Mayan Revival architecture

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The Maya Revival Style refers to modern architecture and decorative arts that use Mesoamerican culture as a source of inspiration. Although the name refers only to the Maya, practitioners frequently blended Maya and Mexica motifs. Marjorie Ingle traces the history of this style to the Pan American Union Building by Paul Philippe Cret, which incorporates numerous motifs drawn from the indigenous traditions of the Americas. Specifically Maya and Mexica elements in the Pan American Union Building include the floor mosaics surrounding a central fountain (most of the motifs are copied directly from sculpture at Copan) and figures on lights flanking the entrance to the building. Also, in the Pan American Union Building's Art Museum of the Americas there are numerous stoneware architectural details that are copied from Maya and Mexica art. Two prominent architects that worked in this style are Frank Lloyd Wright and Robert Stacy-Judd. Wright's Hollyhock House copied the shape of temples from Palenque, the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo was in the shape of a Mesoamerican pyramid, and the Ennis House is built from cement blocks that evoke the geometric patterning on the facades of Puuc buildings. The facade and furniture for Stacy-Judd's Aztec Hotel incorporated abstract patterns that were loosely inspired by Maya hieroglyphs. Other prominent buildings in this style include the Guardian Building by Wirt C. Rowland of Smith Hinchman & Grylls, the Mayan Theater in Denver by Montana Fallis, the Mayan Theater in Los Angeles by Stiles O. Clements, and the Fisher Theater by Albert Kahn in Detroit. The great scholar of the Maya, Sylvanus G. Morley was involved in the design the the latter theater. (see Gebhard)

[edit] Sources

• Barrett, John. "The Pan American Union: Peace, Friendship, Commerce." Washington, D.C.: Pan American Union. 1911
• Braun, Barbara. Pre-Columbian Art and the Post-Columbian World: Ancient American Sources of Modern Art. New York. Harry N. Abrams. 1993.
• Gebhard, David and Anthony Peres. Robert Stacy-Judd: Maya Architecture and the Creation of a New Style. Capra Press. 1993
• Ingle, Marjorie I. The Mayan Revival Style: Art Deco Mayan Fantasy. University of New Mexico Press. 1989