Wari: Lords of the Ancient Andes

Special Exhibition

Sunday, October 28, 2012–Sunday, January 6, 2013

Location: Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Exhibition Hall

*Bag with Human Face* (detail), 600–1000. Peru, Wari. Alpaca or llama hide, human hair, pigment, cotton, coca leaf contents; h. 26 cm (bag), l. 64.7 cm (strap). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 2011.35. Image © The Cleveland Museum of Art

Featured Art

About The Exhibition

Between 600 and 1000, long before the Inca, the Wari forged a complex society widely regarded today as ancient Peru's first empire. Wari: Lords of the Ancient Andes, the first exhibition of its kind in North America, opens up this exciting yet virtually unknown episode in ancient American history through more than 100 startlingly beautiful art works in all major Wari media: masterful ceramics; precious ornaments made of inlays or gold and silver; sculpture; and sumptuous garments from one of the world's most distinguished textile traditions.

Wari: Lords of the Ancient Andes is organized by the Cleveland Museum of Art, where it opens on October 28, 2012. The exhibition will travel to the Museum of Art | Fort Lauderdale in Florida and the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas.

Hahn Loeser & Parks LLP is the sponsor of the Wari exhibition in Cleveland.

Wari has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor. This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. Support for exhibition programming has been provided in part by Georgia and Michael DeHavenon and by the Ohio Humanities Council, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Research for this exhibition was supported by a Curatorial Research Fellowship from the Getty Foundation.