ThoughtGallery.org > Jean-Frédéric Waldeck: A Nineteenth-Century Artist Painting Exotic Mexico

Jean-Frédéric Waldeck: A Nineteenth-Century Artist Painting Exotic Mexico

Jean-Frédéric Waldeck (1766-1875) grew up in France and claimed to have studied with Vien and David, the major founders of the Neoclassical movement in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. At age 60 (1825) he went to Mexico to copy the newly discovered Maya ruins of Palenque and other Mesoamerican centers. His representations of Mayan and Aztec architecture and sculpture were the first produced by a European artist to consider Pre-Columbian art as “art” seen through a Neoclassic lens. For a time, he went native, painting the life around him, including his Maya mistress. On his return to Paris, he exhibited at the Salon. Although he aspired to fame and fortune from this enterprise, he became known for inaccuracies in rendering and wild exaggerations about his travel adventures. Waldeck has not been taken seriously, and his work, mostly hidden in archives, is unknown to most art historians. Professor Pasztory’s recent publication places him in his time, assesses his contribution, and makes available his delightful images.

Esther Pasztory, PhD, is the author of Jean-Frédéric Waldeck: Artist of Exotic Mexico, and is professor of Pre-Columbian art history at Columbia University. Since 1997, she has held the Lisa and Bernard Selz Chair in Art History and Archaeology. Among her many publications are the first art historical manuscripts on Teotihuacan and the Aztecs. She has been the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship (1987–88) and is a senior fellow of the board of Dumbarton Oaks.











When: Thu., Nov. 15, 2012 at 6:30 pm
Where: Dahesh Museum of Art
145 Sixth Ave.
212-759-0606
Price: Free
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Jean-Frédéric Waldeck (1766-1875) grew up in France and claimed to have studied with Vien and David, the major founders of the Neoclassical movement in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. At age 60 (1825) he went to Mexico to copy the newly discovered Maya ruins of Palenque and other Mesoamerican centers. His representations of Mayan and Aztec architecture and sculpture were the first produced by a European artist to consider Pre-Columbian art as “art” seen through a Neoclassic lens. For a time, he went native, painting the life around him, including his Maya mistress. On his return to Paris, he exhibited at the Salon. Although he aspired to fame and fortune from this enterprise, he became known for inaccuracies in rendering and wild exaggerations about his travel adventures. Waldeck has not been taken seriously, and his work, mostly hidden in archives, is unknown to most art historians. Professor Pasztory’s recent publication places him in his time, assesses his contribution, and makes available his delightful images.

Esther Pasztory, PhD, is the author of Jean-Frédéric Waldeck: Artist of Exotic Mexico, and is professor of Pre-Columbian art history at Columbia University. Since 1997, she has held the Lisa and Bernard Selz Chair in Art History and Archaeology. Among her many publications are the first art historical manuscripts on Teotihuacan and the Aztecs. She has been the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship (1987–88) and is a senior fellow of the board of Dumbarton Oaks.

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