'Lives of the Gods' brings Maya art, religion to the Met

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A new exhibition opening Nov. 21 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York highlights extraordinary works of art documenting the lifecycles of the Maya gods, the most elaborate pantheon in the ancient Americas. Initially conceived by James Doyle, director of the Matson Museum of Anthropology and associate research professor at Penn State, “Lives of the Gods: Divinity in Maya Art” is the first major exhibition of Maya art in the United States in a decade.

The exhibition includes nearly 100 pieces ranging from tiny jadeite pendants to giant limestone monuments from what today are the countries of Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras. The works depict the gods from birth through old age and cover the classic Maya period from circa 250 to 900 A.D.

“The idea was that this exhibition would be an exploration of probably the greatest visual tradition in the ancient Americas and consider how the Maya portrayed and gave shape to the divine in different identities,” said Doyle, who co-edited and co-authored the exhibition catalog, along with an international team of scholars. “These deities are personifications of natural phenomena, agriculture and other aspects of daily life. We also see this great continuity of beliefs from pre-European times through colonization and into contemporary and diaspora communities of Maya speakers today. It’s a living tradition that continues in different, transformed ways.”

“Lives of the Gods: Divinity in Maya Art” will be on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art through April 2, 2023. After its showing in New York, the exhibition will be on view from May 7 to Sept. 3, 2023, at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas.