Indian art of Mexico and Central America
"This beautiful book, the last written and illustrated by Miguel Covarrubias, and certainly his finest achievement, presents the plastic arts of the aboriginal inhabitants of Mexico (including Yucatán), Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua: the Maya, Aztecs, 'Olmecs,' Toltecs, Tarascans, Mixtecs, and many others, including some rich cultures only recently brought to light. Illustrated by the author with twelve pages in full color and one hundred and forty-nine line drawings, and with an album of sixty-four pages of photographs. Indian Art of Mexico and Central America begins with an Introduction defining and delineating Middle America. Under the general heading 'The Early Horizon: The Pre-Classic Cultures,' it then examines the arts of the cultures known until recently as 'archaic,' the remarkable work of the first agriculturalists, the still mysterious 'Olmecs,' and the little-known peoples of Western Mexico. In the second section of the book, entitled 'The Classic Period: The Great Theocracies,' Covarrubias discusses the world-renowned architecture, sculpture, and smaller arts of Teotihuacán, Monte Albán, Mitla, the Vera Cruz coast, and the Maya area of Yucatán (Chchén-Itzá, Uxmal, etc.), Chiapas (Palenque, etc.), Quintana Roo, and Guatemala. Finally, in 'The Historic Period,' he deals with the Toltec Renaissance, the wonderful jewelry and other arts of the Mixtecs, and the great metropolitan culture of Tenochtitlán (now Mexico City). In his text Covarrubias touches upon the conflicting theories of many individual archeologists and schools of archeology--and presents his own judgments, based on many years of firsthand experience and--in many cases--of participation in the exacting labors of spade-and-dirt archeology. Beyond its scholarship, beyond even its richness of reference and its unique comprehensiveness, perhaps, this is a beautiful book, an American publishing event of the first importance." -- Book jacket
Print Book, English, 1957
First edition
Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1957