Dr. Claudia Brittenham

Biography

Claudia Brittenham's research focuses on ancient Mesoamerican art, with particular attention to how the materiality of art and politics of style contribute to the understanding of the ontology of images. Her recent book, Unseen Art: Making, Vision, Power in Ancient Mesoamerica, explores the problems of visibility and the status of images in Mesoamerica. She examines how interpretations of ancient experiences with works of art differ from modern practices of museum display. Brittenham is the author of Murals of Cacaxtla: The Power of Painting in Ancient Mexico (2015) and co-author of Mary Miller's The Spectacle of the Late Maya Court: Reflections on the Murals of Bonampak (2013), as well as Veiled Brightness: A History of Ancient Maya Color (2009). Her current book project, Interconnected Mesoamerican Worlds, studies how art and the movement of people, objects, and ideas shaped ancient Mesoamerica. Brittenham is active in the Global Ancient Art initiative and collaborates with the Department of Art History, Katz Center for Mexican Studies, and the Center for Latin American Studies. She is also a member of Proyecto La Pintura Mural Prehispánica en México at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Brittenham obtained her PhD and BA from Yale University and previously served as Assistant Curator of Eastern Hemisphere Collections at the Textile Museum in Washington, D.C.

Research Interests