Olmec : colossal masterworks of ancient Mexico /

Museum curators Berrin (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco) and Fields (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) have organized many of the significant recent Mesoamerican exhibitions, and this volume similarly will become one of the standard works on Olmec art and archaeology. Beautifully illustrated with 231 large-scale, color photographs, this exhibition catalogue, unlike previous ones--The Olmec World, edited by M. D. Coe et al. (CH, Jul'96, 33-6101), and Olmec Art of Ancient Mexico, edited by E. P. Benson and B. de la Fuente (CH, Dec'96, 34-1971)--puts less emphasis on detailed iconographic analysis, focusing more on the integration of archaeological and art historical approaches. The essays from multidisciplinary contributors offer a historiography of Olmec research; a definition of the notoriously complex term "Olmec"; and a chronological approach to Olmec cultural development. Eschewing technical terminology, the book is an invaluable resource for scholars, researchers, students, and interested general readers. While approachable, the discussion of the objects is somewhat abbreviated, and close reading reveals some contradictions between the various authors. Those interested in the history of archaeology will appreciate the volume's discussion of the early archaeologists who brought the Olmec to the consciousness of the modern world. Summing Up: Essential. Lower-level undergraduates through researchers/faculty. A. Headrick University of Denver

Flourishing from 1800 to 400 B.C.E. in the coastal lowlands of Mexico's Tabasco and Veracruz, the Olmec culture-s material legacy has intrigued archaeologists and art historians since the first monumental stone head was uncovered in 1862. This handsome catalog brings fresh scholarship to bear on the exhibition at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art-where Berrin and Fields, respectively, are curators-exposing the collections of 26 Mexican and U.S. museums. The 231 color illustrations capture the stone and ceramic figures, vessels, monuments, ceremonial tools, and masks that provided the foundational artwork of Mesoamerica. Seven scholarly essays and detailed annotations contributed by the museums' curators and scholars set the context for the book's organizational themes: the heartland setting, political organization, the Olmec cities, and their cultural influences through time. VERDICT Maps and a substantial bibliography support the text, but the photos make this book of interest to less academic audiences as well.-Nancy B. Turner, Syracuse Univ. Lib., NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.