Bond Latin Gallery

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Pre-Hispanic Art Collection in San Francisco

Currently, the Mexican Museum (TMM) in San Francisco has 80 pre-hispanic sculptures in their permanent collection gifted to the museum by John and Kati Casida. This John and Kati Casida collection is formed by 80 ceramic and volcanic stone sculptures, some of which date back thousands of years.

According to TMM,:

Mesoamerican pieces of the collection come from the actual States of Veracruz, Colima, Nayarit and Jalisco in Mexico, as well as Honduras and Guatemala, but there are also examples from Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Peru. They pertain mostly to the Classic Period (300-900 AC), but a few examples come from the Pre-classic and the Post-classic periods.

Especially ancient is the Olmec figure of a seated person (around three thousand years). Many Native American cultures are represented in the collection, from Olmec to Maya, Zapotec, Teotihuacan, Totonac, Aztec and Western in Mesoamerica, as well as Central American and South American culture.

Unfortunately these invaluable works of art and American history cannot currently be seen by the public as the museum is closed until its new building opens next year (2020) in San Francisco’s downtown Yerba Buena Center.