Recommended Pre-Columbian Books Essential for the Collector

A Bibliography by Howard Nowes - 11/26/2006

General

Masters of the Americas: In Praise of the Pre-Columbian Artists: The Dora and Paul Janssen Collection Benson, Elisabeth; Et Al, Contributors' Texts; Hughes Dubois, 5 Continents Editions, 2005. Encompassing the entire American continent, this splendid book reveals the extraordinary wealth of its ancient cultures. Outstanding works of the great civilizations (Olmec, Maya, Aztec, Inca) but also artifacts from lesser-known Pre-Columbian cultures. Visually, the range of illustration is spectacular, reflecting works in stone, pottery, textiles, feathers, and gold - an amazing kaleidoscope of styles, techniques, and inspirations from every region. Bibliography. Illus., hundreds of color plates; maps. 401p. A great collection.

The Face of Ancient America : The Wally and Brenda Zollman Collection of Precolumbian Art, Parsons, Lee A.; Carlson, John B.; Joralemon, Peter David Indianapolis Museum of Art. Justin Kerr, photographer. Approx 11.25 x 8.75 inches. xiii, 223 pp. Map, many photographs of art objects, most in color. Good essays.

The Ancient Americas: Art from Sacred Landscapes. Art Institute Chicago 1992. Exhibition assembled nearly 300 magnificent examples in stone, textile, and ceramic from 12 pre-Columbian cultures in the Andes, Mesoamerica, and the Southwest United States. The objects were loaned by national museums and private collections in Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Europe, and the U.S., and many had never before shown outside their homelands. This superb catalogue of the exhibition contains essays from over two dozen international specialists and 420 photographs 397 pages, 180 color and 240 b/w photographs, 46 drawings, 8maps.

Seeing with New Eyes: Highlights of the Michael C. Carlos Museum Collection of Art of the Ancient Americas, By Stone-Miller, Rebecca, Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2002. (328 pages) illustrated & good essays.

Pre-Columbian Art of South America, by Lapiner, Alan, Abrams (1976) photographs illustrations hardback, 460 pages, 910 illustrations, 225 in full color, with many tipped in. It offers a panorama of the arts of South America, with an emphasis on Peru. The finest ceramics, metalwork, textiles, feather work, and jewelry are fully represented. Maps, a bibliography, and a visual glossary are also included.

In the Heart of Pre-Columbian America The Gérard Geiger Collection. Milan: 2003. 261pp with 243 color and 10 monochrome illustrations. Cloth 30.6x25cms. Presents the outstanding treasures of pre-Columbian art from the Mexico area, assembled by the collector Gérard Geiger, including a large group of Mezcala stone miniatures, ceremonial tools for Totonac rituals and games, Olmec terracottas, and a superb group of sculpted Mayan jades. Heavy on stone.

Mexico

Coe, Michael D. & KERR, Justin The Art of the Maya Scribe, London, Thames & Hudson, 1997. Folio, HB. 240 pages, 280 illustrations, 117 in color. Maya calligraphy has recently experienced a revolution in decipherment; this book examines the latest findings, and looks at Maya writing for its beauty. Lavishly illustrated.

Clancy, Flora S., Charles Gallenkamp, Peter D. Harrison, Jeremy Sabloff MAYA: Treasures of an Ancient Civilization, Harry N. Abrams/Albuquerque Museum, 1985. 240 pages, with 210 plates in color and black and white, plus 31 black and white illustrations accompanying the text. Contents include the essays: "The Ancient Maya: Reclaiming a Lost Legacy" by Charles Gallenkamp; "Ancient Maya Civilization: An Overview" by Jeremy Sabloff; "Maya Sculpture" by Flora Clancy; and "Ancient Maya Architecture" by Peter Harrison. Contents also include detailed information accompanying the plates.

