BY KAREN BOSSICK

Aztec art and architecture and the way in which the Spanish influenced it will be the subject of two lectures offered by Dr. Courtney Gilbert this week and next.

Gilbert, curator of Visual Arts at the Sun Valley Center for the Arts, will present a two-part art history lecture titled “The Aztecs, Conquest and Early Colonial Art of Mexico” on Thursday, Sept. 14, and Thursday, Sept. 21.

Both lectures will be presented at 5:30 p.m. at The Center, Fifth and Washington streets in Ketchum.

The first lecture will focus on the art and architecture of the Mesoamerican culture that flourished between 1350 and 1521 in Central Mexico. Gilbert will highlight key examples of Aztec sculpture, illustrated codices and urban planning, including Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire now known as Mexico City.

Her second lecture will begin with the 1519 arrival of the Spanish in Tenochtitlan, then one of the largest cities in the world. It will explore the impact of their conquest on art and architecture, offering examples of ways in which native artists incorporated European styles, imagery and materials into their work. Gilbert will also offer examples of how the Aztecs resisted their colonial rulers.

“The story behind the Aztec Empire is fascinating on its own, but the moment of contact between the Spanish and the Aztecs, and between Hernan Cortes and Moctezuma II, in particular—a collision of two entirely different world views—is also incredibly compelling,” said Gilbert.

“Native Mexican artists both adopted and subverted European techniques and ideas in really interesting ways. And Spanish colonizers absorbed and adapted ingenious idea in architecture and elsewhere. What resulted was a rich artistic culture.”

Gilbert holds Ph.D. and Master’s degrees in art history from the University of Chicago and a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College. She coordinated the planning for a major exhibition of Latin American abstract art at the Blanton Museum o f Art at the University of Texas-Austin before coming to The Center. And she taught the history of Latin American art and Mexican art at Texas State University and Columbia College in Chicago.

Registration for each lecture is $10 for Center members and $12 for nonmembers at www.sunvalleycenter.org or by calling 208-726-9491.