Doris Heyden facts for kids

Doris Heyden (born June 2, 1905 – died September 25, 2005) was an important expert on the ancient cultures of Mesoamerica, especially those in central Mexico. She was born in East Orange, New Jersey, United States. She passed away on September 25, 2005.

Heyden was part of a group of artists, writers, and scholars who helped create the "Mexican Renaissance". This group of people, after the Mexican Revolution, used Mexican history and traditions in their work. They were also part of international art movements like realism, Symbolism, and surrealism. Famous members included mural painters Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, José Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros. Other important figures were Zapotec painter Rufino Tamayo, mystical painters Remedios Varo and Leonora Carrington, and photographer Manuel Álvarez Bravo.

Early Life

Doris Heyden was born in 1905. She had a happy childhood in Maplewood, New Jersey and Glencoe, Illinois. She grew up with access to the big cities of New York and Chicago. Art, music, and books were a big part of her early life. She started writing and publishing around age ten, focusing on poetry and mysteries. By age thirteen, she was writing for newspapers in Newark, New Jersey. Heyden also started painting when she was five years old. Even though she didn't become a famous artist, she made a big impact in another field.

Education

Heyden studied art history and design at New York City's Pratt Institute. She earned high honors in 1936. After graduating, she created illustrations for Mademoiselle magazine. In New York City, she became very interested in the drawings of José Clemente Orozco and Mexican art.

In the mid-1940s, she traveled to Mexico. A friend gave her the name of a Mexican photographer, Manuel Álvarez Bravo, who was a very famous photographer in Mexico. Heyden and Álvarez Bravo got married and had a son and a daughter. Mexico became Heyden's home for the rest of her life.

Heyden began advanced studies at the Escuela de Antropología, which is part of UNAM, Mexico's national university, in 1956. She earned her master's degree in 1969 and later her doctorate there.

Career

Doris Heyden worked for INAH, Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History. She was a curator (someone who takes care of museum collections) for the Teotihuacan section at the National Museum of Anthropology. She wrote many articles, books, and translations, both for experts and for the general public. Her most important work was about ancient buildings, Aztec symbols, how ancient people viewed nature, why caves were important in Mesoamerican beliefs, and how old traditions survived.

Major Works

Heyden helped edit an important book called the Handbook of Latin American Studies from 1961 to 1968. All her writings were based on her work at ancient sites in many parts of Mexico. She also studied folk art (traditional art) and ethnology (the study of different cultures). Doing a lot of research in famous libraries and historical records around the world was another key part of her work.

Until she passed away, Doris Heyden had a welcoming home in Mexico City. Many famous experts in her fields of study, like anthropologists, would gather there.

Doris Heyden's influence in the study of ancient American cultures is clear from the two books of essays written in her honor. The first, in Spanish, is Chalchihuite, edited by María de Jesús Rodríguez-Shadow and Beatriz Barba Ahuatzin de Piña Chan (1999). The second, in English, is called In Chalchihuitl in quetzalli/Precious Greenstone Precious Quetzal Feather, edited by Eloise Quiñones Keber (2000). This second book includes an interview with her.

See also

In Spanish: Doris Heyden para niños