The Art Institute of Chicago, 2016
Purchase from the Art Institute Museum Shop . Available to booksellers from Yale University Press
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 Showcasing a host of previously unpublished objects dating from the Precolumbian era to the 20th century, the book marks the first time these holdings have been comprehensively documented.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 spans the Midwestern United States, the Yucatán Peninsula, and 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.
Richard Townsend
With contributions by Elizabeth Pope
368 pages, 9 x 12 in.
500 color ills.
Hardcover $65.00 ($58.50 members)
ISBN: 978-0-300-21483-3
