Monte Alban by Gordon Nicolson
Monte Alban
Gordon Nicolson
Title
Monte Alban
Artist
Gordon Nicolson
1891 - 1975 (biography)Year
c. 1940
Technique
vintage gelatin silver print
Image Size
16 x 19 15/16" image and paper
Signature
artist's stamp verso
Edition Size
not stated
Annotations
ink titled, lower left
Reference
Paper
State
Publisher
artist
Inventory ID
19690
Price
$250.00
Description
From a series of photographs of pre-hispanic ruins by Gordon Nicholson.
Monte Alban is a site of ruins of an ancient center of Zapotec and Mixtec culture, located in what is not Oaxaca state, Mexico. It contains great plazas, truncated pyramids, a court for playing the ball game "tlachtli," underground passageways, and about 170 tombs, the most elaborate yet uncovered in the Americas. The site is located on high ground for defensibility.
During the first two phases of Monte Alban culture, temples and other structures were built with dressed stone. The influence of the Teotihuacan architectural style is quite evident.