by Cecilia Bogaard. For more than two decades, art historian Jennifer John and her husband, Alexander, have pursued a common devotion for Maya art. Now based on Flinders Island, Tasmania, where Alexander practices as a medical doctor, in 2018 the couple published The Maya Gods of Time, a groundbreaking work in which they offered a
7 DECEMBER, 2020 – 21:47 JENNIFER AND AL… Maya Animation? Breathing Newfound Vitality into Ancient Maya Art This article presents a major breakthrough in Maya art and archaeology, revealing the sophisticated way that Maya artists animated ancient artworks. There is a lot of excitement surrounding the contemporary Mexican animator Jorge Gutierrez’s latest project, a Netflix series
Archaeology / Research / Insight / Comparative Studies Volume 1, Issue 2: The Maya Gods of Time First the book – now a new website that proposes a new theory on how to read Maya art. Click on this link to go to the website: www.mayagodsoftime.com Click on the below link to see the article.
We would like to thank Princeton University Art Museum, in particular Jeffrey Evans, manager of visual resources, and Emile Askey, for kindly creating and supplying 3D models of some of their Maya ceramics for us to insert in this website.
The Maya Gods of Time aims beyond this, to reveal “how the Maya perceived the laws of the universe and their own life and death as bound by the structural impermanence of time”. Jennifer and Alexander John make some interesting observations.
A useful section illustrates the long-vanished murals of Santa Rita in Belize, heroically recorded in the face of imminent destruction by Dr Thomas Gann, local medical officer in the 1890s. The excellent colour rendition of Gann’s tracings bring these important paintings, neglected since their 1900 publication, back into the academic arena.
Centuries before Hollywood, moving pictures existed in ancient Maya culture.
By examining Maya art from a new perspective, we reveal in The Maya Gods of Time the dazzling equivalent of ancient cinematic clippings to show how Maya animation portrays the motion of dance, the dressing of a king, the flight of birds and the dawning of the sun.
Like many people who through their history degrees and post-graduate education, have our particular areas of interest. But we always have an area of history while not expert in it, it draws us in, and Mayan history and art does it for me. I am no expert, but love learning from those who are, and The Maya Gods of Time is an excellent education, especially the interpretation of Mayan art.
Books of Teleportation
Now wouldn’t it just be grand: to stay in the one place, not having to lift a finger, yet find yourself being transported, or even teleported to another part of the world? Of course, we’re not actually talking about a physical displacement but rather, the opportunity for our mind and imagination to be taken across lands further than the eyes could see, and there are at least two books that can accomplish this wondrous experience.