Thank you for visiting the Aztec Art in Ancient Mexico blog. Whether you are visiting for the first time or one of my regular visitors, I hope you enjoy your visit to this website.
The aim of this blog is to cover all aspects of Aztec art and artists. From a history perspective, I also explore how the Aztec Empire lived, loved, and died at the hands of Spanish invaders. The blog also has several galleries that showcase ancient works of art and artifacts related to the Aztec civilization.
From a contemporary perspective, I blog about various art-related topics including current exhibitions and cultural events in Mexico City and other parts of Mexico.
Thank you again for visiting!
Angela Muñoz Sánchez
This is a blog about the history of Aztec art. The information contained herein is believed to be accurate, but accuracy is not guaranteed. If you wish to reproduce any material found here, please ask permission from the author or artist.
Ancient Mexican culture is represented by a long era of art that included many types of art. Among these were incredible paintings and mosaics, stone carvings, pottery and sculpture. These pieces of art portray the people, gods and animals that made up the history of ancient Mexican culture.
Tribal artists specialized in creating objects of beauty in every form. One such tribe was the Aztecs, who did not create all their own artworks, but rather commissioned them from other tribes. The Aztecs mainly used this form of art to record historical events or to represent their gods and religious ceremonies. The work was often done on walls or ceramics. Additionally, the Aztecs created many sculptures for their temples and palaces, some of which have survived to this day.
A very valuable part of Aztec art is the codices created by tribal artists. These books depicted important scenes in the history or religious ceremonies of the time. In addition there were also pictures for everyday life as well as pictures depicting each of the months in the year. Each month was associated with a specific god as well as a set number and color of days.
Aztec artists created many forms of art, including music and painting. Their legacy continues even today in museums
I am a professional historian who studies the cultures of ancient Mexico. I have taught courses in Mesoamerican history, archaeology and anthropology at the University of Ottawa, Carleton University and Trent University.
I also love to write about the history of Mesoamerica and have published scholarly articles in journals such as Ancient Mesoamerica and Mexicon as well as popular articles for Macleans and on a number of blogs.
I’m also an artist with a BA in sculpture from Queen’s University and an MFA in sculpture from York University.
My paintings are inspired by my research into Mesoamerican art and culture but they are not exact copies of specific pieces or images. They are my own artistic creations based on the beautiful artefacts that were created by artists long ago.
Aztec art is full of vivid colors, fascinating animals and vibrant patterns. The art and artists that produced it are still widely studied today.
The style of Aztec art was very different from Mesoamerican cultures before the time of the Aztecs. Aztec art has a more naturalistic feel, with a more realistic depiction of people and animals. People were shown in realistic postures and proportions.
When you visit an exhibit of Aztec art and artifacts, you might notice that many pieces are made out of colorful materials such as jade, turquoise and obsidian. If you look closely at some images in the art, you will see that they depict those same materials. This was not coincidence. During the time period when this culture flourished, these materials were valuable resources used by their creators to make objects of value.
Who created Aztec art? There were many artists in this culture who specialized in various types of work, including sculpture, painting and weaving. Sculpture was done by craftsmen known as “tlacuilo.” They were trained from a young age to be skilled craftspeople through formal education, practice and apprenticeship to master craftsmen.
Tlacuilo learned how to sculpt by carving small wooden figures
The Aztec Empire, or as they called themselves, the Mexica, were a Mesoamerican people of the 14th to 16th centuries. They are most famous for being the last of the great Mesoamerican civilizations and for conquering an empire that stretched from Central Mexico to Central America. The Aztec culture was centered on the capital of Tenochtitlan, which is now modern day Mexico City. Aztec art is one of the most impressive art styles produced in Mesoamerica and features a wide variety of designs and themes, including depictions of nature, religious themes and mythical creatures.
Aztec history begins with their migration into central Mexico in the 12th century AD. According to Aztec legend, they migrated under their god Huitzilopochtli to escape destruction in a place called Aztlán. The Aztecs established their capital city of Tenochtitlan on an island in Lake Texcoco where they built an impressive system of aqueducts that still stand today. By using canals and dams the Aztecs were able to recreate an island ecosystem with its own fresh water supply which was connected to the mainland by means of several stone causeways.
The Aztec civilization reached its peak between 1325
Aztec art is a type of pre-Columbian art created by the Aztec civilization, which dominated a large part of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries.
Toltec architecture is also very famous. The architects were brilliant artists, who used the local volcanic rock and also limestone from further away. They could even build houses that looked like mountains.
Aztec music was made up of different types of flutes, or wind instruments. Many of them were made from bones, but some were made from seashells or gourds. They also played drums and rattles. The music was used for ceremonies.
