Illustration by ERICA PINTO/Daily Bruin
By Alicia Cheak
Daily Bruin Contributor
Ceramic vessels elaborately decorated with fineline iconography
of warriors, burial ceremonies, animals and supernatural beings
present pictorial stories of a civilization long past.
These vessels and their adornments are the focus of “Moche
Fineline Painting of Ancient Peru,” on view at UCLA Fowler
Museum of Cultural History through Feb. 18.
Preceding the Incas by several centuries, the Moche civilization
flourished on the north coast of Peru between 100 and 800 C.E. and
left behind a rich artistic record of their beliefs and practices.
Although diverse artifacts testify to their existence, these
ancient Peruvians are best-known for their fineline drawings. Hence
this exhibit, which features 50 large-scale rollout photographs
reproduced from the painted originals. The photographs are
accompanied by some of the vessels themselves, as well as other
sculptured objects.
 Photos from UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History The
piece, "Combat of Bean and Deer Warriors," will be displayed at the
UCLA Fowler Museum as part of the "Moche Fineline Paintings of
Ancient Peru" exhibit. The artwork will be shown through Feb. 18,
2001. The exhibit helps one to appreciate the grueling process
anthropologists undergo to make sense of a civilization with no
known writing system and only visually recorded beliefs and
practices.
Many of the drawings, especially those that are narrative in
nature, are highly detailed. Without a vocabulary to decode the
composite war and burial scenes, it is easy to overlook the stories
embedded in the mass of repetitive lines and curves.
Because the scenes are presented on a spherical rather than a
lineal plane, it is often difficult to know where to begin and what
to look for in the pictorial stores.
Luckily, guest curators Christopher B. Donnan and Donna
McClelland have taken a thematic approach by offering informative
commentaries on the evolution of Moche artistic styles and subject
matters over the course of its 700-year history. They also call
attention to specifics of Moche iconography, such as the range of
often fantastic anthropomorphized characters and the variety of
scenes and activities of which they are a part.
One picks up the tools for deciphering Moche iconography in the
center of the gallery. Supplied with a paper that decodes the
pictorial system of reoccurring natural and supernatural
characters, as well as information on the five phases of Moche
iconography, viewers must be prepared to read the artifacts and
reproductions.
Some of the most intriguing characters in the pictures on
display are “˜Wrinkle Face’ and “˜Iguana,’
who are common in warrior scenes. Spotlight is also given to reed
boats, deers and monsters. Some of the most beautiful examples of
fineline drawing involve reed boats, with the shape of the boats
wrapping around the vessels. Especially delightful and familiar are
the demonfish and the comical anthropomorphized bean in warrior
pose.
Even more intriguing are the temporal depictions of war and
burial scenes wherein activities are positioned at the base of the
vessel with culminating events located at the spout. Taken as a
whole, a burial picture can be appreciated for the visual contrasts
created by the reddish paint on earth-toned vessels. But broken
down, one is further rewarded with a narrative that includes
burial, assembly and sacrifice.
Beyond the insights offered on the development of iconographic
themes, the exhibit also presents the ambiguities of particular
features within a larger narrative that continue to confound
translation. One such riddle is the enigmatic ceremonial
“badminton” game, where flying objects attached by long
strings are likened to shuttlecocks.
 This Moche ceramic vessel with a painted deer hunting
scene (ca. 100 to 800 C.E.) can be viewed at the UCLA Fowler Museum
of Cultural History.
Detailed paintings by three Moche artists, known as Rodriguez,
Amano and Snail, are also on display. The art of each is
distinguished through the unique characteristics of the
painter’s style, often most clearly reflected in the way each
depicts anatomical features such as noses, hands and cheeks, or the
use of motifs such as snails and monkeys.
Moche fineline painting has evolved from that of simple and
naturalistic animals and humans into that of anthropomorphized
creatures to a final iconography that is elaborate, abstract and
symbolic. Despite the reduction of a 700-year culture to a few
scant surviving artifacts, which themselves require translation,
the themes that remain in art tell of practices and beliefs that
were prevalent enough to warrant a notable place in their cultural
lives.
Badminton, however, remains moot.
ART: “Moche Fineline Painting of Ancient
Peru” is on view at UCLA Flower Museum of Cultural History
through Feb. 18. It is open Wednesday through Sunday, noon to 5
p.m. and Thursday, noon to 8 p.m. General admission is $5; $1 for
UCLA students with ID. Admission is free on Thursdays. For more
information, call the Fowler Museum at (310) 825-4361.