Press Release

Obsidian Mirror-Travels: Refracting Ancient Mexican Art and Archaeology
At the Getty Research Institute, Getty Center
November 16, 2010 — March 27, 2011

This exhibition explores representations of Mexican archaeological objects and sites made from the Colonial era to the present. Featuring images of ancient Maya and Aztec ruins by archaeologist explorers such as John Lloyd Stephens, Désiré Charnay, and Augustus and Alice Le Plongeon, the exhibition showcases depictions of the Aztec Calendar Stone and other Mexican antiquities as well as panoramic visions of Mexico—all in the context of the Spanish conquest, the 19th-century French intervention in Mexico, and the lengthy presidency of Porfirio Díaz (1876-1910). Some of the works exhibited are accurate, while others are fanciful; each portrays a distinct vision of Mexico.