For centuries, ancient Andean artists painted animals, humans, abstract motifs, and mythical beings on undyed cotton cloth. Showcasing a subtle color palette, these painted textiles have long been overshadowed by textiles woven from brightly dyed cotton and woolen yarns. Creatures and Captives: Painted Textiles of the Ancient Andes presents examples from the DMA’s collection highlighting this lesser-known Andean textile tradition, and features exciting new research carried out through institutional collaborations.
Creatures and Captives: Painted Textiles of the Ancient Andes is organized by the Dallas Museum of Art. The Dallas Museum of Art is supported, in part, by generous DMA Members and donors, the Texas Commission on the Arts, and the citizens of Dallas through the City of Dallas Office of Arts and Culture.
Images: Fragmentary Panel of the Prisoner Textile, 1200–1290. Chimú peoples. Peru, South America. Cotton, pigment, or dye. Dallas Museum of Art, the Nora and John Wise Collection, bequest of Nora Wise, 1989.W.1906; Painted Cloth: Standing Frontal Figures Holding Knives and Trophy Heads, about 1300–1476. Chancay. Peru. Cotton, pigment, or dye. Dallas Museum of Art, the Nora and John Wise Collection, bequest of John Wise, 1983.W.1917; Fragmentary Painted Cloth: Serpent-Head Motif, about 1000–1476 CE. Central or North-Central coast, Peru. Cotton, pigment, or dye. Dallas Museum of Art, the Nora and John Wise Collection, bequest of John Wise, 1983.W.1913.