modern Art, the variety of venues by the American Federation show presented Pre-Columbian art through a of Art.50 modernist lens. The Pre-Columbian section was Bliss’s resolve to develop collections in the organized by the Mexican archaeologist Alfonso United States grew over the years. The spirit Caso, and it included objects from collections of Pan-Americanism—the idea of strengthen- in Mexico as well as the United States. In the ing political, economic, and cultural ties across introduction to the catalogue, Antonio Castro the hemisphere—was a strong current circulat- Leal noted the strikingly modern appearance of ing in diplomatic and business circles in the 1930s Pre-Columbian art and praised Maya sculpture (Barnet-Sánchez 1993; Braun 1993; Gonzalez in particular for its “placid and austere” beauty 2011). Europe was perceived in the United States (Museum of Modern Art 1940:15).46 Bliss also as on the downward slope of the inescapable lent objects to the Cleveland Museum of Art in arc of civilization, and with the onset of the 1945–1946. Second World War, there was a palpable fear The postwar period allowed for greater that European fascism would spread to Latin movement of objects internationally, and Bliss America.51 In his article “Our Latin American presented objects from his collection in Europe Relations,” Bliss referred to Europe as “our as well as in the United States throughout competitors” in Latin America and noted that the 1950s and 1960s. Art mexicain du précolom- “a mutual understanding in the intellectual and bien à nos jours, a major exhibition of Mexican cultural field” would improve relations between art organized by the art historian Fernando the United States and Latin American countries Gamboa, opened at the Musée National d’Art (Bliss 1935:91, 100). This suggested the need for Moderne in Paris (Cassou 1952; Musée National stronger cultural institutions, particularly those d’Art Moderne 1952) and became a springboard stressing hemispheric unity, in this country. for other related exhibitions in Europe and the Bliss was active in the Pan American Union in United States over the next decade. Bliss him- Washington, D.C., and lent several items to its self saw the exhibition and sent a copy of the exhibition of Latin American silver in 1941. In catalogue to Tozzer, writing: “It is too bad you his correspondence, he expressed a desire that could not have seen the exhibition because it certain objects or collections be acquired by

14 Ancient Maya Art At Dumbarton Oaks museums in the United States in order to keep not be shown effectively in vitrines and assessing them from leaving the country.52 He referred to new items in terms of how they would fit visu- himself as “one who is genuinely interested in ally with the rest of his holdings. In discussing seeing the museums of our country present as pieces and exhibitions, he expressed a concern comprehensive exhibits as possible.”53 for color schemes and symmetry in the displays. Such details assumed an importance commensu- rate with his desire to show Pre-Columbian art in Exhibitions and the Evolution all its splendor and to arouse in others the same of a Collection excitement he felt about these ancient works. It was through these exhibitions that Robert When the Blisses returned to Washington, Bliss gradually determined the shape and focus D.C., in 1942, they became reacquainted with of his own collection of Pre-Columbian art. A its inhabitants and institutions. David Finley, pivotal moment for his conceptualization of his the director of the National Gallery of Art, and own objects as a coherent collection occurred in John Walker, the chief curator, suggested “that the early 1940s, when, recently retired from the it might be an interesting experiment” to exhibit Foreign Service, he was living in Santa Barbara, the Bliss collection of Pre-Columbian art at the California. He was able to devote more time to National Gallery of Art (Bliss 1959:7). Bliss had building his collection of Pre-Columbian art, known Finley for some time, in part through which by this time had grown to nearly one their joint work on the board of the American hundred objects. The Santa Barbara Museum Federation of Art, an organization designed to of Art had just opened, and Maurice Ries of the support the visual arts and founded by secre- Middle American Research Institute of Tulane tary of state Elihu Root in 1909.54 Although now University was invited to organize a large exhi- known primarily for its collections and exhibi- bition of Pre-Columbian art there. Entitled tions of European and American painting, the Ancient American Art: 500 bc–ad 1500, it opened National Gallery mounted a surprisingly broad in the spring of 1942 and eventuallly traveled to range of exhibitions in its early years. For exam- other cities on the West Coast, including San ple, it had developed plans to mount a major Francisco and Portland. Pre-Columbian exhibition that would include Bliss was closely involved with both the loans from the Museo Nacional in Mexico City, founding of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art the Vatican Museum, and the British Museum and the creation of the exhibition. Of the 221 in London, but the exhibition was postponed objects displayed, more than sixty were from indefinitely in 1946.55 Discussions among Finley, his collection. Additional loans were drawn Walker, and Bliss took on a new intensity at this from the collections of the Peabody Museum, time, as the postponement provided an oppor- the American Museum of Natural History, tunity to display the Bliss collection of Pre- the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Columbian art. Archaeology and Anthropology, the Middle The exhibition, Indigenous Art of the Americas, American Research Institute, the M. H. de Young opened during “Pan-American Week” in April Memorial Museum, many Los Angeles–based 1947, in the north and south corridors on the private collectors (including Louise and Walter ground floor of the west central lobby in what Arensberg), and several dealers. Bliss himself is now known as the West Building (Figures 13 requested and coordinated the loan of objects and 14). Augmented by loans from the Peabody from the Peabody Museum. Ancient American Museum, the exhibition showcased and identi- Art represented the first time that he exhibited fied the Pre-Columbian Collection as a unit. The the majority of his Pre-Columbian objects, and catalogue was available for one dollar; it sold it spurred the development and refinement of out within two years of the show’s opening.56 the collection, particularly within the context of As Lothrop noted in his obituary of Robert public display. Bliss (1963), the exhibition was a bold move, as A seasoned museumgoer, Bliss often thought no museum in the country had a comparable of his collection as an exhibition. He carefully display at the time. Originally planned to last considered how objects could be displayed, refus- for one year, the constantly evolving exhibition ing to acquire some on the basis that they could remained on view until July 1962.

