In 1930, while in San Francisco, Mexican artist Diego Rivera began a series of illustration for
a translation of the Popol Vuh by North American writer John Weatherwax. Both men shared
a fascination with the indigenous cultures of Mesoamerica. The Popol Vuh, or council book,
recounts the ideas and traditions, origins and dynastic chronology up to the year 1550 of
the ancient Quiché Maya inhabitants of the highlands of present-day Guatemala.
Beginning as oral tradition, the Popol Vuh was set down in hieroglyphic form, then into what
Popol Vuh scholar Dennis Tedlock has called an “alphabetic substitute,” before being
transcribed and translated into Spanish by the Dominican friar Francisco Ximénez in the eighteenth century.
The Creation
Illustration for Popol Vuh, 1930–1933.
Watercolor and gouache on paper. 48 × 64 cm. (19 × 25¼ in.)
The Trials of Hero Twins
Illustration for Popol Vuh, 1930–1933.
Watercolor and gouache on paper.
31 × 48 cm. (12¼ × 18¾ in.)
Human Sacrifice Before Tohil
Illustration for Popol Vuh, 1930–1933.
Gouache on paper.
31 × 48 cm. (12¼ × 18¾ in.)
