2 Days Only - A special collection of vintage textiles from Richard Mandell presented by David and Sally Hamilton of Austin, Texas. This is the first ever exhibit of these unique examples of Maya weaving from this important collection.
Richard Mandell (1929 – 2013) was an American historian, art collector, triathlete and world traveler. After graduating from Wayne State in Detroit, he spent years as a merchant seaman. Besides English, he learned to speak German, French and Spanish fluently. He earned his M.A. in history from U. of Colorado and his PhD from the U. of California, Berkeley. In 1963 he joined as an associate professor of history at the University of Toronto. In 1966 he moved to a full professorship in modern European history at the U. of South Carolina (Columbia), where he remained as a Distinguished Professor until his retirement in 1992. His most well known book is “The Nazi Olympics” concerning the Berlin Olympics of 1936. He is among those credited with initiating academic debate on the origins of modern sports.
To celebrate his 60th birthday, he rode a bicycle from New York to San Francisco in 24 days. He was a legendary age group competitor in distance running into his 70’s.
Richard Mandell was also a renowned art collector. From 1980 until 2010, he traveled to Guatemala regularly, collecting fine Maya textiles, jade and dance masks. His collection of Guatemalan Maya textiles is estimated to contain 2000 items. Exhibited here are 45 carefully selected items that we were allowed to purchase from the Mandell Collection, graciously made available to us by Richard’s son, Max Mandell.
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