Incidents Of Travel 15 figure 13 Indigenous Art of the Americas exhibition at the National Gallery of Art. Elizabeth Benson is on the right. pcpfa, pc.b.ng.040, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection.

figure 14 Maya vessels displayed with Mexican and Andean pieces at the Indigenous Art of the Americas exhibition at the National Gallery of Art (from left to right: pc.b.137; pc.b.205, Plate 64; pc.b.512; pc.b.204, Plate 59; pc.b.208, Plate 9; pc.b.203, Plate 74; pc.b.488; Maya vessels are italicized). pcpfa, pc.b.ng.023, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection.

16 Ancient Maya Art At Dumbarton Oaks In contrast to contemporaneous displays of objects, in the process, discussing the “archaeo- Pre-Columbian material in natural history mu logical and pictorial” nature of each object and seums, the installation at the National Gallery commenting to Bliss, “this should result in an of Art emphasized formal relationships between improved text for your catalogue, both because objects with a minimum of explanatory text. descriptions will be more accurate and because The intention behind the exhibition design was the text will contain a considerable amount of to highlight individual works of art rather than previously unpublished information.”63 At the to present items as part of specific cultural con- production stage, Bliss and Lothrop discussed texts. Design cues may have come in part from such details as catalogue dimensions, photogra- an installation of Pre-Columbian art at the Los phy, color printing, and editorial matters. In one Angeles County Museum of Art in Exposition letter, Bliss noted a typo in the word “ahau.” He Park, on view in the spring of 1940.57 Objects also expressed unease with the use of the name were displayed in wall cases and on freestand- “the Bliss collection,” requesting that reference ing mounts, and textiles were hung on the wall, be made instead to “the collection” or “this col- often as backdrop or counterpoint to a sculpture lection.”64 The result, Pre-Columbian Art: Robert in front (Figure 12) but also individually in the Woods Bliss Collection, was a large, glossy, full- manner of paintings (Figure 13). color publication unlike any that had come Bliss was personally invested in present- before. Elizabeth Benson (1993:25) has called it ing his collection. He participated actively in the first coffee-table book of Pre-Columbian the mounting of the 1947 exhibition as well art, and visually that is surely the case. The text, as in its “complete rearrangement” on a regu- however, is the equal of any scholarly book of lar basis thereafter to accommodate important its time. It turned out to be so popular that a sec- new acquisitions.58 Voicing doubts that “sim- ond, revised edition was printed two years later. ply exposing [the collection] in an art gallery” would generate enthusiasm for Pre-Columbian art, he sought to organize a public lecture series An Enduring Legacy associated with the exhibition.59 Perhaps most Soon after the 1957 catalogue was published, importantly, he was dedicated from the outset Bliss began to plan a permanent home for to producing a catalogue in which the objects the Pre-Columbian Collection. Although the would be illustrated and described. Lothrop National Gallery of Art exhibition was extended agreed to study and write about the objects and indefinitely, he wanted to mount an exhibition served as the principal advisor on the project. in perpetuity and set out to realize this vision at He encouraged Bliss, saying, “after all, this is the Dumbarton Oaks. In 1959, he commissioned the only way of making your collection known to architect Philip Johnson to design a pavilion that many people for whom it is physically impos- would house the Pre-Columbian Collection. But sible to visit Washington.”60 Bliss himself read because Bliss’s increasingly poor health forced the manuscript, made detailed editorial com- him to take a back seat on the project, it was ments, and suggested a title and cover design.61 his wife who worked closely with the architect When the 1947 catalogue sold out, an indefati- to finalize the design and initiate the construc- gable Bliss began to muse about producing “a tion. Completed in 1963, the eight circular galler- catalogue de luxe,”62 a