Once again, the World of Art series from Thames and Hudson has published a compact and concise edition packed with information that can serve a wide audience, from students and travelers to scholars in the field. With this volume, the extraordinary (and long-neglected) art of the Andes finally takes its place among the great works of artistic production throughout the world.
Written from the perspective and expertise of an art historian, this small book manages to combine the archaeological record, which has long emphasized the concepts of ritual architecture in the Andes, with Andean aesthetics and its unique worldview. Rebecca Stone-Miller’s experience with the art and technical production of textiles, certainly among the region’s most significant and distinctive treasures, lends special insight and a particularly understandable descriptive content to each chapter.
The art of the vast Andean area, with its numerous and varied cultures spanning almost ten thousand years, must necessarily be limited in a basic survey, and the author has chosen to focus on large-scale, organized aesthetic systems from 1500 b.c. to a.d. 1550. This encompasses the Chavín through the neo-Inca styles in the territory ultimately ruled by the Inca Empire. Within this complex geographical terrain, numerous societies formed, only to disappear or be conquered by others. The archaeological record is constantly changing. It is interesting to compare this book with the classic survey on the subject, the now outdated Peoples and Cultures of Ancient Peru, written by Luis G. Lumbreras in 1972 and reprinted eight times. The inclusion of the fascinating marvels of the newly excavated site of Sipán and the redesignation of previously labeled Chimú artifacts as Sicán, along with the description of many sites that serve to address the significance of Chavín and Wari-Tiwanaku, are but a few of the changes evident over the past 20 years in Andean scholarship.
In the excellent introduction to the book, the author establishes the concepts of Andean aesthetics that she proceeds to weave (no pun intended) throughout each chapter. This is a superb educational practice that helps students to approach such a dense survey—one that incorporates architecture, sculpture, textiles, and metallurgy gleaned from not only the archaeological record but from looted sites—with focus and guidance. It also serves to emphasize the superb artistry of the Andean people and the consistency that can be found over such vast time spans and distances. A readable text and numerous drawings and diagrams help to recreate architectural locations and unfamiliar ritual arrangements.
Art of the Andes from Chavín to Inca is more than an introduction to the subject; it is a valuable contribution to the world of art. It can serve the student as well as the intellectually curious traveler and the reader anxious to investigate one of the most splendid of artistic traditions.
