Lecture: From San Ildefonso to Casas Grandes: Art Histories in Black and Red with Andrew Hamilton
The exhibition Canvas to Clay highlights two of the most celebrated pottery traditions of the modern Southwest and Northern Mexico: the black‑on‑black vessels created by Maria and Julian Martinez at San Ildefonso Pueblo, and the intricately painted ceramics developed by Juan Quezada in the village of Mata Ortiz. This lecture will explore how each of these contemporary styles draws upon much older ceramic practices uncovered by archaeological research. Join Andrew Hamilton as he traces these innovations deep into the past—from the long tradition of blackware production among Ancestral Pueblo communities to the striking red‑and‑black geometric vessels made by Casas Grandes ceramicists at Paquimé between 1130 and 1450 CE. Together, these histories reveal how ancient techniques and visual languages have shaped two influential modern pottery movements.
Andrew James Hamilton is curator of Arts of the Americas at the Art Institute of Chicago and a lecturer in the Department of Art History at the University of Chicago. He is the author and illustrator of Scale & the Incas, published by Princeton University Press in 2018, and The Royal Inca Tunic: A Biography of an Andean Masterpiece, published by Princeton University Press in 2024, and winner of the R. L. Shep Memorial Book Award from the Textile Society of America. He received his PhD and MA from Harvard University and his BA from Yale University.
John L. Santikos Auditorium
Ticket Price: Free
Ticket Price Members: Free
The exhibition Canvas to Clay highlights two of the most celebrated pottery traditions of the modern Southwest and Northern Mexico: the black‑on‑black vessels created by Maria and Julian Martinez at San Ildefonso Pueblo, and the intricately painted ceramics developed by Juan Quezada in the village of Mata Ortiz. This lecture will explore how each of these contemporary styles draws upon much older ceramic practices uncovered by archaeological research. Join Andrew Hamilton as he traces these innovations deep into the past—from the long tradition of blackware production among Ancestral Pueblo communities to the striking red‑and‑black geometric vessels made by Casas Grandes ceramicists at Paquimé between 1130 and 1450 CE. Together, these histories reveal how ancient techniques and visual languages have shaped two influential modern pottery movements.
Andrew James Hamilton is curator of Arts of the Americas at the Art Institute of Chicago and a lecturer in the Department of Art History at the University of Chicago. He is the author and illustrator of Scale & the Incas, published by Princeton University Press in 2018, and The Royal Inca Tunic: A Biography of an Andean Masterpiece, published by Princeton University Press in 2024, and winner of the R. L. Shep Memorial Book Award from the Textile Society of America. He received his PhD and MA from Harvard University and his BA from Yale University.
Lectures and Artist Conversations are made possible by generous support from the Louis A. and Frances B. Wagner lecture fund.
Image credit: Maria Martinez (San Ildefonso Pueblo, 1887–1980) and Julian Martinez (San Ildefonso Pueblo, 1885–1943), Double Spouted Wedding Vessel with Butterflies, 1930–1940, Earthenware with slip, 10 1/2 × 8 in. diameter, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Gift of Miss Ima Hogg, 44.86, Photograph © The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Thomas R. DuBrock
Headshot courtesy of Andrew Hamilton.
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