In spring 2009, Dumbarton Oaks inaugurated an occasional series of contemporary art installations intended to provide unexpected experiences and fresh interpretations of its gardens and collections. The first artist selected was the American sculptor Charles Simonds, who is well known for clay sculptures that document the wanderings of a fantastical civilization of Little People whose landscapes, architectures, and rituals have been imagined by the artist since the early 1970s. The outcome was a project that spanned the whole institution. A wide range of his current sculptures--some architectural, some figural, and some evocative of landscape, most preexisting but one made especially for the exhibition--was installed between May and October 2009 in various spaces at Dumbarton Oaks.

"Landscape Body Dwelling" documents and reflects on the installation. Essays by Ann Reynolds and Germano Celant situate it within the broader context of Simond's artistic career, while essays by John Beardsley and Joanne Pillsbury detail the often surprising connections between the exhibited works, the garden elements, and the permanent collections at Dumbarton Oaks. Richly illustrated with photographs of the installation, this volume demonstrates how contemporary culture connects us with the past, reinvigorating historical tropes while enlivening the institutions that continue to speak them.

This engaging exploration of the Maya pantheon introduces readers to the complex stories of Mesoamerican divinity through the stunning carvings, ceramics, and metalwork of the Classic period Focusing on the period between A.D. 250 and 900, Lives of the Gods reveals that ancient Maya artists evoked a pantheon as rich and complex as the more familiar Greco-Roman, Hindu-Buddhist, and Egyptian deities. The authors show how this powerful cosmology informed some of the greatest creative achievements of Maya civilization, represented here from the monumental to the miniature through more than 140 works in jade, stone, and clay. Thematic chapters supported by new scholarship on recent archaeological discoveries detail the different types of gods and their domains, the role of the divine in the lives of the ancient Maya, and the continuation of these traditions from the colonial period through the present day. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press Exhibition Schedule: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (November 21, 2022-April 2, 2023) Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX (May 7-September 3, 2023)

Among the most sumptuous buildings of antiquity were royal palaces. As in the Old World, kings and nobles of ancient Mexico and Peru had luxurious administrative quarters in cities, and exquisite pleasure palaces in the countryside. This volume explores the great houses of the ancient New World, from palaces of the Aztecs and Incas, looted by the Spanish conquistadors, to those lost high in the Andes and deep in the jungle. This volume, the first scholarly compendium of elite residences of the high cultures of the New World, presents definitive descriptions and interpretations by leading scholars in the field. Authoritative yet accessible, this extensively illustrated book will serve as an important resource for anthropologists, archaeologists, and historians of art, architecture, and related disciplines.

A cross-cultural examination of jewelry spanning 5,000 years that investigates not only the objects themselves but also the bodies they decorated As an art form, jewelry is defined primarily through its connection to and interaction with the body—extending it, amplifying it, accentuating it, distorting it, concealing it, or transforming it. But how is the meaning of jewelry bound to the body that wears it?   Establishing six different modes of ornamenting the body—Deconstructed, Divine, Regal, Idealized, Alluring, and Resplendent—this artfully designed book illustrates how these various definitions of the body give meaning to the jewelry that adorns it. More than 200 examples of exceptional jewelry and ornaments, created across the globe from antiquity to the present, are shown alongside paintings and sculptures of bejeweled bodies to demonstrate the social, political, and aesthetic role of jewelry. From earflares of warrior heroes in Pre-Columbian Peru to designs by Yves Saint-Laurent, these precious and most intimate works of art provide insight not only about the wearer but also into the designers, artisans, and cultures that produced them. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press Exhibition Schedule: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (11/12/18–02/24/19)

Based on the comprehensive study of one of the most important collections of Maya art in the United States, Ancient Maya Art at Dumbarton Oaks is a scholarly introduction to one of the great traditions of sculpture and painting in ancient America.

Merchants, Markets, and Exchange in the Pre-Columbian World examines the structure, scale, and complexity of economic systems in the pre-Hispanic Americas, with a focus on the central highlands of Mexico, the Maya Lowlands, and the central Andes. Civilization in each region was characterized by complex political and religious institutions, highly skilled craft production, and the long-distance movement of finished goods. Scholars have long focused on the differences in economic organization between these civilizations. Societies in the Mexican highlands are recognized as having a highly commercial economy centered around one of the world's most complex market systems; those of the Maya region are characterized as having reciprocal exchange networks and periodic marketplaces that supplemented the dominant role of the palace; and those of the central Andes are recognized as having multiple forms of resource distribution, including household-to-household reciprocity, barter, environmental complementarity, and limited market exchange. Essays in this volume examine various dimensions of these ancient economies, including the presence of marketplaces, the operation of merchants (and other individuals) who exchanged and moved goods across space, the role of artisans who produced goods as part of their livelihood, and the trade and distribution networks through which goods were bought, sold, and exchanged.

