Books

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LINKS TO SECTION PAGES

This list of books is not meant to be a complete list of all the books available on the subject, a project I don't wish to undertake. These books, which are my favorites and most useful to me, may be of interest to others. Buying books mail-order can be frustrating. A person can tell more in a short time opening an illustrated book in a bookstore than reading many descriptions about it. To help I have included a typical two page spread from each book, not necessarily the best or most beautiful, but rather one which will inform the reader best. The files are large because I want the reader to be able to read the text on the chosen pages.

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Maya of Guatemala
Life and Dress
Carmen L. Pettersen
Ixchel Museum Guatemala
University of Washington Press
1976

This book is my first reference to find out what the traje of a particular town looks like. The exquisitely beautiful paintings produced by Carmen Petterson over many years constitute the best illustrations ever done of the Mayan traje. The sixty colorful full page paintings face parallel texts in English and Spanish telling of the particular traje and the customs of the Mayan people. Petterson writes the informative text rather like a diary of her travels to the various towns so while concentrating on the traje and traditions we see something of the individuals and the writer. The paintings, the real point of the book, succeed better than some photographs because the detail of the traje is not obscured by light and shadow. While accurately detailing the traje, the paintings at the same time are intensely personal portraits of the individuals. Although there is no book yet which shows the traje of all the different Mayan towns in Guatemala (and Mexico), this book illustrates more than any other.

The Maya Textile Tradition
Photographs by Jeffery Jay Foxx
Edited by Margot Blum Schevill
Harry N.Abrams Inc. Publishers
1997

Jeffery Foxx's stunning beautiful photographs in this book include not only photographs of textiles but also of the Mayan world of Guatemala. The interesting and informative texts are by some of the most respected experts in their fields: Linda Schele writes the forward; James D. Nations, on The History and Ecology of the Mayan World; Linda Asturias de Barrios, on Weaving and Daily Life; Margot Blum Schevill, on Innovation and Change in Mayan Cloth and Clothing; and Robert S. Carlsen, on Ceremony and Ritual in the Mayan World. This spectacular book gives the best overview of the Mayan textile tradition.

Maya Textiles of Guatemala
The Gustavus A. Eisen Collection 1902
By Margo Blum Schevill
with a historical essay by Chistopher H. Lutz
University of Texas Press, Austin
1993

Evolution in textile design from the highlands of Guatemala
Seventeen male tzutes, or headdresses, from Chichicastenango in the collections of the Lowie Museum of Anthropology.
by Margot Blum Schevill
Lowie Museum of Anthropology
University of California, Berkeley
1985
79 pages, paperback
97 black and white photos and drawings.

Taking one traditional woven item, the male tzute, from one community, Chichicastenango, Margo Blum Schevill touches on all aspects recent Mayan culture in Guatemala. She explains how changes in the Mayan world and the world around them affect evolutionary changes in the symbolic images woven into their textiles.

Textile Traditions
of Mesoamerica and the Andes
an anthology
Edited by Margot Blum Schevill,
Janet Catherine Berlo, and Edward B. Dwyer
University of Texas Press, Austin
1996

Each article is followed by one to six pages of drawings or photographs. These particular photographs where chosen by because the Man in the photograph is Andres Curruchich, the first Mayan painter from San Juan Comalapa, the other Mayan town where oil painting has taken hold. He is the exact contemporary of Rafael Gonalez y Gonzalez, the first Tz'utuhil painter.

The ArtAsLife.net maintains an excellent page on LINKS to weaving and textile pages on the web. There are a lot of links to Mayan related weaving/textile pages.

LINKS TO SECTION PAGES
[ Books ] [ Panajachel ] [ San Andres Semetabaj ] [ San Antonio Palopó ] [ San Juan la Laguna ] [ San Lucas Tolimán ] [ San Pedro la Laguna ] [ Santa Catarina Palopó ] [ Santiago Atitlán ] [ Solola ] [ Sources ]

To contact us write: Arte Maya Tz'utuhil, P.O. Box 40391, San Francisco, CA 94140. Telephone: (415) 282-7654. Email me at