Pre-Columbian Art, Textiles, Mescal, and Leaving Oaxaca

Of all the little treasures we found in Oaxaca, the Rufino Tamayo Museum of pre-Columbian art is at the top. The museum, which was opened in 1974, is housed in a 17th-century building with a long history of it's own. It sits tucked in between other old buildings on a side street of Oaxaca. The artist, Rufino Tamayo (1899-1991), is one of Oaxaca's own, and he's famous across Mexico. Tamayo's purpose for collecting the objects was purely to keep them from falling into the hands of illegal artifact traders. Being an artist, he wanted his collection to be preserved as art, not science, and displayed for its beauty. The director of the museum is quoted as saying, “It’s about the expression of beauty, made by humans for humans.”

As a result of how and why the objects were collected, they came without provenance. However, most of them have been researched enough to be fairly accurately dated. The objects predate the Spanish conquest, and some even predate the Mayan and Aztec civilizations. We saw fierce looking warriors, people in ceremonial dress, musicians, ball players, women nursing babies, a whole case of dogs. Taken together, it's like a scrapbook with images of real human beings engaged in everyday life. For me, it was sufficient to simply see them as a glimpse into a world 2000 or more years ago, to try to imagine how these objects were used, and what the creators were trying to "say" in their art.

Below are just a few photos of what we saw, without description, pretty much the way we experienced them.


If you want to see more (and I hope you do), here is the link for much more of the Tamayo collection.

In Oaxaca there were maybe a half-dozen small museums like the Tamayo. There was a textile museum constructed on what were previously the grounds of the Dominican convent of San Pablo. The two-story baroque Oaxacan mansion, built of the green quarry stones we saw all over the city, dates to the 18th century. In it we saw displays showcasing materials and approaches to weaving in general but with a focus on Mexican craft weaving, and collections of the work of famous weavers and textile artists. In another part of the San Pablo convent complex there was a series of displays showing the different ways cacao is harvested and used across the larger state of Oaxaca.

Then there was the Mescaloteca, a place dedicated "to the preservation and dissemination of traditional distilled agave mezcal." The Oaxacaquenos were always asking us if we had tried the beverage, mostly after meals. Like so many cultures around the world that have a strong, clear, and very high-alcohol beverage (49% and up), the people in Oaxaca were very proud of their mescal. We tried it a few times, but decided it's something of an acquired taste, and we were definitely not going to acquire a taste for it in two weeks. The video below is in Spanish, but it will give you a 9 minute short course in the many different kinds of agave used in the drink and a fun look at the traditional way mescal is made. You'll love the old-world ox grinder and the rooster in the background!

If this clip doesn't show up use this link.

In addition to the museums, all over the town of Oaxaca itself, the cultural arts were always on display. On the street, in the markets, and in shops, you could find many examples of the famous wood carvings and beautiful embroidery the place is known for. The kinds of crafts only people without the distractions of modern life have the time and patience to create.

The kinds of crafts only people
without the distractions of modern life
have the time and patience to create.

These are just some of the ways the people in this part of the world are sharing their long history and considerable cultural pride with us. More than once in both public and personal ways, when it was NOT about making money, it was made clear to us they want us to really know them. They want us to understand their lives. They want us to know some of their struggles, their proud history, to experience rather than just witness their culture. Above all, from people in shops, waiters in restaurants, taxi drivers, and the staff at our hotel, they made it clear they wanted us to leave Oaxaca with good memories. And that's just what happened on this trip.

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Thanks for coming along for the ride. If you're signed up for the travel blog, you'll be hearing back from us possibly on our cross-country trip back to Minnesota in the spring, or perhaps next fall. The words Spanish Pyrenees and Coast of Portugal have been whispered.

Blessings, and onward!

Earl and Gwen