Golden Kingdoms at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Joanne Pillsbury, curator of the exhibition “Golden Kingdoms,” talks about masterpieces from major museums in Latin America, Europe, and the United States.
Joanne Pillsbury, Andrall E. Pearson Curator, Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, gives a talk in Spanish about the spectacular royal regalia of Moche kings and queens who ruled on Peru’s North Coast some fifteen hundred years ago. The exhibition also shows masterpieces from leading museums, among them, artworks that trace the Spanish influence in the Ancient Americas.
About Golden Kingdoms
Golden Kingdoms: Luxury and Legacy in the Ancient Americas –a landmark exhibition of luxury arts of the Incas, the Aztecs, and their predecessors– traces the emergence and florescence of goldworking in the ancient Americas, from its earliest appearance in the Andes to its later developments farther north in Central America and Mexico. In the ancient Americas, metalworking developed in the context of ritual and regalia, rather than for tools, weapons, or currency.
Golden Kingdoms reveals the distinctive ways ancient Americans used not only metals, but also jade, shell, and feathers –materials often considered more valuable than gold. Bringing together newly discovered archaeological finds and masterpieces from major museums in Latin America, Europe, and the United States, this exhibition casts new light on these ancient civilizations and their place within world history.
Golden Kingdoms focuses on specific places and times –crucibles of innovation, moments of exceptional achievement in the arts– to explore how materials were selected and transformed, imbued with meaning, and deployed in the most important rituals of their time. This unprecedented exhibition features more than 300 works from 52 lenders in 12 countries.