This well-illustrated catalog of a current exhibit in the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum depicts a highly selected series of pre-Columbian handicrafts representing climaxes in artistic production. For the exhibit over 600 speciments were obtained by loan, mainly from public and private collections in Peru. By the mere fact that the selection was made for exhibition purposes the range of specimens does not actually substantiate the claim that they constitute the “most comprehensive such view of Peru’s collective genius ever attempted.” Instead, the collection comprises mainly portable objects of high artistic merit or exotic qualities and thus by necessity must ignore the major achievements in architecture, highway engineering, and political and social organization of the pre-Columbian Peruvians.
In addition to selecting handicrafts on the basis of their high aesthetic traits as a whole, pieces were picked from the complex ceramic cultures that begin with the Chavín (ca. 1,200 B.C.). In turn, the accompanying texts and charts reflect this same screening, but also are further limited by not including the data and ideas obtained by the archaeologists, such as John H. Rowe, Edward P. Lanning, and Thomas C. Patterson, who have recently worked in the region. For the general reader not interested in a detailed or extensive overview of Peruvian prehistory, the text does provide a concise summary. The high quality of the illustrations, both color and black and white, makes this publication of value to those collecting photographic folios of prehistoric Peruvian handcrafts.
