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Virginia Fields dies at 58
Virginia Fields. Photo credit: LACMA
Virginia Fields, noted scholar of early Mesoamerican art and archaeology, has died unexpectedly from complications of diabetes. In 1989 she joined Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and was the first curator of pre-Columbian art. Twenty two years later she was senior curator of art of the ancient Americas at LACMA, with many noted exhibitions to her credit.
Among her exhibits are “Mexico: Splendors of Thirty Centuries,” “Olmec: Colossal Masterworks of Ancient Mexico,” “Lords of Creation: The Origins of Sacred Maya Kinship,” “The Road to Aztlan: Art from a Mythic Homeland,” and opening in April 2012, “Children of the Plumed Serpent: The Legacy of Quetzalcoatl in Ancient Mexico.”
Virginia received her MA from San Francisco State and her PhD from University of Texas at Austin in 1989. At UT she studied with the well known Maya scholar Linda Schele. She was married to photographer and filmmaker David Miller.
The Cotsen Institute of Archaeology has lost a Research Associate, and a true friend to their support group, Friends of Archaeology. Virginia was always willing to arrange for private tours of her exhibits to the Friends, always acting as the tour guide and sharing her passion for everything Mesoamerican.
