Synopses & Reviews
A Guide to Mexican Art, a survey of more than twenty centuries of art, has a double purpose. It provides an ample version of one of the great national arts by a leading art historian, and it serves simultaneously as a practical guide to the art's outstanding masterpieces. The
Guide will thus be of value to specialists and students of Latin American art and to sightseers as an introduction and guide to the art and architecture of Mexico. To facilitate its use for the latter purpose, Professor Fernández has based his exposition on the sensitive analysis of works to be found almost exclusive in museums and public buildings accessible to the tourist.
The book was originally published in Spanish in 1958 and revised in 1961. This English translation, from the second edition has been brought up to date by the author and translator.
About the Author
Joshua C. Taylor (1917-1981) was a professor of art history at the University of Chicago from 1960 to 1974 and was named the William Rainey Harper chair of art history in 1963. He was director of the National Museum of American Art at the Smithsonian Institution from 1970 to 1981. He received a Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1956 with a dissertation on the 19th-century American artist William Page. His best known book is Learning to Look: a Handbook for the Visual Arts, which has become a standard text for art history, humanities, and museum courses. Among other books, he was also the author of The Fine Arts in America, the editor of Nineteenth-Century Theories of Art and a co-editor of Theories of Modern Art: A Source Book by Artists and Critics.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Introduction
1. Ancient Indigenous Art
The Art of Western Mexico
Preclassic Art of the Central Plateau
The Art of Eastern Mexico
Mayan Art
Teotihuacan Art
Toltec Art
Zapotec and Mixtec Art
Aztec Art
Summary
Selected Bibliography
2. The Art of New Spain
Medieval-Renaissance Art
Franciscan Monasteries
Dominican Monasteries
Augustinian Monasteries
Open Chapels
Civil Architecture
Sculpture and Painting
City Planning
Baroque Art
Cathedrals
Churches and Chapels
Civil Architecture
Sculpture and Painting
Neoclassical Art
Ecclesiastical Architecture
Civil Architecture
Sculpture and Painting
Engraving
Summary
Selected Bibliography
3. Modern Art
Romantic Art
Academic and Popular Painting
Sculpture
Architecture
Graphic Art
Modernism
Painting
Graphic Art
Summary
Selected Bibliography
4. Contemporary Art
Mural and Easel Painting
Mosaics
Sculpture
Graphic Art
Civil Architecture
Ecclesiastical Architecture
Folk Art
Summary
Selected Bibliography
Illustrations
Chronology
Index