project that would keep ies, with glass walls and domed ceilings, became both men occupied for the ensuing decade. known as a “jewel box” for Bliss’s exceptional The planning of the 1957 catalogue marked pieces (Figure 15). another turning point for the conceptualization Although her primary interest was the and presentation of the collection. Bliss enlisted Dumbarton Oaks Garden and the development Lothrop to provide descriptions “as if for the of its related library, Mildred Bliss expressed catalogue” of any new objects that entered her own appreciation for Andean textiles as the collection. Foshag, the mineralogist from early as 1930.65 She would continue to make the Smithsonian, examined and identified the Pre-Columbian acquisitions in her husband’s various stone items. Lothrop worked closely name after his death in 1962. During his life- with the noted portrait photographer Nickolas time, Robert Bliss consulted her when consid- Muray to produce large-scale color plates of the ering acquisitions, occasionally asking her to

Incidents Of Travel 17 figure 15 Pre-Columbian wing prior to the installation of the permanent collection, Dumbarton Oaks, 1963. Photograph by Ezra Stoller Associates. pcpfa, pc.j.176, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection.

University for the maintenance of Dumbarton Oaks, specifically for “purposes directly related to the collection of Pre-Columbian art and the Pre-Columbian library” (Carder 2010:18). He had persuaded Elizabeth Benson, a young reg- istrar who had worked with his collection at the National Gallery of Art, to curate the new installation at Dumbarton Oaks. Benson took on this task with energy and creativity, producing eye-catching and intellectually stimu- lating displays in a decidedly unconventional museum space (Figure 16). She also founded a series of scholarly meetings and publications that encouraged and disseminated research in Pre-Columbian studies. After Mildred Bliss’s death in 1969, and in light of new international guidelines on the acquisition of archaeological material, the emphasis on collecting was cur- tailed.69 Resources were directed to developing the library and supporting research, conserva- tion, and publication—programs that continued under the careful stewardship of Benson’s suc- cessors Elizabeth Boone and Jeffrey Quilter, and on into the present day. Dumbarton Oaks cur- assess pieces he was unable to see himself. In rently organizes a variety of scholarly meetings December 1959, at the age of eighty-four, he and public lectures, presents rotating exhibitions finally fulfilled the wish expressed in 1935: to of the collection, and supports research in the take his wife to visit Maya ruins.66 The couple form of fellowships and project grants. spent a few days in Guatemala City and then vis- The research institute that the Blisses ited the sites of Tikal, Chichen Itza, and Uxmal. founded has grown substantially to become Kidder and fellow archaeologist Edwin Shook a major center for the support of the study of were on Christmas vacation when the Blisses ancient American cultures. Whereas academic visited Tikal, but Robert Bliss wrote to Lothrop: departments tend to emphasize specialization “We were much impressed by the work being by discipline, the Blisses created a place where done at Tikal though it looks to me as if they scholars could be united by a common inter- could do better with a larger crew.”67 He con- est in a region and time period, regardless of cluded his letter with, “Perhaps we had better professional affiliation. At Dumbarton Oaks, go back soon!”68 His last trip to the Maya region scholars from different fields gather to consider had the same energizing power as his first, common research problems, often ones that cut though this time he could share the excitement across traditional disciplines. Dumbarton Oaks with Mildred. also provides an opportunity for fellows at dif- Robert Bliss did not live to see his collec- ferent stages in their careers to interact over the tion installed in the galleries designed by Philip course of an academic year, a semester, or a Johnson. He died on April 19, 1962, and the major- summer, exploring new research topics or com- ity of his residual estate was left to Harvard pleting long-term ones (Figure 17). The program

