Patricia Lagarde | Walters Art Museum (original) (raw)

Books by Patricia Lagarde

Ancient and modern craftspeople shaped jade, gold, feathers, and clay into exquisite artworks, bu... more Ancient and modern craftspeople shaped jade, gold, feathers, and clay into exquisite artworks, but the meanings of those objects are intertwined with the living essence of the raw materials themselves.

This volume, coinciding with the opening of permanent Art of the Americas galleries at the Walters Art Museum in 2025, examines how, for people in the Indigenous Americas, materials had and continue to have a life of their own.

Thirty-five highlights, ancient to contemporary, provide a window into the spiritual and intellectual context in which these objects were understood by the Indigenous people who made and used them.

Exhibitions by Patricia Lagarde

Latin American Art / Arte Latinoamericano presents over 200 artworks from the museum’s expansive ... more Latin American Art / Arte Latinoamericano presents over 200 artworks from the museum’s expansive collection of art from South, Central, and North America and the Caribbean in one contiguous space for the first time in the museum’s history. Encompassing works from 40 cultures, spanning more than four millennia, the beautifully reimagined North Court galleries—renovated for the first time in 40 years for this permanent exhibition—create a space for visitors to engage with the collection through bilingual materials.

The exhibition presents objects by geographic area and theme, diving deep into location, materials, and the natural world of the Americas. Visitors will encounter examples of ancient ceramic, earthenware, gold, paint, shell, silver, stone, textiles, and more. Collection highlights include dozens of gold and jade ornaments from Colombia and Central America; a large-scale Mexica (Aztec) statue of Macuilxochitl, patron god of music, dance, and gamblers; a colonial-era painting of Saint Rose of Lima; two Maya ceramic burial urns, colored with the special Maya blue colorant; and elaborately modeled Andean drinking vessels and ceramics ritually sprinkled with the red pigment cinnabar.

Latin American Art / Arte Latinoamericano is also an exceptional opportunity to see exciting recent acquisitions of contemporary art for the first time. Several acquisitions by living artists were made specifically for the exhibition, and include works by Jessy DeSantis, Melissa Foss, Eugenio Merino, Ana de Orbegoso, Uriarte Talavera, Pierre Valls, and Kukuli Velarde. These acquisitions explore key ideas such as migration, identity, and gender expression, and express visual and thematic resonances with art from the ancient Americas.

Video and audio interactives with contributions by community members and sensory stations with 3D-printed Maya glyphs and copal incense will also be featured.

Publications by Patricia Lagarde

Latin American and Latinx Visual Culture, 2023

In the ancient Peruvian highlands, architecture and sculpture were inextricably linked to the mou... more In the ancient Peruvian highlands, architecture and sculpture were inextricably linked to the mountainous Andean landscape. The character of light in this environment and how it illuminates architectural sculpture can fundamentally alter the way we perceive these objects. The dimensionality and placement of the tenon heads and cornice stones at Chavín de Huántar offer a unique opportunity to understand the role of the natural environment within architectural programs. Through a discussion of the sun’s role in casting dramatic shadows in the stones at Chavín, this article shifts our focus from object to shadow and demonstrates the powerful visual effects intended for individuals approaching the site. Utilizing the strong highland sun, sculptors leveraged the shadow-producing effects of these three-dimensional pieces to create spectacularly ornamented buildings. Although these vistas are lost today, archival photographs provide glimpses of the original perspectives. The sun generated movement of otherwise static sculptures, animating the heads mounted within the walls. Utilizing phenomenology of light, this paper positions the sculptures at Chavín within a cross-cultural dialogue on the role of natural light in the built environment. Together, the sculptures with their shadows animated the structure and focused the viewer’s attention on the monument from afar.

