The Olmec World is the name of the exhibit which just opened at the Princeton University Art Museum. The exhibit will remain at Princeton until February 25th, 1996, then will re-open at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas, from April 14th to June 9th, 1996. This is a brief review of the exhibition and of the catalog which accompanies the exhibition, summarized by Lloyd Anderson, who must also thank Sharon Bowen for her comments on various aspects. The catalog of the exhibition can be ordered from Princeton Art Museum. ----------------------------- The exhibit is magnificent. It is spacious, with good lighting for the most part. It includes previously unpublished items, and entire categories of art works and iconographic styles which are less well known than they should be. There is an introductory room with maps and explanations of a set of iconographic motifs, so the visitor can understand much of what they will see as they pass through the exhibition itself. The Olmec objects in the exhibition are simply beautiful. They are grouped very nicely, facilitating comparison and understanding. There are many highlights, the impressively modeled shamans in psychic transformation, the images of birds and fish also full of energy, the room full of expressive masks, the tall statue of "Slim", vases with simple yet strong incised and painted iconography, and others. The exhibition even includes the actual maw of the underworld from Chalcatzingo, something I never dreamed I would be able to see in the stone itself. I can well understand why people have fallen in love with Olmec art. It is highly expressive with a great economy of line. This exhibition only increased my already great interest. Without question, this exhibit (and one to come at the Smithsonian) will put the Olmec "on the map", along with the Chavin in the Andes, as early advanced cultures of the Americas parallel to ancient formative cultures of China, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and others. ----------------------------- The published volume contains the following articles: Friedel (intro), Diehl and M. Coe (Archaeology), Reilly (Art Ritual Rulership), Tate (Art), Peter Furst (Shamanism, Transformation), Taube (Rainmakers), Schele (Mountain and Tree of Creation), Harlow (Rocks and Minerals used). The articles are followed by the Catalog of the exhibition, divided into the following categories: Regeneration and Shamanism, The Shamanic Landscape and Journey, Images of Supernaturals, The Axis Mundi, Rulers and Regalia, The Young Lord (nicknamed "slim"), The Shamanic Bundle, and Regional Manifestations of the Olmec Style. There is a bibliography and index. The volume is of very high quality. A particular help to those interested in iconography are the frequent line drawings, making visible what one cannot fully see in photographs, and often "rolling out" the drawings for easier comprehension on a flat surface. The symposium at the opening of the exhibition had the following speakers: Allen Rosenbaum and Gillett Griffin (introduction by these two, who deserve to be called the patron saints of the exhibition), Ann Cyphers (San Lorenzo), Ponciano Ortiz C. (Manati), Maria del Carmen Rodrigueq (La Merced), Christine Niederberger (Central Highlands and Western Mexico), F. Kent Reilly (Mountains of Creation and Underworld Portals), Richard Diehl (information lost when we do not have objects in context), Carolyn Tate (Were-Jaguars, the supernatural patron of Shamans), Karl Taube (Symbolism of Celts). (Beatriz de la Fuente was originally scheduled as a speaker, but at the last minute was not permitted by her doctor to fly.) All of the speakers and articles were valuable. To highlight only four which were somewhat more unusual in one or another way: Peter Furst's article "Shamanism, Transformation, and Olmec Art" interprets a number of the small figures as shamans in the process of psychological transformation. He bases this interpretation on numerous parallels from cultures of South America which may be something like what Olmec culture once was. The "acrobat" figures with feet on their heads may represent somersaulting, which shamans in some cultures are known to do as a symbol of their transformation. Karl Taube's article "The Rainmakers" is especially valuable for the way it brings together many examples of each iconographic motif, helping the reader to understand how the motifs changed through time, and to see which are equivalent across differences of style. Christine Niederberger's talk at the symposium, on the Central Highlands and Western Mexico, is salutary in highlighting just how widely distributed were the early sites which form part of the larger Olmec world of the time. Although some of the largest sites obviously were on the Veracruz coast, there are great Olmec riches elsewhere as well. Richard Diehl's "The Lost World of the Olmec: Objects without Provenance or Context" was not a political talk, but rather one simply exploring what information we do and do not have. He mused about the difficulty of getting archaeologists to publish just as much as about the effects of looting and other problems. (Archaeologists would much rather be digging.) ----------------------------- We can all be very grateful to those who made this exhibition possible, in many various ways. Those who attended the symposium are also grateful to the Princeton Art Museum and the organizers for a very good and nutritious lunch and for a reception at the opening of the exhibition. From: Lloyd Anderson