18 Ancient Maya Art At Dumbarton Oaks of scholarly meetings—ranging from the large, figure 16 annual symposia to smaller, more special- Pre-Columbian wing, ized events—similarly fosters opportunities to Dumbarton Oaks, exchange ideas (Figure 18). A particularly notable 1960s. Photograph by Ezra aspect of Bliss’s legacy is his foundational role Stoller Associates. pcpfa, pc.j.187, Dumbarton in supporting research on the visual arts of the Oaks Research Library Pre-Columbian world. In the postwar period, and Collection. university archaeology programs moved away from the study of the specificities of objects and architecture to focus on the broader context of ancient cultures, considering patterns of human interactions and studying the interfaces between cultures and the environment. In counterpoint,

figure 17 Junior fellow David Stuart in front of the Palenque panel (pc.b.528, Plate 1) at Dumbarton Oaks, after he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 1983. Photograph by Cynthia Johnson. TIME & LIFE Images / Getty Images.

Incidents Of Travel 19 figure 18 A view of the Music Room at Dumbarton Oaks, during the symposium “Past Presented: A Symposium on the History of Archaeological Illustration,” October 10, 2009. Photograph by Alexandre Tokovinine.

figure 19 Maya galleries in the Pre-Columbian wing, Dumbarton Oaks, 2008. Photograph by Alexandre Tokovinine.

20 Ancient Maya Art At Dumbarton Oaks Bliss fostered a strand of Americanist studies Bliss’s objects introduced Pre-Columbian art that stressed the unique qualities of individ- to many nonspecialists and enabled seasoned ual objects and cultures and their importance experts to hone their skills. His insistence on dis- in revealing fundamental aspects of ancient playing the works within an art museum gave the American life and thought. broader public a view of ancient Latin America Through these endeavors, Robert Bliss’s leg- as civilized and complex but also fresh, new, acy has endured for three-quarters of a century and, in many ways, modern. In part through his and has continued to shape our understanding efforts, ancient American objects are now wide- of the ancient Americas (Figure 19). Bliss’s care- spread in major art museums and the number ful collecting strategy and steady focus made his of exhibitions on Pre-Columbian art has multi- collection a reference point for Pre-Columbian plied. Through the creation of Dumbarton Oaks artistic and technological achievement. He was and its program of research, exhibition, and aware of the unique qualities of his collection publication, Bliss ensured that subsequent gen- and the importance it had in fostering a new erations of scholars and the public would gain appreciation of the aesthetic qualities of ancient a new understanding of the richness and com- American art. In exhibitions and publications, plexities of the cultures of the ancient Americas.

