Customer Reviews

Ecuador: The Secret Art of Precolumbian Ecuador

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The art of precolumbian Ecuador is not widely understood, particularly if you compare this wonderful world to the far more widely known clay and gold from ancient Peru. And, for sure, the former is not less intriguing than the latter if you get involved in trying to read, on clay and gold, the history of those fascinating populations. This book fills an important bibliographic gap and, in my opinion, it was worthwhile to wait so long to finally see such a beautiful publication! From Valdivia to the Inca, all of the regional artistic "desarrollo" unfolds under the reader's eye, with hundreds of perfect pictures making the most exhaustive complement to a text well written, thoroughly clear and detailed although never academic (and boring). Really a beautiful, and important, book!

This is one of the most revealing and best presented books I have ever seen on a region wrongly considered as minor in the art of Precolombian America.
The texts are well documented and give a good insight in the present day knowledge of the surprisingly little explored archeological sites of Equador. The objects presented in this book are of stunning beauty, emphasised by excellent photography.
Similar quality books should be produced for other socalled minor areas, as Precolombian art is not about the Maya and the Incas only.

I bought this because I was intrigued by the cover photo and it had good reviews. I wasn't at all disappointed. The artefacts are beautiful and truly deserve to be considered art, and the photography does them justice. The essays are very readable and are neither overly technical nor dumbed-down. Overall, this book is as educational as it is beautiful to look at.