Lecture | The Golden World of the American Mediterranean
Calima, Colombia, Pectoral with Face, 200 BC–1300 AD, gold, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, gift of Alfred C. Glassell, Jr.
John W. Hoopes, University of Kansas
The Golden World of the American Mediterranean: Art and Archaeology of Gran Colombia and the Caribbean Sea
Ruth K. Shartle Lecture Series
Presented to complement the exhibition Golden Worlds: The Portable Universe of Indigenous Colombia, this discussion looks at Indigenous goldwork from Colombia in the context of the “American Mediterranean,” a new conception of the Caribbean Sea and its surrounding territories. A view of the “center of the Americas” demonstrates how the Caribbean Sea and its surrounding territories—especially the Isthmo-Colombian Area—represented an intersection of peoples, traditions, and belief systems from Mesoamerica, the Antilles, Amazonia, and the Andes much as the Mediterranean Sea did for Europe, Türkiye, the Levant, Egypt, and North Africa.
Rex Koontz, consulting curator for art of the Indigenous Americas at the MFAH, introduces the lecture.
About the Speaker
John W. Hoopes, a professor in the anthropology department at the University of Kansas, received his PhD from Harvard University with a dissertation on the earliest pottery-producing cultures in the Americas. He teaches courses on ancient Mesoamerica and the Andes and undertakes research on Indigenous cultures of the Isthmo-Colombian Area. Hoopes has served as co-editor of several books, including Gold and Power in Ancient Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia.
Plan Your Visit This program takes place in Lynn Wyatt Theater in the Kinder Building, with seating on a first-come, first-served basis. Admission is free. The Golden Worlds exhibition is on view in the Law Building. On Thursdays, the Museum is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Visiting Guidelines In the interest of your personal safety and community health, please observe all precautions set forth by the MFAH—learn more here.
The Ruth K. Shartle Lecture Series is made possible by a generous grant from The Brown Foundation, Inc.
Learning and Interpretation programs receive generous funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services; Samuel H. Kress Foundation; The Brown Foundation, Inc.; Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo; Houston Junior Woman’s Club; Sharon G. Dies; Sterling-Turner Foundation; Susan Vaughan Foundation; and additional generous donors.
General admission to the MFAH is free on Thursdays, courtesy of Shell Oil Company.
“Golden Worlds: The Portable Universe of Indigenous Colombia” was organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and the Museo del Oro y Unidad de Artes y Otras Colecciones-Banco de la República, Colombia.
This exhibition has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom.
This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Major support is provided by:
The Glassell Family Foundation
Generous support is provided by:
The Favrot Fund