The Maya Rubbings of Merle Greene Robertson, An Exhibit

Ruth Olivera, Curator
January-June 1997

Ranging in width from four to twenty feet are the nearly 2000 Maya rubbings donated to the Latin American Library by Merle Greene Robertson. As artist, author, and scholar, as Associate of the Middle American Research Institute, and recipient of an honorary Doctorate from Tulane, Merle has dedicated much of her life to preserving the rich and delicate legacy of the Maya culture. During the 1960s and 1970s she set about to record in rubbings the relief sculpture on stone monoliths, temples, and structures at Maya sites in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Belize. The importance of these rubbings cannot be overemphasized, as they provide accurate, full-scale images of Maya sculpture and hieroglyphic writing, often unphotographed and unpublished. Some of the sculptures she has recorded have already disappeared from their sites.

Merle has always stressed two important points: "1) the original monument must not be marred in any way, and no pigment at all can be allowed to come in contact with the stone; and 2) the rubbing must be authentic, no embellishments, no 20th century additions or so-called improvements being allowed."

Her technique for making rubbings is similar to the ancient Chinese method. In her words, "At times I have used a rather different technique in order to bring out the nature of the particular stone, and to pick up every cut of the original carved monument. There are different ways, or combinations of ways, to do this, depending upon the type of stone, its moisture content, and the degree of humidity." She has used handmade Japanese papers of different weights and types according to the size, depth of cuts, or delicacy of detail of the subject.

As indicated in the photographs, the monuments are first brushed clean of dirt and debris. The paper is then fastened against the stone with masking tape, wet down, and pressed into every crevice of the relief with a wad of cheese cloth. It is then allowed to dry. An oil pigment, to which has been added a solution to prevent paint from seeping through to the stone, is spread thinly on a sheet of aluminum. With a piece of fine China silk wrapped around her thumb, she presses first into the ink and then on to the raised parts of the paper, never letting ink get into any crevices. A hundred applications per square inch may be necessary to build up the tone gradually from light to dark. When dry, the paper comes off in a rigid sheet which can be rolled. Another method uses sumi ink which is applied with a stamper of cotton balls covered with China silk.

Rubbings exhibited here are from the sites of La Amelia, Dos Pilas, Machaquila, Piedras Negras, and Seiba in Guatemala, and Bonampak and Palenque in Mexico.

All quotations are from her article "Classic Maya rubbings", Expedition, Volume 9, Number 1, Fall 1966, pp. 30-39.