When I first discovered the funny art of ancient Mexico I found myself wondering how it ever took root there. After all, the funny people had to live side by side with violent neighbors like the Mayans (above) and the pathologically aggressive Aztecs. But I checked and my timeline was off. The funny cultures thrived in the pre-Mayan, pre-Aztec era, before the time of Christ.
In that placid era they had time to play with their pets...
...and make fun of their goofy neighbors.
Some of the caricatures were startlingly specific.
Pocket-sized joke sculptures were all over the place.
Every physical type was lampooned.
Women too, particularly women with thick legs.
Of course males liked to sculpt sexy women. Who knows, maybe there was a religious reason for it.
Haw! As time went by high-minded reasons might have become secondary.
My guess is that there was a thriving business in tiny porn sculpture. Was there a Hugh Hefner of that era? Were these figures sold "under the counter" in the marketplace?
I like the flat-on-their-backs, rigor mortis-type poses in this (above) example. Two thousand years later accountants may still be doing the deed this way.
Cultures that value comedy always strike me as being on the path to liberty and progress, but Mexican humorists lived in an increasingly rough neighborhood and, well...the rest was history.
