Unseen art : making, vision, and power in ancient Mesoamerica / Claudia Brittenham.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Brittenham, Claudia, Author.

Contributor:

George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

Series:

Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long series in Latin American and Latino art and culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Indigenous peoples--Antiquities.

Indigenous peoples.

Indians--Antiquities--Religious aspects.

Indians.

Olmec art.

Maya art.

Aztec sculpture.

Religious articles--Central America.

Religious articles.

Religious articles--Mexico.

Ceremonial objects--Central America.

Ceremonial objects.

Ceremonial objects--Mexico.

Olmecs--Rites and ceremonies.

Olmecs.

Mayas--Rites and ceremonies.

Mayas.

Aztecs--Rites and ceremonies.

Aztecs.

Indians--Antiquities.

Central America.

Mexico.

Genre:

Informational works.

Physical Description:

xiv, 171 pages : illustrations (chiefly color), maps ; 29 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Other Title:

Making, vision, and power in ancient Mesoamerica

Place of Publication:

Austin : University of Texas Press, 2023.

Summary:

In Unseen Art, Claudia Brittenham unravels one of the most puzzling phenomena in Mesoamerican art history: why many of the objects that we view in museums today were once so difficult to see. She examines the importance that ancient Mesoamerican people assigned to the process of making and enlivening the things we now call art, as well as Mesoamerican understandings of sight as an especially godlike and elite power, in order to trace a gradual evolution in the uses of secrecy and concealment, from a communal practice that fostered social memory to a tool of imperial power. Addressing some of the most charismatic of all Mesoamerican sculptures, such as Olmec buried offerings, Maya lintels, and carvings on the undersides of Aztec sculptures, Brittenham shows that the creation of unseen art has important implications both for understanding status in ancient Mesoamerica and for analyzing art in the present. Spanning nearly three thousand years of the Indigenous art of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and Belize, Unseen Art connects the dots between vision, power, and inequality, providing a critical perspective on our own way of looking--Publisher's description.

Contents:

Seeing and knowing

Making : building community at La Venta

Vision : seeing Maya lintels

Power : carving the undersides of Aztec sculpture

Conclusion: The language of Zuyua.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 130-162) and index (pages 163-171).

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

Other Format:

Online version: Brittenham, Claudia. Unseen Art.

ISBN:

9781477325964

1477325964

OCLC:

1293917334

Publisher Number:

99995534191

40031509231