Pre-Columbian Art

Although Christopher Columbus was not the first European to reach the New World, his 1492 journey changed the course of history for people on both sides of the Atlantic by reuniting cultures that had been effectively isolated from each other for thousands of years.

Nahua Art and Ritual of Ancient Southern Mexico

Gold,” a mostly riveting exhibition that opens today at the American Museum of Natural History, is the museum’s latest show-and-tell about a precious natural material. Its predecessors have been devoted to amber, diamonds and pearls. Taken together, these exhibitions form a genre at which the museum excels.

found at http://www.fineliving.com

 Today, both archeologists and art historians are paying a lot of attention to artifacts that pre-date Columbus' culture-bridging voyage, and this has created a thriving business in what's known as pre-Columbian art.

Doug Dawson is Chicago's preeminent dealer of ancient cultural artifacts. His gallery, Douglas Dawson Ethnographica, specializes in archaeological objects and historic art, including fine tribal textiles, sculpture, ceramics, and furniture from Africa, Oceania, Asia, and ancient America. Here he offers a basic introduction to pre-Columbian art:

• Art made before 1492.
  Pre-Columbian art is the artistic production of all people of the western hemisphere before 1492. Pre-Columbian literally means "before Columbus."
  
• Eight millennia of culture and art.
  Some cultures in the Americas had been flourishing for 8,000 years before Columbus arrived. A civilization can produce quite a lot of art in that time, making this a very wide category of art.
  
• From rough to refined.
  Dawson considers examples of pre-Columbian textiles to be among the most sensational ever made. Other examples of art range from the dynamic and aggressive objects of the Aztec Empire to the more highly refined, almost effete sculpture made by the Maya.
  
• Art of the ruling class.
  Objects once owned by commoners can be both valuable and archeologically significant. According to Dawson, however, serious collectors are most interested in pre-Columbian art that is associated with the ruling elite.
  
• A pricey market.
  The bulk of the market in pre-Columbian art, says Dawson, falls in the $5,000 to $50,000 range. Interested collectors can buy pieces from auction houses and from dealers who specialize in pre-Columbian art.