Incidents Of Travel 21 Notes 1 Papers of Robert Woods Bliss and Mildred Barnes Mildred Bliss noted that she and her husband would Bliss, ca. 1860–1969, hugfp 76.74, box 3, Harvard Uni support the project with the understanding that “a versity Archives. perfect specimen of pottery of the finest quality 2 A photographic album of the Blisses’ trip in the be given to [them] that [they] may present it to the Harvard University Archives shows Robert Bliss Crown Prince of Sweden.” Robert Bliss was minis- aboard a train. We were unable to corroborate ter to Sweden from 1923 to 1927; in her letter, Mildred Whitehill’s account (1967) that the Blisses crossed the noted that “you probably know that he [the Crown Andes on horseback. Papers of Robert Woods Bliss Prince] is a first rate archaeologist and was keenly and Mildred Barnes Bliss, hugfp 76.74, box 3 (Latin interested in the Peabody Museum when he visited America, 1909–1914), Harvard University Archives. it in 1926.” Mildred Barnes Bliss to Alfred V. Kidder, 3 Although Pre-Columbian objects were not a com- July 23, 1932. mon choice of art collectors at the time, a few 9 it should be noted that Spinden’s calendrical correla- individuals, such as Adolphe Stoclet, collected Pre- tions confused work on Maya chronology for many Columbian sculpture in the 1910s (Nelson 2005:43; years. Musée des Arts Décoratifs 1928). 10 bliss writings based on his diary, 1935, Bliss Travel 4 the incorporation of Pre-Columbian imagery in papers, Pre-Columbian Collection files, Dumbarton architecture, including the well-known work of Oaks Research Library and Collection. Frank Lloyd Wright in the first half of the twenti- 11 Frederic Walcott to John C. Merriam, April 4, 1935, eth century, has been discussed at length elsewhere Bliss Travel papers, Pre-Columbian Collection files, (Alofsin 1993, 1999; Ingle 1984). Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. 5 in London, Sir John Soane collected a few Pre- 12 robert Woods Bliss to Mildred Barnes Bliss, Columbian objects (Knox 2009). Pre-Columbian February 13, 1935, Bliss Travel papers, Pre-Columbian objects were also on view in the Musée du Louvre Collection files, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library before they were moved to the Musée d’Ethnographie and Collection. du Trocadéro in 1878. The Metropolitan Museum of 13 robert Woods Bliss to Mildred Barnes Bliss, Feb Art acquired its first American antiquities in 1879; it ruary 13, 1935, Bliss Travel papers, Pre-Columbian mounted an exhibition of Pre-Columbian objects Collection files, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library from Mexico (the Louis Petich Collection) in 1894. and Collection. By 1914, however, these antiquities were sent to 14 robert Woods Bliss to Mildred Barnes Bliss, Feb the American Museum of Natural History on an ruary 19, 1935, Bliss Travel papers, Pre-Columbian extended loan. A portion of this group was returned Collection files, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library in 1982 for the opening of the Rockefeller Wing, and Collection. The Washington, D.C., cast to where the works were included, along with other which Bliss referred is most likely one on display at Pre-Columbian objects, in the new installation (Julie the United States National Museum, now in stor- Jones, personal communication, 2010). For further age at the National Museum of the American Indian discussion of earlier displays of Pre-Columbian art, (Matthew G. Looper, personal communication, 2010; see Braun (1993), Jones (2010b), and Williams (1993). Thompson 1945). 6 see Williams (1993) for a detailed discussion of this 15 robert Woods Bliss to Mildred Barnes Bliss, Feb evolution, including the Pre-Columbian exhibition ruary 27, 1935, Bliss Travel papers, Pre-Columbian at the Burlington Fine Arts Club in London in 1920. Collection files, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library The later contributions of Mexican artists such as and Collection. As late as the 1930s, the notion that José Clemente Orozco and Diego Rivera to this cur- Maya ruins could be a lost Atlantis still had some rent have been documented elsewhere (Delpar 1992; currency (Braun 1993), but Bliss himself decidedly Hurlburt 1989). resisted extravagant diffusionist and occultist theo- 7 For example, the College Art Association was not ries. His letters and library acquisitions show an inter- founded until 1912. est in understanding the ancient American past on its 8 correspondence with Alfred V. Kidder and others, own terms. 1932–1937, House Collection files, Kidder correspon- 16 robert and Mildred Bliss were deeply engaged with dence, Archives, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library the Red Cross and other aid societies (Carder 2005:31, and Collection. Robert and Mildred Bliss supported 2010:7). On the Maya and war, see Webster 2002. a number of projects through the Peabody Museum. 17 robert Woods Bliss to Mildred Barnes Bliss, Their support for archaeological research occasionally February 19, 1935, Bliss Travel papers, Pre-Columbian came with conditions. For example, in a response to Collection files, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library Kidder’s request for support of a Mimbres excavation, and Collection.

