This book considers 250 works of art from across a vast timeline of 14,000 years, expanding the definition of what constitutes art to include aestheticised cultural objects extending back to the earliest worked points of the Paleo-Indian Clovis people. The transition from these early works to modern and contemporary art reflects changing economic, ethnic, ideological, religious, and cultural perspectives, while considering the diversity, aesthetic complexity, and cultural breadth that developed in New Mexico and the greater Southwest. The art in this lavishly illustrated publication includes pre-European Native American pottery, baskets, and weavings; Hispanic santero art highlighting religious bultos and retablos; as well as twentieth-century artists, many of whom helped to shape the canon of modern and contemporary art. Examples are drawn from both fine art and anthropology collections and include works by the luminaries of twentieth-century art, including the Santa Fe and Taos colony artists, Georgia O'Keeffe, Paul Strand, Richard Diebenkorn, Agnes Martin, Bruce Nauman, Fritz Scholder, and many more. This comprehensive book is published to coincide with an exhibition at the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico to open May 2012.