Easby, Elizabeth Kennedy and John F. Scott Before Cortes: Sculpture of Middle America: NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art (1970). Book measures approx. 8" x 12". Profusely illustrated with 308 photographs, including 27 in full color. 322pp. A Centennial Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art From September 30, 1970 Through January 3, 1971.

Miller, Mary; Martin, Simom, Courtly Art of the Ancient Maya, Thames & Hudson, United Kingdom, 2004. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. 304pp. index. bibliography. 328 illustrations (233 in full color). A dazzling array of objects in a variety of mediums along with essays based on the latest ground breaking research. A beautiful book.

Schele, Linda & Miller, Mary Ellen Blood of Kings, Dynasty and Ritual in Maya Art, Sotheby's Publications in association with Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, 1986. Quarto. 335 pp. This publication was issued in connection with the exhibition The Blood of Kings, shown at the Kimbell Art Museum. The Blood of Kings: Dynasty and Ritual in Maya Art brings together new information about the history of Maya civilization. By making full use of the tremendous progress in deciphering the complicated Maya hieroglyphic code that has taken place since 1960, this work penetrates the world and minds of the creators of Maya art. With 123 color plates, 50 black and white illustrations and 200 drawings. Index.

Solis, Felipe et al, The Aztec Empire: Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA, 2004. 376 pages - in English - 199 color plates and additional text illustrations, 90 page catalogue of the exhibition with 368 color figs. An extensive and historically accurate survey of the Aztecs assembled outside of Mexico for the 2004 Guggenheim Museum in New York Show of archeological objects and artworks by the Aztecs and subject peoples, such as jewellery, works of precious metals, household and ceremonial objects, some for the first time - essays by over 20 eminent specialists, incl. Felipe Solis, director of the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City, Eduardo Matos Moctezuma and Richard F. Townsend.

Kan, Michael, Sculpture of Ancient West Mexico: Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima, Los Angeles County Museum Art, 180 pgs. over 200 items described and illustrated.

Costa Rica

Abel, Suzanne et al Between Continents/Between Seas: Precolumbian Art of Costa Rica, Abrams, 1981. museum exhibition catalogue, essays on Costa Rica's history of its archaeological finds dating from pre-1100 B.C. to 1550 A.D. a discussion of the ethno history and ethnography in the Central Highlands and Atlantic Watershed, along with studies of the country's stone sculpture, jade, and gold work. Full-color and black-and-white illustrations, photographs, and maps. 11" by 81/2", 240 pages.

Taino

Barrio, Museo Del and Fatima Bercht, Estrellita Brodsky, John Alan Farmer, Dicey Taylor , Taino: Pre-Columbian Art and Culture from the Caribbean, Monacelli Press for the Museo Del Barrio, exhibition at New York's El Museo del Barrio. The Taino descend from the Arawak, a South American people. The world's top scholars of pre-Columbian art and culture organized these artworks from Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Haiti, and the Bahamas.

Kerchache, Jacques , Art Taino. Chefs-D'Oeuvre Des Grandes Antilles Precolombiennes, Musee Du Petit Palais - 1994 Paris-Musees, 1994, 1994. Soft Cover. 272 pages. Text in French. Excellent plates.

Panama

Armand J. Labbe, Guardians of the Life Stream, Shamans, Art and Power in Prehispanic Central Panama, Cultural Arts Press. Presents the first book to explore the art of Central Panama, with systematic analysis of the art and nomenclature in the context of time. Focuses primarily on ceramic arts, although included gold work also.

Colombia

Labbe, Armand J., Colombia Before Columbus. The People, Culture, and Ceramic Art of Prehispanic Colombia, New York, U.S.A. Rizzoli Intl, 1986, 207 pages, 61 color and 171 b/w photographs, 9 maps. Rizzoli. Examples of pottery from all the major tribes and regions of Colombia covering a timescale 300BC to 1600AD.

