Kurt Stavenhagen, Collector of Pre-Hispanic Art

Abstract

This overview is based on the German collector Kurt Stavenhagen and his aesthetic view of heritage. We cross-reference it with the post-revolutionary nationalist perspective manifested in the National Museum, the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico (mna, for its acronym in Spanish), and other international exhibitions in order to observe how both visions or narratives contributed to the legitimization and positioning of pre-Hispanic art, while collaborating with the construction of a new national identity. The document shows biographical data on the collector, as well as the post-revolutionary nationalist and private perspectives on the archaeological heritage, and the themes created by Stavenhagen to understand his collection.