En el pasado, en la sierra peruana, la arquitectura y la escultura estaban ligadas a los Andes de manera indisoluble. La luz en este entorno y cómo esta ilumina la escultura arquitectónica puede cambiar radicalmente el modo de ver estos objetos. La dimensionalidad y la ubicación de las cabezas clava y las piedras de cornisa en Chavín de Huántar ofrecen una oportunidad única para entender el papel del entorno natural en los programas arquitectónicos. A partir de un análisis del papel del sol en la proyección de sombras dramáticas en las piedras de Chavín, este artículo desplaza nuestra mirada del objeto a la sombra, demostrando los poderosos efectos visuales destinados a las personas que se acercaban al sitio. Aprovechando el fuerte sol de las tierras altas, los escultores se valían de los efectos de producción de sombras de estas piezas tridimensionales para crear edificios espectacularmente ornamentados. Aunque estas vistas se han perdido, hay fotografías de archivo que permiten vislumbrar las perspectivas originales. El sol puso esculturas estáticas en movimiento, dando vida a las cabezas montadas en los muros. Recurriendo a la fenomenología de la luz, este artículo posiciona las esculturas de Chavín dentro de un diálogo intercultural sobre el papel de la luz natural en el entorno construido. Juntas, las esculturas con sus sombras animaron la estructura y desde lejos, centraron la atención del espectador en el monumento.

Actas de VII Congreso Nacional de Arqueología (2020). Lima: Ministerio de Cultura, 2022

El proyecto analizó las colecciones líticas de Chavín de Huántar, esculturas que comprenden cabez... more El proyecto analizó las colecciones líticas de Chavín de Huántar, esculturas que comprenden cabezas clavas y cornisas resguardadas por el Museo Nacional Chavín y el MNAAHP. En la investigación se emplearon equipos multimedia que nos permitieron examinar y conocer las piedras: sus propiedades petrológicas, su procedencia foránea y restos de pigmentos, que sugieren que estas estuvieron pintadas. En el caso de las cabezas clavas, hay residuos de una sustancia similar al pegamento, centro de los ojos y ligeros daños alrededor de las pupilas. Estos hallazgos nos instan a repensar la experiencia del espectador de esculturas líticas durante el período Formativo.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, 2021

View online: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/310655

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, 2021

View online: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/310662

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, 2021

View online: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/319265

Conference Presentations by Patricia Lagarde

Fusions of Culture, Time and Space. 46th Annual Conference Nineteenth-Century Studies Association, 2025

The biography of the Raimondi stela from Chavín de Huántar, Peru is inextricably intertwined with... more The biography of the Raimondi stela from Chavín de Huántar, Peru is inextricably intertwined with the story of Peru’s independence from Spain and quest for a national identity during the 19th century. After its discovery in the Andean highlands by Italian naturalist Antonio Raimondi, the new Peruvian government undertook a massive road expansion project to relocate the sculpture to the nation’s capital. In Lima, it was exhibited outdoors in the Palacio de la Exposition, a large park that was inspired by the international fairs of Europe and North America, as a symbol of Peru’s march towards modernity. The sculpture’s resilience during the Chilean invasion of Peru in 1879 reinvigorated its link to Peruvian national identity.

As the newly minted symbol of the Peruvian nation, and its link to the ancient past that legitimized it, the sculpture was replicated in plaster and exported abroad. A replica of the stone arrived in the United States in 1904 where it was part of an exhibition at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis that compared religious traditions from around the world. Situating the stone alongside canonical works of the ancient world elevated the Raimondi stela to international fame and placed the Peruvian nation in dialogue with other major centers of precocious development in the history of mankind.

A Conference in Honor of Elizabeth Boone: Revisiting a Quarter Century of Latin American Art at Tulane, 2024

Unveiling Chavín de Huántar: Reconsidering Andean Formative through the Legacy of the Stanford Archaeological Program, the 89th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology., 2024

The sculptural figures at Chavín de Huántar have long been considered potent symbols of a unified... more The sculptural figures at Chavín de Huántar have long been considered potent symbols of a unified religious tradition across the Andes mountains. Today, Chavín is recognized as a Formative Period pilgrimage center located in the highlands of modern-day Peru. It is known for its extensive sculptural program, and particularly for the tenon heads that once embellished the exterior walls of the monument.
The anthropomorphic heads feature elements such as fanged mouths, contorted expressions, and serpents slithering across the surface of stylized faces. Although previous studies have argued that the heads are representations of shamans undergoing hallucinogenic transformation, this paper reveals that they are one-of-a-kind figures at a pivotal state on a spectrum of containment and release. Metaphorical substitutions for the eyes, nose, and mouth of the figures were leveraged to distinguish Chavín as unique across an increasingly homogenizing landscape.

