Sven Kirsten, specialist in Tiki culture, revisits the revival of the “Mayan” culture and iconography in California in the late 19th and 20th century.

This is an exhibition about the inspirational power of archeology and the fascination with sunken cultures. Man, always on the search for the origins of his existence, marvels at the rise and fall of whole civilizations, and often uses his imagination to recreate lofty palaces and temples in his mind’s eye.

This was the case in early Meso-American archeology, where whole cities were discovered hidden under jungle vines and tropical vegetation, shrouded by a veil of mystery that fueled the imagination of the Western world. While often not academically correct, the historic documents in this exhibit are proof of the passion and artistry inspired by the wish to re-create Meso-American culture in the 20th century.

Americans suffered from a lack of historic identity, envying the Old World for the high civilizations of the Roman and Greek empires which Europe could boast in its past. The architectural and artistic achievements of Mayan and Aztec civilizations seemed to measure up to those European antecedents. Northern America happily declared to have found its roots.

This philosophy prevailed into the 1920s, and as Mayan Archeology rode a wave of unprecedented popularity in the media, architect Robert Stacy Judd announced that his Aztec Hotel in Monrovia represented the first example of a 100% all-American architecture. The contradiction of the name “Aztec” being bestowed on a building that used mostly Mayan style elements was symptomatic for the free-wheeling use and interpretation of Meso-American artistic sources.

For a brief period, from the mid-1920s to the late 1930s, Mayan Architecture and design became de rigueur in America. This exhibition presents a cross-section of this unique pop culture phenomenon, including the high style interpretations of Frank Lloyd Wright and the pop-cultural expressions of the mid-20th Century.