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Honoring Ancestors

This collection of images from the MIA's permanent collection was developed to be used in conjunction with the Young People's Ofrendas: Expressions of Life and Remembrance Teacher's Guide. Visit the Young People's Ofrenda project blog at http://www.artsmia.org/ofrenda to download the Teacher's Guide and learn more about this museum-school partnership and resulting exhibition.

MIA Division of Learning & Innovation
Fall 2011

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House Group

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Artist: Artist Unknown (Nayarit)
Date: 200 B.C.-400 A.D.
Medium: Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects, Ceramic
Size: 18 x 9 3/4 x 7 in. (45.7 x 24.8 x 17.8 cm)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 47.2.37

The ancient Nayarit people from what is Mexico today believed that the dead remained connected to the living, and the lives of the ancestors mirrored their own. The Nayarit buried their ancestors close to their homes and nourished the dead with offerings. This sculpture shows both the living and the ancestors enjoying similar activities and food.

The Silence of a Gaze (El Silencio de la Mirada)

Artist: Luis González Palma
Date: 1992
Medium: Photographs, Photograph
Size: 20 1/2 x 66 3/4 in. (52.07 x 169.55 cm) (image)35 x 69 in. (88.9 x 175.26 cm) (mount)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 93.2.2

In The Silence of a Gaze Palma incorporates symbolic images that allude to history, culture, and tradition. He uses words, film, newsprint and ribbons to commemorate the thousands who suffered and died in the Guatemalan Civil War.

Haga clic acá para ver información de Luis González Palma (en español)

Click here to see more information about Luis González Palma (in English)

Awatovi Birds

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Artist: Dextra Quotskuyva
Date: 1990
Medium: Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects, Ceramic
Size: 4 1/2 x 15 in. (11.43 x 38.1 cm)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 91.3

Dextra Quotskuyva created this seed vessel to commemorate her great-grandmother, who transmitted the legacy of pottery making to many in her family. In this jar, Quotskuyva references the past by drawing on imagery from a mural in the ancient Hopituh Shinumu village.

Custer's War

Artist: One Bull
Date: c. 1900
Medium: Paintings, Painting
Size: 69 1/4 x 39 1/2 in. (175.9 x 100.3 cm) (irregular)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 94.47.1

Having fought in the Battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876, One Bull was motivated to honor the Cheyenne, Lakota, and Arapaho warriors who won a stunning victory over the United States Army. He commemorates events of the war in great detail including a scene of himself rescuing a friend.

The Family

Artist: Rufino Tamayo
Date: 1936
Medium: Paintings, Painting
Size: 31 7/8 x 47 5/8 in. (80.96 x 120.97 cm) (sight)40 3/4 x 56 5/8 x 2 1/16 in. (103.51 x 143.83 x 5.24 cm) (outer frame)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 60.4

In this painting Rufino Tamayo celebrates strong family relationships. The closeness of the figures in what appears to be a home environment emphasizes their bond. Tamayo makes his message universal by avoiding individual detail in their faces.

Reminiscences of 1865

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Artist: John Frederick Peto
Date: after 1900
Medium: Paintings, Painting
Size: 30 x 20 in. (76.2 x 50.8 cm) (canvas)42 x 32 in. (106.68 x 81.28 cm) (outer frame)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 44.25

The death and suffering experienced during the American Civil War, and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, dramatically changed the national psyche. Many art works commemorated Lincoln. In Reminiscences of 1865, Peto suggests the fatigue
of the country through the realistically rendered objects and door, with the President’s nickname and death date.

Portrait of a Boy

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Artist: attributed to James B. Read
Date: 1856
Medium: Paintings, Painting
Size: 48 1/4 x 35 1/4 in. (122.56 x 89.54 cm) (sight)52 x 39 1/4 x 1 1/2 in. (132.08 x 99.7 x 3.81 cm) (outer frame)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 77.46

This portrait was commissioned by a family to commemorate the loss of a child. The traditional mourning colors—red, white and black—identify this as a posthumous portrait, as do symbolic objects such as the clinging honeysuckle vine, faded roses, and
keepsake book. A storm darkens the sky as the boy appears to be leaving home.

Kiss of Victory

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Artist: Sir Alfred Gilbert
Date: 1878–1881
Medium: Sculpture
Size: 89 1/2 in. (227.33 cm)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 76.32

As a tribute to his brother who had recently died, Gilbert depicts a Roman legionary fallen in battle, receiving a kiss of victory. Though dying, the figure is beautiful and full of life.