SECOLAS: Southeastern Council of Latin American Studies, 2023

The Archive in the Roger Thayer Stone Center for Latin American Studies documents its activities ... more The Archive in the Roger Thayer Stone Center for Latin American Studies documents its activities as a Research Center dedicated to interdisciplinary scholarship at Tulane University. Featuring institutional records created by past and current administrations, as well as programs offered by the Stone Center over the years, the dossier’s holdings chronicle a century of engagement with Latin America. This paper addresses questions central to the creation of a new archive – Who is the audience? What is the purpose? What are the core themes? What criteria is used to evaluate critical documents? How will the objects be organized? These questions have guided our efforts in creating both analog and digital archival formats to explore innovative strategies for narrating an institution’s history. This initiative will converge in a digital humanities project in 2024 to celebrate 100 years of research and teaching in the field of Latin American Studies at Tulane.

Framing the Past: Ruins, Imagination and Architecture, Society for Architectural Historians Annual International Conference, 2022

Chavín de Huántar, an ancient ceremonial center in the Peruvian Andes, has long been celebrated f... more Chavín de Huántar, an ancient ceremonial center in the Peruvian Andes, has long been celebrated for its impressive sculptural program. It is especially known for the tenoned heads that once embellished the façade of the monument. The grotesque heads often feature elements such as fanged mouths, contorted expressions, and serpents slithering across the surface of misshapen faces. Previous research suggests that the heads were reinstalled as the temple expanded over a four-hundred-year period. Theories of spoliation suggest how the reuse of old sculptures in new phases of building projects was an effort to maintain a sense of cohesion at pilgrimage sites. These theories explain how this was a strategy employed to maintain uniformity at Chavín despite cultural changes that may have occurred across the landscape.

The tenon heads, however, have undergone numerous contextual changes since their creation. After the monument was abandoned, the architecture and the sculptural heads were destroyed, recycled, and spoliated during the subsequent occupations. During these periods, evidence of at least six Chavín heads were recycled or spoliated in post-Chavín construction. Rather than promoting the continuation of a tradition, the reinterpretation of the tenon heads was a rejection of their enduring symbolism. Although it has long been assumed that the Huarás and Recuay traditions utilized materials from abandoned buildings out of necessity, the evidence at Chavín de Huántar suggests that the reuse of building materials was imbued with efforts to shape the memory of Chavín’s past to suit the present moment. This paper argues that the ever-present backdrop of the dilapidated ceremonial center, the lingering remains of the once vibrant visual program, and the reinstallation of the prior order’s sculptural tradition served to promote and legitimize drastic cultural changes taking place across the landscape.

Remembrance and the Human Form in the Ancient and Premodern World, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Spring Fellows Colloquia, New York, NY (virtual), 2021

The tenon heads of Chavín de Huántar entered historical consciousness in 1553, when Pedro Cieza d... more The tenon heads of Chavín de Huántar entered historical consciousness in 1553, when Pedro Cieza de León wrote of an ancient fortress adorned with sculpted faces in the central Andean highlands. Cieza de León’s description in the Crónica del Perú is acknowledged as the first historical reference to Chavín, an ancient ceremonial center known for its extensive sculptural program. The monument is particularly known for the tenon-head sculptures that were installed high on the exterior walls of the monument. The tenon heads, however, have undergone numerous physical and contextual changes since their creation. Although only one head survives in place today, voids in the structure remain where others were once embedded. Previous architectural research suggests that the sculptural program at Chavín was often reinstalled as the temple expanded over a 400-year period. Additionally, excavation records demonstrate that the heads were reused in post-Chavín contexts. Furthermore, archival photographs document tenon-head sculptures as repurposed materials in local residences. Today, the collection and study of the tenon heads sets them apart as unique objects of cultural heritage. This paper draws upon these resources to reconstruct the life history of the tenon heads at Chavín and reveals how they became markers of social memory.