Published in Collaboration with the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art

"A definitive resource for early works on indigenous Andean cultures"

Prior to the arrival of Europeans in the first half of the sixteenth century, Andean peoples had no tradition of writing. For this reason, texts written by early modern European chroniclers and later Andean authors are a critical source of information on the Andes. This landmark three-volume reference work inventories the principal sources useful for the study of the region--particularly its Prehispanic and vice-regal cultures--covering relevant texts from the sixteenth through the nineteenth century. With written contributions by 122 scholars from nineteen countries and amply illustrated with drawings, engravings, photographs, and maps, the "Guide" offers new perspectives on key works and reflects substantial changes in historical and cultural studies of the past fifty years.

The first volume contains twenty-nine essays about the origin and nature of the sources, focusing on recent research and interpretations. The subjects covered range from Andean knotted-string records and colonial bookmaking to legal affairs and natural history. The essays also address topics relatively new to Andean studies, such as popular drama, travel accounts, and the influence of the classical tradition in the Andes.

Volumes 2 and 3 list specific authors alphabetically and discuss their texts. The entries contain such information as biographical data, locations of manuscripts, publication history, translations, and references to secondary literature.

The "Guide" is an indispensable research tool for scholars and students of pre-Columbian and colonial Andean studies, particularly in anthropology, archaeology, religious studies, history, and art history. It underscores the cultural complexities of the European presence in the Andean region and helps readers gain a deeper understanding of the varied purposes and perspectives of these records.

Illustrations remain one of the fundamental tools of archaeology, a means by which we share information and build ideas. Often treated as if they were neutral representations, archaeological illustrations are the convergence of science and the imagination. This volume, a collection of fourteen essays addressing the visual presentation of the Pre-Columbian past from the fifteenth century to the present day, explores and contextualizes the visual culture of archaeological illustration, addressing the intellectual history of the field and the relationship of archaeological illustration to other scientific disciplines and the fine arts.

From the first millennium B.C. until the arrival of Europeans in the 16th century, artists from across the ancient Americas created small-scale architectural effigies to be placed in the tombs of important individuals. These works in stone, ceramic, wood, and metal range from highly abstracted, minimalist representations of temples and houses to elaborate complexes populated with figures, conveying a rich sense of ancient ritual and daily life. Although described as models, these effigies were created not so much as reflections or prototypes of existing structures, but rather as critical, conceptual components of funerary practice and beliefs about an afterlife. Design for Eternity is the first publication in English to explore these architectural works, providing new insights into ancient American design and how it reflected the practices of daily life. The vivid illustrations and texts focus on architectural representation, as well as the role these intriguing sculptures played in mediating relationships among the living, the dead, and the divine. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press Exhibition Schedule: The Metropolitan Museum of Art (10/26/15-09/18/16)

This volume accompanies a major international loan exhibition featuring some three hundred works of art rarely or never before seen in the United States. It traces the development of gold working and other luxury arts in the Americas from antiquity until the arrival of Europeans in the early sixteenth century. Featuring spectacular works from recent excavations in Peru, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Mexico, this exhibition focuses on specific places and times-crucibles of innovation-where artistic exchange, rivalry, and creativity led to the production of some of the greatest works of art known from the ancient Americas. The book and exhibition explore not only artistic practices but also the historical, cultural, social, and political conditions in which luxury arts were produced and circulated, alongside their religious meanings and ritual functions.Golden Kingdoms creates new understandings ofancient American art through a thematic exploration ofindigenous ideas of value and luxury. Central to thebook is the idea of the exchange of materials and ideasacross regions and across time: works of great valuewould often be transported over long distances, or passed down over generations, in both cases attracting new audiences and inspiring new artists. The idea of exchange is at the intellectual heart of this volume, researched and written by twenty scholars based in the United States and Latin America.

Published in Collaboration with the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art

"A definitive resource for early works on indigenous Andean cultures"

Prior to the arrival of Europeans in the first half of the sixteenth century, Andean peoples had no tradition of writing. For this reason, texts written by early modern European chroniclers and later Andean authors are a critical source of information on the Andes. This landmark three-volume reference work inventories the principal sources useful for the study of the region--particularly its Prehispanic and vice-regal cultures--covering relevant texts from the sixteenth through the nineteenth century. With written contributions by 122 scholars from nineteen countries and amply illustrated with drawings, engravings, photographs, and maps, the "Guide" offers new perspectives on key works and reflects substantial changes in historical and cultural studies of the past fifty years.

The first volume contains twenty-nine essays about the origin and nature of the sources, focusing on recent research and interpretations. The subjects covered range from Andean knotted-string records and colonial bookmaking to legal affairs and natural history. The essays also address topics relatively new to Andean studies, such as popular drama, travel accounts, and the influence of the classical tradition in the Andes.

Volumes 2 and 3 list specific authors alphabetically and discuss their texts. The entries contain such information as biographical data, locations of manuscripts, publication history, translations, and references to secondary literature.

The "Guide" is an indispensable research tool for scholars and students of pre-Columbian and colonial Andean studies, particularly in anthropology, archaeology, religious studies, history, and art history. It underscores the cultural complexities of the European presence in the Andean region and helps readers gain a deeper understanding of the varied purposes and perspectives of these records.