A Sourcebook of Nasca Ceramic Iconography

A Sourcebook of Nasca Ceramic Iconography

Author: Donald A. Proulx

Publisher: University of Iowa Press

Published: 2009-08

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 9781587298295

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For almost eight hundred years (100 BC–AD 650) Nasca artists modeled and painted the plants, animals, birds, and fish of their homeland on Peru’s south coast as well as numerous abstract anthropomorphic creatures whose form and meaning are sometimes incomprehensible today. In this first book-length treatment of Nasca ceramic iconography to appear in English, drawing upon an archive of more than eight thousand Nasca vessels from over 150 public and private collections, Donald Proulx systematically describes the major artistic motifs of this stunning polychrome pottery, interprets the major themes displayed on this pottery, and then uses these descriptions and his stimulating interpretations to analyze Nasca society. After beginning with an overview of Nasca culture and an explanation of the style and chronology of Nasca pottery, Proulx moves to the heart of his book: a detailed classification and description of the entire range of supernatural and secular themes in Nasca iconography along with a fresh and distinctive interpretation of these themes. Linking the pots and their iconography to the archaeologically known Nasca society, he ends with a thorough and accessible examination of this ancient culture viewed through the lens of ceramic iconography. Although these static images can never be fully understood, by animating their themes and meanings Proulx reconstructs the lifeways of this complex society.


Ancient Arts of the Andes

Ancient Arts of the Andes

Author: Wendell Clark Bennett

Publisher:

Published: 1954

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13:

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"Pre-Historic treasures of gold and silver, intricately woven tapestries, delicately painted paper-thin ceramics, and monumental stone carvings. More than 400 priceless objects have been assembled from private and public collections in Latin America, Canada, and the United States for this exhibition which will present for the first time under one roof the finest examples of art produced by ancient civilizations which flourished in the Andean region from about 1200 B.C. until the Spanish Conquest in the 16th century."--Excerpt from press release (see link below).


Ceramic Art

Ceramic Art

Author: Margaret S. Graves

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2023-07-11

Total Pages: 168

ISBN-13: 0691226636

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"Surviving ceramic vessels buried in tombs, caves, and the earth around the world testify to the earliest human creative activity. By studying ceramics historians uncover the complex ways that societies organized and sustained themselves, as well as how they interacted with other cultures. Today the ceramic arts remain a vibrant artistic medium, as contemporary artists engage with this material history to sustain their own heritage practices, while also shaping new histories from clay. From pre-Columbian Andean tombs to contemporary African sculpture, Ceramic Art considers ceramics as an artistic medium that uniquely records and expresses our individual and collective worlds across cultures. With an introduction and conclusion written by Sequoia Miller, the chief curator at the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art in Toronto and a practicing ceramic artist, this volume features three main essays. The first, by art historian Margaret Graves, provides an overview of different ceramic histories and the ways regional and global circulation have impacted them; the second, by conservator Victoria Parry, focuses on the challenges of preserving these artworks and artifacts; and the third, by studio potter Magdalene Odundo, examines the art form from the point of view of the contemporary practitioner. These essays are followed by three case studies, organized chronologically from ancient to contemporary, and spanning centuries and continents in range, that put objects in conversation with one another in innovative, cross-disciplinary ways. Ceramic Art is the inaugural title in our new series ART/WORK. Responding to the latest trends in the field, the ART/WORK series provides innovative narratives that change how art history as a discipline is imagined"--


