Andean Art at Dumbarton Oaks

Andean Art at Dumbarton Oaks PDF Author: Dumbarton Oaks
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Andes Region
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
"Andean Art at Dumbarton Oaks presents the Andean portion of the Robert Woods Bliss Collection of Pre-Columbian Art. It superbly illustrates all 133 Andean objects in color plates, and includes many complementary and comparative black-and-white illustrations and drawings. The body of Pre-Columbian art that Robert Bliss carefully assembled over a half-century between 1912 and 1963, and which has been amplified slightly since his death, is a remarkably significant collection. These works of art are among the finest examples of the visual arts produced by Andean cultures.... Andean Art is composed of five topical essays, shorter essays on the Andean cultures represented in the collection, and discussions of the individual objects. These were written by specialists in Pre-Columbian art, presenting the latest in scholarly thinking on Andean cultures and the objects. All thirteen authors bring broad perspectives from Andean culture history, archaeology, and art history to their contributions, but they focus their attentions primarily on the objects themselves, in order to provide meaningful contexts for them and to highlight how these objects, as works of art created and used purposefully, reveal special qualities of Andean culture. The reader is provided with a fine sense of how the creators and original owners of the pieces in the Bliss collection used and valued these artworks on many levels. The authors also place individual objets alongside others of their type in so far as possible. An extraordinary feature of this volume is the technical descriptions of the metal objects provided by metals specialist Heather Lechtman."--Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection website.

Andean Art at Dumbarton Oaks

Andean Art at Dumbarton Oaks PDF Author: Dumbarton Oaks
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Andes Region
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
"Andean Art at Dumbarton Oaks presents the Andean portion of the Robert Woods Bliss Collection of Pre-Columbian Art. It superbly illustrates all 133 Andean objects in color plates, and includes many complementary and comparative black-and-white illustrations and drawings. The body of Pre-Columbian art that Robert Bliss carefully assembled over a half-century between 1912 and 1963, and which has been amplified slightly since his death, is a remarkably significant collection. These works of art are among the finest examples of the visual arts produced by Andean cultures.... Andean Art is composed of five topical essays, shorter essays on the Andean cultures represented in the collection, and discussions of the individual objects. These were written by specialists in Pre-Columbian art, presenting the latest in scholarly thinking on Andean cultures and the objects. All thirteen authors bring broad perspectives from Andean culture history, archaeology, and art history to their contributions, but they focus their attentions primarily on the objects themselves, in order to provide meaningful contexts for them and to highlight how these objects, as works of art created and used purposefully, reveal special qualities of Andean culture. The reader is provided with a fine sense of how the creators and original owners of the pieces in the Bliss collection used and valued these artworks on many levels. The authors also place individual objets alongside others of their type in so far as possible. An extraordinary feature of this volume is the technical descriptions of the metal objects provided by metals specialist Heather Lechtman."--Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection website.

Olmec Art at Dumbarton Oaks

Olmec Art at Dumbarton Oaks PDF Author: Karl A. Taube
Publisher: Dumbarton Oaks
ISBN: 9780884022756
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
Olmec Art at Dumbarton Oaks presents the Olmec portion of the Robert Woods Bliss Collection of Pre-Columbian Art. It illustrates all thirty-nine Olmec art objects in color plates and includes many complementary and comparative black-and-white illustrations and drawings. The body of Pre-Columbian art that Robert Bliss carefully assembled over a half-century between 1912 and 1963, amplified only slightly since his death, is a remarkably significant collection. In addition to their aesthetic quality and artistic significance, the objects hold much information regarding the social worlds and religious and symbolic views of the people who made and used them before the arrival of Europeans in the New World. This volume is the second in a series of catalogues that will treat objects in the Bliss Pre-Columbian Collection. The majority of the Olmec objects in the collection are made of jade, the most precious material for the peoples of ancient Mesoamerica from early times through the sixteenth century. Various items such as masks, statuettes, jewelry, and replicas of weapons and tools were used for ceremonial purposes and served as offerings. Karl Taube brings his expertise on the lifeways and beliefs of ancient Mesoamerican peoples to his study of the Olmec objects in teh Bliss collection. His understanding of jade covers a broad range of knowledge from chemical compositions to geological sources to craft technology to the symbolic power of the green stone. Throughout the book the author emphasizes the role of jade as a powerful symbol of water, fertility, and particularly, of the maize plant which was the fundamental source of life and sustenance for the Olmec. The shiny green of the stone was analogous to the green growth of maize. This fundamental concept was elaborated in specific religious beliefs, many of which were continued and elaborated by later Mesoamerican peoples, such as the Maya. Karl Taube employs his substantial knowledge of Pre-Columbian cultures to explore and explicate Olmec symbolism in this catalogue.