22 Ancient Maya Art At Dumbarton Oaks 18 robert Woods Bliss travel diary, March 19, 1935, Collection files, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library Bliss Travel papers, Pre-Columbian Collection files, and Collection. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection; 30 bliss contracted with Stendahl to sell Woman at her and Robert Woods Bliss to Mildred Barnes Bliss, Bath, now in the collection of the Art Gallery of March 22, 1935, Bliss Travel papers, Pre-Columbian Ontario, in order to acquire more than thirty Pre- Collection files, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library Columbian objects between 1953 and 1954. Robert and Collection. Woods Bliss to Earl Stendahl, June 24, 1954, Stendahl 19 robert Woods Bliss to Mildred Barnes Bliss, April 2, correspondence, Pre-Columbian Collection files, 1935, Bliss Travel papers, Pre-Columbian Collection Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. files, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and For further information on the Bliss fortune, see Collection. Carder 2010. 20 Following his return to Washington, Robert Bliss 31 earl Stendahl to Robert Woods Bliss, May 7, 1941, was invited to serve on the board of the Carnegie Stendahl correspondence, Pre-Columbian Collection Institution of Washington in 1936. The institution’s files, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Maya program was closed in 1958, but Bliss continued Collection. to serve on the board until his death in 1962. 32 robert Woods Bliss to Alfred Tozzer, May 2, 1949, 21 robert Woods Bliss to Mildred Barnes Bliss, Feb Peabody correspondence, Pre-Columbian Collec ruary 13, 1935, Bliss Travel papers, Pre-Columbian tion files, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection files, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library Collection. and Collection. 33 robert Woods Bliss to Samuel K. Lothrop, November 22 robert Woods Bliss to Earl Stendahl, September 10, 1959, Lothrop correspondence, Pre-Columbian 29, 1948, Stendahl correspondence, Pre-Columbian Collection files, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library Collection files, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. and Collection. See also Carder 2010. 34 robert Woods Bliss to Alfred Tozzer, August 17, 23 the Guennol and Bliss collections share one com- 1960, Peabody correspondence, Pre-Columbian mon characteristic (besides the very high quality of Collection files, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library their works): both holdings were shaped within the and Collection. context of public display. Many Guennol objects, for 35 robert Woods Bliss to Earl Stendahl, September example, were placed on long-term loans in muse- 29, 1948, Stendahl correspondence, Pre-Columbian ums, but, unlike those in the Bliss collection, they Collection files, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library rarely appeared together as one collection. and Collection. Bliss held true to this statement, acquir- 24 robert Woods Bliss to Samuel K. Lothrop, November ing objects of modest size and exceptional quality 10, 1959, Lothrop correspondence, Pre-Columbian throughout his life. Yet he was clearly willing to make Collection files, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library exceptions for unique finds, including the Aztec snakes and Collection. he cited (pc.b.069 and pc.b.070, illustrated in Evans 25 earl Stendahl to Robert Woods Bliss, February 16, 2010) and two large panels (one from Teotihuacan 1947, Stendahl correspondence, Pre-Columbian [pc.b.062, illustrated in Evans 2010] acquired in 1941, Collection files, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and the other from the Bonampak-Lacanha region and Collection. [pc.b.145, Plate 3] acquired in 1960). Other large objects, 26 robert Woods Bliss to Earl Stendahl, August 11, including three Maya panels (pc.b.528, pc.b.537, and 1943, Stendahl correspondence, Pre-Columbian pc.b.539, Plates 1, 2, and 4), entered the collection after Collection files, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library his death, as did most of the collection’s ceramic ves- and Collection. sels. This was probably due as much to the new cura- 27 robert Woods Bliss to Samuel K. Lothrop, May torial oversight of the collection as to changes in the 29, 1951, Lothrop correspondence, Pre-Columbian art market during the 1960s. Collection files, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library 36 robert Woods Bliss to Alfred Tozzer, April 21, 1947, and Collection. Peabody correspondence, Pre-Columbian Collec 28 earl Stendahl to Robert Woods Bliss, March 26, tion files, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and 1943, Stendahl correspondence, Pre-Columbian Collection. Collection files, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library 37 robert Woods Bliss to Alfred Tozzer, March 4, 1948, and Collection. Peabody correspondence, Pre-Columbian Col 29 Donald Scott to Robert Woods Bliss, October 28, lection files, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library 1943, Peabody correspondence, Pre-Columbian and Collection.

