KETCHUM — The Sun Valley Center for the Arts is pleased to announce a two-part art history lecture titled “The Aztecs, Conquest and Early Colonial Art of Mexico.” The lectures, presented by Dr. Courtney Gilbert, curator of visual arts at the center, will take place Sept. 14 and 21 at 5:30 p.m. at the center in Ketchum.

Gilbert’s first lecture will focus on the art and architecture of the Aztecs — a Mesoamerican culture that flourished between 1350 and 1521 in what is today considered Central Mexico. Using the broader context of the Aztecs’ complex and sophisticated society as a framework, 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 arrival of the Spanish in Tenochtitlan in 1519 and the impact of their conquest of Mexico on art and architecture throughout the remainder of the 16th century. Dr. Gilbert will illustrate the ways in which native artists incorporated European styles, imagery and materials into their work and explore how the Aztecs resisted their colonial rulers.

“When the Spanish arrived in Tenochtitlan, it was home to a thriving civilization and one of the largest cities in the world,” Gilbert said. “The story behind the Aztec Empire is fascinating on its own, but the moment of contact between the Spanish and the Aztecs, and between Hernán Cortés and Moctezuma II in particular — a collision of two entirely different world views — is also incredibly compelling. The aftermath of that moment had a variety of intriguing impacts on the visual culture of what would become the Viceroyalty of New Spain. Native Mexican artists both adopted and subverted European techniques and ideas in really interesting ways. And Spanish colonizers absorbed and adapted indigenous ideas 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. Before joining The Center in 2006, she worked at the Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas at Austin, where she coordinated the planning for a major exhibition of Latin American abstract art. During her time in Texas, she also taught the history of Latin American art at Texas State University; before those engagements, she taught a survey course on the history of Mexican art at Columbia College Chicago.

Registration for each of the lectures is $10 for members of the center and $12 for nonmembers. To register, or for more information about other upcoming Sun Valley Center for the Arts events, visit www.sunvalleycenter.org or call the center’s box office at 208.726.9491.