Tombs for the Living

Tombs for the Living PDF Author: Tom D. Dillehay
Publisher: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library & Collection
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 450

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Book Description
"Ancient Peruvian practices are summarized by J.H. Rowe; Chinchorro mummies by M.S. Rivera; San Agustín, Colombia, by R.D. Drennan; Moche by C.B. Donnan; Nasca by P.H. Carmichael; south coastal Peru by J.E. Buikstra; human sacrifice and trophy heads by J.W. Verano. Observations on rituals among contemporary Bolivians (J.W. Bastien) and Araucanians (T.D. Dillehay), and in colonial documents (F. Solomon), provide comparative data"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 57.

An Introduction to the Study of the Maya Hieroglyphs

An Introduction to the Study of the Maya Hieroglyphs PDF Author: Sylvanus Griswold Morley
Publisher: Library of Alexandria
ISBN: 1465582436
Category : Maya calendar
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description


Making Value, Making Meaning

Making Value, Making Meaning PDF Author: Cathy Lynne Costin
Publisher: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library & Collection
ISBN: 9780884024156
Category : Handicraft
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Making Value, Making Meaning explores the concept of techné--the application of a thorough and masterful knowledge of a specific field--as an analytic tool useful for understanding how the production process created value and meaning for objects and public monuments in complex societies of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica and the Andes.

Pre-Columbian Metallurgy of South America

Pre-Columbian Metallurgy of South America PDF Author: Elizabeth P. Benson
Publisher: Dumbarton Oaks
ISBN: 9780884020943
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 222

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Book Description


Indian Art of the Americas at the Art Institute of Chicago

Indian Art of the Americas at the Art Institute of Chicago PDF Author: Richard F. Townsend
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300214839
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 397

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Book Description
A stunning survey of the indigenous art, architecture, and spiritual beliefs of the Americas, from the Precolumbian era to the 20th century This landmark publication catalogues the Art Institute of Chicago’s outstanding collection of Indian art of the Americas, one of the foremost of its kind in the United States. Showcasing a host of previously unpublished objects dating from the Precolumbian era to the 20th century, the book marks the first time these holdings have been comprehensively documented. Richard Townsend and Elizabeth Pope weave an overarching narrative that ranges from the Midwestern United States to the Yucatán Peninsula to the heart of South America. While exploring artists’ myriad economic, historical, linguistic, and social backgrounds, the authors demonstrate that they shared both a deep, underlying cosmological view and the desire to secure their communities’ prosperity by affirming connections to the sacred forces of the natural world. The critical essays focus on topics that bridge traditions across North, Central, and South America, including materials, methods of manufacture, the diversity of stylistic features, and the iconography and functions of various objects. Gorgeously illustrated in color with more than 500 vibrant images, this handsome catalogue serves as the definitive survey of an unparalleled collection.

Variations in the Expression of Inka Power

Variations in the Expression of Inka Power PDF Author: Richard L. Burger
Publisher: Dumbarton Oaks
ISBN: 9780884023517
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 488

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Book Description
Until recently, little archaeological investigation has been dedicated to the Inka, the last great culture in Andean South America before the 16th-century arrival of the Spaniards. Using both theoretical and methodological approaches, scholars of the sciences, social sciences, and humanities provide a new understanding of Inka culture and history.

Chavin

Chavin PDF Author: William J. Conklin
Publisher: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press
ISBN: 1938770447
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 369

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Book Description
This book is the first in more than a decade to provide new information on the Chavin phenomenon of ancient Peru. Thought by some to be the "Mother Culture" of ancient Peruvian cultures, Chavin is remarkable for its baroque, sophisticated art style in a variety of media, including finely carved stone monuments, beautifully formed pottery, and magnificent and complex metallurgy. Also, the textiles from Chavin are incredibly innovative, both iconographically and structurally. They, in fact, form the foundation for the later Andean textile evolution. Chapters in this book cover new interpretations of the history of the site of Chavin de Huantar, studies of related cultures, the role of shamanism, and many other topics of interest to specialists and the general reader, alike.

Golden Kingdoms

Golden Kingdoms PDF Author: Joanne Pillsbury
Publisher: Getty Publications
ISBN: 1606065483
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 331

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Book Description
This volume accompanies a major international loan exhibition featuring more than three hundred works of art, many rarely or never before seen in the United States. It traces the development of gold working and other luxury arts in the Americas from antiquity until the arrival of Europeans in the early sixteenth century. Presenting spectacular works from recent excavations in Peru, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Mexico, this exhibition focuses on specific places and times—crucibles of innovation—where artistic exchange, rivalry, and creativity led to the production of some of the greatest works of art known from the ancient Americas. The book and exhibition explore not only artistic practices but also the historical, cultural, social, and political conditions in which luxury arts were produced and circulated, alongside their religious meanings and ritual functions. Golden Kingdoms creates new understandings of ancient American art through a thematic exploration of indigenous ideas of value and luxury. Central to the book is the idea of the exchange of materials and ideas across regions and across time: works of great value would often be transported over long distances, or passed down over generations, in both cases attracting new audiences and inspiring new artists. The idea of exchange is at the intellectual heart of this volume, researched and written by twenty scholars based in the United States and Latin America.