Incidents Of Travel 23 38 Although Kelemen (1979:8) spoke of having lunch Collection files, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library at Dumbarton Oaks with Robert Bliss, it does not and Collection. appear as if the two were close (see also Kelemen and 48 Bliss objects were loaned to the following exhibi- Kelemen 2005). tions: Art méxicain du précolombien à nos jours (Musée 39 robert Woods Bliss to Alfred Tozzer, May 2, 1949, National d’Art Moderne, Paris, May–July 1952); Peabody correspondence, Pre-Columbian Collec Mexikansk Konst från Forntid till Nutid (Liljevalches tion files, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Konsthall, Stockholm, September 1952); Exhibition Collection. of Mexican Art from Pre-Columbian Times to the 40 Robert Woods Bliss to Samuel K. Lothrop, May Present Day (The Tate Gallery, London, March– 29, 1951, Lothrop correspondence, Pre-Columbian April 1953); Präkolumbische Kunst aus Mexico und Collection files, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library Mittelamerika (Haus der Kunst, Munich, October– and Collection. December 1958); Kunst der Mexikaner (Kunsthaus, 41 robert Woods Bliss to Frances Hamill, March 28, Zurich, January–March 1959); Kunst der Mexikaner 1958, Bliss-Hamill correspondence, Collection Devel (Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum der Stadt Köln/ opment files, Library, Dumbarton Oaks Research Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne, April–June Library and Collection; and Robert Woods Bliss 1959); Mexicaanse Kunst (Haags Gemeente-Museum, Pre-Columbian Library Appraisal, 1962, Collection The Hague, June–August 1959); Kunst aus Mexico Development files, Library, Dumbarton Oaks und Mittelamerika (Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Research Library and Collection. The Pre-Columbian October–November 1959); Präkolumbische Kunst aus library, for example, did not contain any works by Mexico und Mittelamerika (Künstlerhaus, Vienna, Augustus Le Plongeon, an eccentric photographer December 1959–February 1960); Präkolumbische and writer interested in connections between the Kunst aus Mexico und Mittelamerika (Historisches ancient Maya and Egypt, or any publications by the Museum, Frankfurt, May–September 1960); and French Americanist E. T. Hamy, a strong proponent Arte precolombiana del Messico e dell’America Centrale of diffusionist ideas about the ancient Americas (Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, November– and Asia. December 1960). Bliss objects were not in the final 42 Donald Scott to Robert Woods Bliss, October 5 and iterations of the Gamboa exhibitions in Paris and 28, 1943, Peabody correspondence, Pre-Columbian Los Angeles, perhaps because the Pre-Columbian Collection files, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library gallery at Dumbarton Oaks was opening at the and Collection. same time. 43 robert Woods Bliss to Samuel K. Lothrop, December 49 News release, March 1, 1944, Gallery Archives, 8, 1952, Lothrop correspondence, Pre-Columbian National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Collection files, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library 50 inter-American Office press release, Extracts from and Collection. the Report to the President by the Commission 44 robert Woods Bliss to Alfred Tozzer, November of Fine Arts, March 15, 1953, box 10, Cultural 16, 1953, Peabody correspondence, Pre-Columbian Relations, Gallery Archives, National Gallery of Art, Collection files, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library Washington, D.C. and Collection. 51 between 1942 and 1944, Dumbarton Oaks was used 45 bliss asked that the Copan head be sent directly to for the war effort. Bliss himself noted the “strange the National Gallery of Art in December 1953, so juxtaposition” at the time: “One half of the building that it could appear in the exhibition of his collec- is devoted to evolving means to kill human beings tion at the same time as the opening of a temporary more speedily and in greater numbers; the other exhibition featuring the gold collection of the Banco half continues to develop greater knowledge of the de la República (Bogotá, Colombia). Robert Woods artistic creation of man. One works for the develop- Bliss to Alfred Tozzer, December 16, 1953, Peabody ment of the most hideous activity of war, the other correspondence, Pre-Columbian Collection files, for the discovery and preservation of the beauty of Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. human expression.” Address by Robert Woods Bliss 46 Robert Bliss kept three copies of the catalogue in to the Harvard Club of Washington, D.C., April his library. Robert Woods Bliss Pre-Columbian 8, 1943, Papers of Robert Woods Bliss and Mildred Library Appraisal, 1962, Collection Development Barnes Bliss, hugfp 76.16, series 4, box 2, and hugff files, Library, DumbartonO aks Research Library and 76.8, box 48, Harvard University Archives. In 1944, Collection. the event—for which Dumbarton Oaks is perhaps 47 robert Woods Bliss to Alfred Tozzer, February 11, most famous—was held at the house. Known as the 1953, Peabody correspondence, Pre-Columbian Dumbarton Oaks Conversations, these talks explored

