Art Institute of Chicago
Description: artinstitute@chicago.edu
Learn more about The Art Institute.
Art Institute of Chicago
artinstitute@chicago.edu
111 S Michigan Ave
Chicago
IL
60603
United States of America
Unsubscribed from the newsletter
Do not send me site notifications emails
13 – 17 of 17 results
12Previous |
Description: The Ancient Americas: Art from Sacred Landscapes
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00118
Marking the Columbus quincentennial, this catalog of a traveling exhibition explores the common threads in fourteen pre-Columbian cultures, from the Olmec, Maya, and Aztec of Mexico and Guatemala through the Chavin culture (900–200 B.C.) of the Andes to the Moche, Chimu, and the Inca empire. The book contains essays from 26 scholars examining sacred geographies, myths, and ancient beliefs as they are transmitted through visual arts and architecture.

*This eBook is available exclusively on the A&AePortal*
Author
Print publication date December 1998 (in print)
Print ISBN 9780865591042
EISBN 9780300226997
Illustrations 427
Print Status in print
Description: Casas Grandes and the Ceramic Art of the Ancient Southwest
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00030
In the flourishing ancient Indian communities of the American Southwest and northwest Mexico, master potters created ceramic arts that are considered among the most accomplished in the world. The symbolic imagery and distinctive local styles of the region are unmistakable—simple volumetric shapes covered with complex, interlocking geometrical designs that are sometimes combined with bold abstract animal, human, and composite figures. Within this shared tradition are clearly identifiable local styles and symbolic vocabularies, and this lavishly illustrated book focuses on one of them: the ceramic works of the Casas Grandes-Paquimé area of northwest Mexico and adjoining parts of New Mexico and Arizona, c. A.D. 1200–1400.

For the first time on a comprehensive scale, expert art historians and an artist-teacher discuss the complex imagery of approximately ninety Casas Grandes vessels with fifty pieces representing other major styles of the Greater Southwest. Superb examples show polychromatic designs of real and mythological animals, together with abstract human figures and remarkably varied geometries, demonstrating the imaginative complexity and exceptional achievement of the Casas Grandes potters. Certain motifs reflect affinities with distant Mesoamerica, yet the authors show that these forms were absorbed into a visual vocabulary that reflected the unique artistic and cosmological outlook of Casas Grandes, within the native Southwestern cultural tradition.
Author
Print publication date October 2005 (in print)
Print ISBN 9780300111484
EISBN 9780300227000
Illustrations 240
Print Status in print
Description: Hero, Hawk, and Open Hand: American Indian Art of the Ancient Midwest and South
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00064
Along the Ohio, Tennessee, and Mississippi Rivers, the archaeological remains of earthen pyramids, plazas, large communities, and works of art and artifacts testify to Native American civilizations that thrived there between 3000 B.C. and A.D. 1500. This fascinating book presents exciting new information on the art and cultures of these ancient peoples and features hundreds of photographs of important artworks, artifacts, and ritual objects excavated from Amerindian archaeological sites.

Drawing on excavation findings and extensive research, the contributors to the book document a succession of distinct ancient populations in the pre-Columbian world of the American Midwest and Southeast. A team of interdisciplinary scholars examines the connections between archaeological remains of different regions and the themes, forms, and rituals that continue in specific tribes of today. The book also includes the personal reflections of contemporary Native Americans who discuss their perspectives on the significance of the fascinating and beautiful prehistoric artifacts as well as their own cultural practices today.
Author
Print publication date October 2004 (in print)
Print ISBN 9780300106015
EISBN 9780300225600
Illustrations 430
Print Status in print
Description: Watercolors by Winslow Homer: The Color of Light
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00173
American painter Winslow Homer (1836–1910) created some of the most breathtaking and influential watercolors in the history of the medium. This volume provides a comprehensive look at Homer’s technical and artistic practice as a watercolorist, and at the experiences that shaped his remarkable development. Focusing on 25 rarely seen watercolors from the Art Institute’s collection, along with 75 other related watercolors, gouaches, drawings, and paintings—including many of the artist’s characteristic subjects—the book proposes a new understanding of Homer’s techniques as they evolved over his career. Accessibly written essays consider each of the featured works in detail, examining the relationship between monochrome drawing and watercolor and the artist’s lifelong interest in new optical and color theories. In particular, they show how his sojourn in England—where he encountered leading British marine watercolorists and the dynamic avant-garde art scene—precipitated an abrupt change in technique and subject matter upon his return home. Conservators address the fragility of these watercolors, which are prone to fading due to light exposure, and demonstrate, through pioneering research on Homer’s pigments and computer-assisted imaging, how the works have changed over time. Several of Homer’s greatest watercolors are digitally “restored,” providing an exhilarating glimpse of the original impact of Homer’s groundbreaking color experiments.
Print publication date February 2008 (in print)
Print ISBN 9780300119459
EISBN 9780300233629
Illustrations 286
Print Status in print
Description: Ancient West Mexico: Art and Archaeology of the Unknown Past
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00016
This volume documents the splendid accomplishments of Ancient West Mexico, and brings together some of its finest examples of sculptural art, including representations of people, animals and plants, as well as vessels and models of houses, ceremonial centres, ball games and ritual scenes. All the extraordinary earthenware figures illustrated here have been recovered from burial sites and shaft tombs. They represent a wide range of subjects — warriors, chieftains, ladies, acrobats, shamans, musicians, ball players, festival couples and bound prisoners — in a variety of styles from about 200 BC to AD 800 — that compose the artistic canon of Ancient West Mexico, a region encompassing the modern states of Colima, Jalisco and Nayarit.
Author
Print publication date January 1998 (in print)
Print ISBN 9780500050927
EISBN 9780300222074
Illustrations 415
Print Status in print
12Previous |