Labbe, Armand J., Bray, Warwick; Michael C. Carlos Museum Staff, Shamans, Gods, and Mythic Beasts: Colombian Gold and Ceramics in Antiquity. Seattle, WA, U.S.A.: University of Washington Press, 1998. 215 pages with index, glossary, references, and a list of the American Federation of the Arts. This is the companion catalog for the exhibit of Colombian gold and ceramics from Pre-Hispanic Colombia.

Ecuador

EQUATEUR LA TERRE ET L'OR Paris, 1989. Overlapping Pictorial card wraps. Catalogue to accompany the exhibition at the Maison de l'Amerique latine (Paris) December 1989 / February 1990. Multi author essay. French text. 138p. 100 objects described, all reproduced in b/w and with 55 very good color photos by Judy Anderson de Bustamente. A beautiful catalogue of pottery, ceramics and gold. In French.

Lathrap, Donald, Ancient Ecuador: Culture, Clay and Creativity, 3000-300 B.C. Chicago: Field Museum, 1980. Exhibition catalog. 110pp. 88 illus (some in color) 4to (9" x 12') pictorial wrappers. Highly recommended.

Valdez, Francisco, Amerindian Signs: 5,000 Years of Pre-Columbian Art in Ecuador. Quito Dinediciones, (1992). 214 pp., good color plates.

Peru

Berrin, Kathleen [Editor] The Spirit of Ancient Peru, Treasures from the Museo Arqueologico Rafael Larco Herrera San Francisco: 1997. Exhibition, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 17 May - 10 August 1997. 9 x 11.4", 216 pp, with 210 illus (180 in full color), maps.

Berrin, Kathleen, The Spirit of Ancient Peru, Treasures from the Museo Arqueologico Rafael Larco Herrera, Thames & Hudson, 216 pages profusely illustrated in color.

Donnan, Christopher, Ceramics of Ancient Peru, Los Angeles 1992. Using the Fowler Museum's fine collection to survey the major ceramic styles of ancient Peru and to trace their evolution through time, one of the leading scholars in the field has produced this volume, a basic guide to those ancient ceramics thought to be most characteristically Peruvian. Serving also as a catalogue for a major exhibition, this work is organized chronologically from about 1800 B.C. to the arrival of Europeans in the 16th century A.D., over 200 illustrations, dealing with the technology and manufacture of Peruvian. 128 pages, 68 color and 154 b/w photographs, 36 drawings, 6 maps.

Donnan, Christopher, Moche Art of Peru, Pre-Columbian Symbolic Communication, Los Angeles: Museum of Cultural History, Univ. of Calif., 1978, 206p. b/w and color plates, good illus.

 

Kauffmann-Doig, F. (text), Guzman, E. (trans.) ANCESTORS OF THE INCAS. The Lost Civilizations of Peru, 1998, Memphis, 160 pp, 255 color, 3 b/w, 3 line, 2 maps. ex cat. 4to. Presents a myriad of objects - including figures, pitchers, textiles, masks, and metalwork - the majority of which are from the collection of Lima's National Museum of Archaeology, Anthropology and History. (Please note that Ancestors and Empires are the same catalogue though they have different titles and covers. The first is from the Memphis International Cultural Series, the second is from The Florida International Museum).

 

MORRIS, CRAIG INKA EMPIRE AND ITS ANDEAN ORIGINS, ABBEVILLE PRESS 1993. 252p Accompanying a major exhibition sponsored by the American Museum of Natural History, here is a profile of Andean civilization, from its beginnings 11,000 years ago to its culmination in the mighty Inka Empire. Recent archaeological studies have yielded valuable information about their agricultural methods, social and political structure, religion, ceremonies, and more, and are supported here by fabulous artifacts from the museum's collection, the largest of its kind in America. 200 illus., 150 in color.

 

Sawyer, A. ANCIENT PERUVIAN CERAMICS: The Nathan Cummings Collection Metropolitan Museum of Art 1966. Pre-Columbian early ceramics. 144 pages. 218 photographs.

 

 

 

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