24 Ancient Maya Art At Dumbarton Oaks the possibility of establishing a United Nations (May 62 robert Woods Bliss to Samuel K. Lothrop, April and Laiou 1998). 13, 1949, Lothrop correspondence, Pre-Columbian 52 robert Woods Bliss to Earl Stendahl, March 22, Collection files, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library 1946, Stendahl correspondence, Pre-Columbian and Collection. Collection files, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library 63 samuel K. Lothrop to Robert Woods Bliss, June and Collection. 15, 1954, Lothrop correspondence, Pre-Columbian 53 robert Woods Bliss to Earl Stendahl, September Collection files, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library 29, 1948, Stendahl correspondence, Pre-Columbian and Collection. Collection files, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library 64 robert Woods Bliss to Samuel K. Lothrop, November and Collection. 8, 1954, Lothrop correspondence, Pre-Columbian 54 the American Federation of Art (afa) was instru- Collection files, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library mental in the creation of the National Gallery of and Collection. Art. (Its founder, Andrew W. Mellon, was one of 65 Mildred Barnes Bliss wrote to Royall Tyler on the founders of the afa.) The afa brought together March 1, 1930: “On our way up the West Coast, we museum directors and other leading figures in the had a day at Lima and there saw some very remark- visual arts to facilitate touring exhibitions. able pre-Inca textiles, recently unearthed, of which 55 record group 2, series 2B1, box 1, Records of the one or two were loaned to the Sevilla [sic] Exposition Office of the Director, John Walker office files, Ex [Ibero-American Exposition, Seville, Spain, May 9, hibition records, Gallery Archives, National Gallery 1929–June 21, 1930]. These things are unlike any fab- of Art, Washington, D.C. ric known, though they recall the Coptic designs; for 56 record group 2, series 2B1, box 1, Records of the evenness of weave, variety and brilliancy of color, Office of the Director, John Walker office files, they are unique, and open the door to a study of a Exhibition records, Gallery Archives, National hitherto unsuspected civilization. We are agog over Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; and Bliss 1947. the matter and shall have much to tell you. Are you 57 record group 2, series 2B1, box 1, Records of the going to be able to come to South America before Office of the Director, John Walker office files, January 1931?” Papers of Royall Tyler, hugfp 38.6, Box Exhibition records, Gallery Archives, National 2, Harvard University Archives. Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. 66 Robert Woods Bliss to Mildred Barnes Bliss, 58 robert Woods Bliss to Alfred Tozzer, January 31, 1948, February 13, 1935, Bliss Travel papers, Pre-Columbian July 15, 1948, and May 2, 1949, Peabody correspon- Collection files, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library dence, Pre-Columbian Collection files, Dumbarton and Collection. Oaks Research Library and Collection. 67 robert Woods Bliss to Samuel K. Lothrop, February 59 robert Woods Bliss to Alfred Tozzer, April 21, 1947, 1, 1960, Lothrop correspondence, Pre-Columbian Peabody correspondence, Pre-Columbian Collec Collection files, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library tion files, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and and Collection. Collection. 68 Robert Woods Bliss to Samuel K. Lothrop, February 60 Samuel K. Lothrop to Robert Woods Bliss, April 1, 1960, Lothrop correspondence, Pre-Columbian 15, 1949, Lothrop correspondence, Pre-Columbian Collection files, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library Collection files, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. and Collection. 69 The Dumbarton Oaks Museum no longer pursues an 61 robert Woods Bliss to Samuel K. Lothrop, January active program of acquisition of Pre-Columbian art; 30, 1947, Lothrop correspondence, Pre-Columbian it follows Harvard University’s policy on acquiring Collection files, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library objects. and Collection.

Incidents Of Travel 25