Architectural Sculpture in the Ancient and Early Modern Periods, College Art Association Annual Conference, New York, NY (virtual), 2021

In the ancient Peruvian highlands, architecture and sculpture were inextricably linked to the mou... more In the ancient Peruvian highlands, architecture and sculpture were inextricably linked to the mountainous Andean landscape. The character of light in this environment and how it illuminates architectural sculpture can fundamentally alter the way we perceive these objects. The dimensionality and placement of the tenon heads and cornice stones at Chavín de Huántar (1200-500 BCE) offer a unique opportunity to understand the role of the natural environment within architectural programs. Through a discussion of the sun’s role in casting dramatic shadows in the stones at Chavín, this paper shifts our focus from object to shadow and demonstrates the powerful visual effects intended for pilgrims approaching the site. Utilizing the strong highland sun, sculptors leveraged the shadow-producing effects of these three-dimensional pieces to create spectacular ornamented buildings. The dark shadows underneath these pieces illuminated the sculpted faces and drew attention to the sculptural program. Although these vistas are lost today, archival photographs provide glimpses of these original perspectives. Black and white prints from the early 1900s heighten the darks of the sculptural shadows and document how they changed over the course of the day. The everchanging position of the sun generated movement of otherwise static sculptures, animating the heads mounted within the walls. Utilizing phenomenology and kinaesthetics this paper positions the sculptures at Chavín within a cross-cultural dialogue on the role of natural light in the built environment. Together, the sculptures with their shadows animated the structure and focused the viewer’s attention on the monument from afar.

Fellows’ Friday Lecture Series, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (virtual), 2020

VII Congreso Nacional de Arqueología, Ministerio de Cultura Peru, Lima, Peru, 2020

El proyecto analizó las colecciones líticas de Chavín de Huántar, esculturas que comprenden cabe... more El proyecto analizó las colecciones líticas de Chavín de Huántar, esculturas que comprenden cabezas clavas y cornisas resguardadas por el Museo Nacional Chavín y el MNAAHP. En la investigación se emplearon equipos multimedia que nos permitieron examinar y conocer las piedras: sus propiedades petrológicas, su procedencia foránea y restos de pigmentos, que sugieren que estas estuvieron pintadas. En el caso de las cabezas clavas, hay residuos de una sustancia similar al pegamento, centro de los ojos y ligeros daños alrededor de las pupilas. Estos hallazgos nos instan a repensar la experiencia del espectador de esculturas líticas durante el período Formativo.

Awardee Seminar, Fulbright Commission Peru, Lima, Peru, 2019

Coloquio internacional por los 100 años del museo. Museo de arqueología y antropología de la Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, Peru. , 2019

Thirty Centuries of American Art: Border, Connections, Ecopolitics, and the Geoaesthetics of Place, SECAC Annual Conference, Birmingham, AL, 2018

The ceremonial center of Chavín de Huántar (1200-500 BCE) is often referenced by scholars as the ... more The ceremonial center of Chavín de Huántar (1200-500 BCE) is often referenced by scholars as the first civilization to inspire cultural cohesion across the Andes. Artistic production played a critical role in the spread of Chavín’s influence, visually crafting the pilgrim experience from architectural sculpture to personal items that traveled across the landscape. Among the stone sculptures of Chavín is the Lanzón monolith, one of the few pieces found in situ at the complex. Hidden deep within the winding temple galleries, this unique figure is believed to be the principle deity of the Chavín religious tradition. As such, its location inside the temple was carefully restricted and seldom accessed by outsiders.

Across time, cultures, and geographies, people have created images that were intended to be concealed. A cross-cultural analysis of objects found in fully restricted or semi-restricted spaces illuminates how controlled access to a piece enhances its meaning and influence. Restriction serves to heighten awareness through verbal narratives that elevate an object’s social status. This paper argues that the narratives inspired by the Lanzón generated a social currency that was leveraged by Chavín’s spiritual leaders to connect previously isolated communities under a single ideological framework.

Art Matters: The Material Lives of Objects, Georgia State University Graduate Forum Symposium, Atlanta, GA, 2017