False Door

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Artist: Artist Unknown (Egyptian)
Date: c. 2400 B.C.
Medium: Sculpture
Size: 61 x 45 3/5 x 4 1/2 in. (154.9 x 115.8 x 11.4 cm)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 52.22

The ancient Egyptians provided offerings for the dead in order to assure their comfort in the next world. Offerings were once left before this carved stone door designed as a passageway for the spirit of an important individual to pass freely between the worlds of the living and the dead. As seen on this door, the Egyptians commemorated their ancestors with hieroglyphic inscriptions, including prayers.

Memorial Screen

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Artist: Artist Unknown (Ijo)
Date: late 19th century
Medium: Sculpture
Size: 37 1/2 x 28 x 9 3/4 in. (95.3 x 71.1 x 24.8 cm)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 74.22

Upon the death of the most important men the Ijaw people in Nigeria erected screens decorated with figures and symbolic objects as memorials. These screens provided a resting place for the spirit, and a place where people could make offerings of food and drink to keep the spirit content in order to ensure protection and prosperity for the family.

Cartonnage of Lady Tashat

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Artist: Artist Unknown (Egyptian)
Date: 1085-710 B.C.
Medium: Other, Mummies and Coffins
Size: 67 x 67 in. (170.2 cm)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 16.417

Ancient Egyptians believed in the afterlife. They carefully preserved the bodies of ancestors through ritual mummification so that their immortal life force, the ka, would live forever. Lady Tashat was buried with food and drinks, furniture, clothing and
jewelry, in order to assist her on her journey and in the afterlife.

Ere Ibeji

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Artist: Artist Unknown (Yoruba)
Date: 20th century
Medium: Sculpture
Size: 12 3/4 x 4 1/2 x 4 1/16 in. (32.4 x 11.4 x 10.3 cm) (including attached wood mount)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 98.209.1

The twin birth rate among the Yoruba people of Nigeria exceeds all other countries. Because of the special status that twins carry in this culture, when one or both twins die the family commissions a figure to honor the deceased twin(s). The mother or another relative takes care of the twin sculpture as though it is a living child; she prays to the sculpture, dresses and cleans it, and carries it on her back.

Buddhist Reliquary (Nyoiho_ju)

Artist: Artist Unknown (Japan)
Date: 16th-17th century
Medium: Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects, Metalwork
Size: 7 1/4 x 3 1/2 x 3 3/4 in. (18.42 x 8.89 x 9.53 cm)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 2006.42

This Japanese reliquary contains stones and other materials that symbolically represent the actual relics of the historic Buddha, Shakyamuni. It is shaped like a wishgranting jewel to symbolize Buddhist deities’ ability to respond to prayers.

The Wu Family Reception Hall

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Artist: Artist Unknown (China)
Date: early 17th century
Medium: Architecture, Architecture-Period Room
Size: 216 x 483 x 288 in. (548.64 x 1226.82 x 731.52 cm) (outer exterior wall dimension)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 98.61.1

The Wu Family Reception Hall was a special space where families carried out rituals to honor their ancestors, received guests, and entertained. Worship was typically done on an ancestor’s birthday. The family would gather before a portrait of the ancestor for ceremonial prayer.

Grave Stele

Artist: Artist Unknown (Greek)
Date: 5th century B.C.
Medium: Sculpture
Size: 33 3/4 x 13 5/8 x 4 7/8 in. (85.73 x 34.61 x 12.38 cm)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 31.4

The ancient Greeks honored the dead with grave markers like this one that emphasized life over death. The couple here is shown affectionately touching each other’s hand, suggesting they would never be completely separate from each other.

Cinerary Box with Cover

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Artist: Artist Unknown (Roman)
Date: 1st century
Medium: Sculpture
Size: 18 3/4 x 11 1/2 x 7 3/4 in. (47.63 x 29.21 x 19.69 cm)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 62.20a,b

The garlands, animals, gorgons, and other motifs on this cinerary box in the shape of a roofed building illustrate the ancient Roman belief in regeneration after death. The inscription indicates that the ashes of a man and woman were stored in the box, which was likely placed in a niche in a tomb.

The Death of Germanicus

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Artist: Nicolas Poussin
Date: 1627
Medium: Paintings, Painting
Size: 58 1/4 x 78 in. (147.96 x 198.12 cm) (canvas)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 58.28

Nicolas Poussin honors the young Roman general Germanicus by showing him as a heroic leader surrounded by his grieving family and loyal admirers ready to avenge his murder. Poussin imbues the scene with drama through dynamic poses and an emphasis on the acts of suffering, grief, loyalty and revenge.

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