This volume is the record of the first major exhibition of Pre-Colombian art by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The production principally of the Easbys, the show and catalogue are very up-to-date in selection and interpretation. The catalogue is an indispensable reference tool for the scholar, with sources cited throughout the captions and texts.
Despite covering Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean islands during more than three thousand years, a good representation was obtained. Instead of the famous examples, important lesser-known works were chosen: Aztec sculpture is represented by, among other things, an earth god found in the subway excavations in 1967 and sculptures brought from Hamburg, Vienna, Paris, and London. It would seem impossible to do justice to Maya sculpture with thirty-eight items, only eleven of them over twenty inches high, but imaginative selection produced a good overview. The catalogue is both a service to scholarship and a treat for the art lover.