Art, Nature, and Religion in the Central Andes

Art, Nature, and Religion in the Central Andes

Author: Mary Strong

Publisher: University of Texas Press

Published: 2012-05-01

Total Pages: 369

ISBN-13: 0292742908

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From prehistory to the present, the Indigenous peoples of the Andes have used a visual symbol system—that is, art—to express their sense of the sacred and its immanence in the natural world. Many visual motifs that originated prior to the Incas still appear in Andean art today, despite the onslaught of cultural disruption that native Andeans have endured over several centuries. Indeed, art has always been a unifying power through which Andeans maintain their spirituality, pride, and culture while resisting the oppression of the dominant society. In this book, Mary Strong takes a significantly new approach to Andean art that links prehistoric to contemporary forms through an ethnographic understanding of Indigenous Andean culture. In the first part of the book, she provides a broad historical survey of Andean art that explores how Andean religious concepts have been expressed in art and how artists have responded to cultural encounters and impositions, ranging from invasion and conquest to international labor migration and the internet. In the second part, Strong looks at eight contemporary art types—the scissors dance (danza de tijeras), home altars (retablos), carved gourds (mates), ceramics (ceramica), painted boards (tablas), weavings (textiles), tinware (hojalateria), and Huamanga stone carvings (piedra de Huamanga). She includes prehistoric and historic information about each art form, its religious meaning, the natural environment and sociopolitical processes that help to shape its expression, and how it is constructed or performed by today’s artists, many of whom are quoted in the book.


Andean Archaeology II

Andean Archaeology II

Author: Helaine Silverman

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2015-01-28

Total Pages: 376

ISBN-13: 1461505976

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The origins and development of civilization are vital components to the understanding of the cultural processes that create human societies. Comparing and contrasting the evolutionary sequences from different civilizations is one approach to discovering their unique development. One area for comparison is in the Central Andes where several societies remained in isolation without a written language. As a direct result, the only resource to understand these societies is their material artifacts. In this second volume, the focus is on the art and landscape remains and what they uncover about societies of the Central Andes region. The ancient art and landscape, revealing the range and richness of the societies of the area significantly shaped the development of Andean archaeology. This work includes discussions on: - pottery and textiles; - iconography and symbols; - ideology; - geoglyphs and rock art. This volume will be of interest to Andean archaeologists, cultural and historical anthropologists, material archaeologists and Latin American historians.


Andean Archaeology III

Andean Archaeology III

Author: William Isbell

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2008-02-01

Total Pages: 548

ISBN-13: 9780387757308

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The third volume in the Andean Archaeology series, this book focuses on the marked cultural differences between the northern and southern regions of the Central Andes, and considers the conditions under which these differences evolved, grew pronounced, and diminished. This book continues the dynamic, current problem-oriented approach to the field of Andean Archaeology that began with Andean Archaeology I and Andean Archaeology II. Combines up-to-date research, diverse theoretical platforms, and far-reaching interpretations to draw provocative and thoughtful conclusions.


Icons of Power

Icons of Power

Author: Nicholas J. Saunders

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-04-15

Total Pages: 314

ISBN-13: 1136605142

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Icons of Power investigates why the image of the cat has been such a potent symbol in the art, religion and mythology of indigenous American cultures for three thousand years. The jaguar and the puma epitomize ideas of sacrifice, cannibalism, war, and status in a startling array of graphic and enduring images. Natural and supernatural felines inhabit a shape-shifting world of sorcery and spiritual power, revealing the shamanic nature of Amerindian world views. This pioneering collection offers a unique pan-American assessment of the feline icon through the diversity of cultural interpretations, but also striking parallels in its associations with hunters, warriors, kingship, fertility, and the sacred nature of political power. Evidence is drawn from the pre-Columbian Aztec and Maya of Mexico, Peruvian, and Panamanian civilizations, through recent pueblo and Iroquois cultures of North America, to current Amazonian and Andean societies. This well-illustrated volume is essential reading for all who are interested in the symbolic construction of animal icons, their variable meanings, and their place in a natural world conceived through the lens of culture. The cross-disciplinary approach embraces archaeology, anthropology, and art history.


Art of the Andes

Art of the Andes

Author: Rebecca Stone

Publisher:

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780500204153

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"Fills a void in the genre. . . . Excellent descriptions and interpretations." --Latin American Antiquity