In ancient Mesoamerica and Andean civilizations, women had daily roles in both the spiritual and actual worlds. They were not only daughters, wives, mothers, and grandmothers, but also healers, midwives, scribes, artists, priestesses, warriors, governors, and even goddesses. Divine and Human brings together 400 archaeological treasures from the unparalleled museum collections of Mexico and Peru. Magnificent sculptures, textiles, pottery, and jewelry explore the feminine “sphere” in cultures as varied as the Aztec, Mayan, Zapotec, Moche, Mixtec, and Incan.

One of the unfortunate truisms of history is that few women are mentioned by name and fewer still get their stories told. Over the past 30 years, things have begun to change for the better, thanks largely to burgeoning archaeological, anthropological, and feminist scholarship directed to consideration of the proper status and role of women in ancient cultures.

Divine and Human: Women in Ancient Mexico and Peru examines the important and varied roles played by women in a “Who’s Who” of the major civilizations of ancient Mesoamerica and in the Andean region, including the Aztec, Mayan, Zapotec, Moche, Mixtec, and Incan cultures.

The more than 400 objects comprising this exhibition, including sculptures, textiles, pottery, jewelry, and grave goods, attest to the powerful, but often overlooked roles women played in both the daily and spiritual life of their respective societies. Women were not only daughters, wives, mothers and grandmothers, but were also healers, midwives, scribes, artists, poets, priestesses, warriors, and governors; some were even considered goddesses.

Organized into seven sections—Society, Politics and Religion; Sacred Origins of Food; Textiles and Clothing; Physical Ornamentation; Magic and the Occult; Daily Life and its Origins; and Goddesses—this groundbreaking exhibition explores the “feminine sphere” in detail.

NMWA will host the exclusive United States showing of Divine and Human: Women in Ancient Mexico and Peru.

National Museum of Women in the Arts is pleased to host Divine and Human: Women in Ancient Mexico and Peru, organized by INAH/CONACULTA (Mexico) and the Ministry of Education of Peru. We are grateful for the involvement of our honorary chairs, Mrs. Laura Bush, Dr. Eliane Karp de Toledo, and Mrs. Marta Sahagún de Fox. For their invaluable assistance, we thank the Embassy of Mexico, Washington, D.C.; Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico; the Cultural Institute of Mexico, Washington, D.C.; the Embassy of Peru, Washington, D.C.; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Peru; the National Institute of Culture of Peru; the Embassy of the United States, Mexico; and the Embassy of the United States, Peru. We appreciate the support of the National Endowment for the Arts and an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

We are grateful to Altria Group, Inc., and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. for their leadership support and to Hunt Oil, Newmont Mining, and Southern Peru Copper Corporation for their contributions to Divine and Human. Thanks also to Abbott and Toyota Motor Company and to special museum friends including: Christie’s; Jean and Jay Kislak and the Kislak Family Fund, Inc.; the Koret Foundation; LAN Airlines; Prom Peru; Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP; Surround Art; the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Cultural Center; Mr. I. Michael Kasser; the Honorable Mary V. Mochary; Mrs. Suzy Finesilver; and Ms. Irene Natividad.

Purchase the Divine and Human: Women in Ancient Mexico and Peru catalogue