Visual Arts · Non-Western Art Traditions
A topic within Non-Western Art Traditions, itself one of 9 topics in that field and part of Visual Arts.
2 works
Herbert J. Spinden
Argues Maya relief carving developed through a traceable sequence of stylistic phases from rigid early forms to fluid Late Classic naturalism, and that its recurring motifs form a consistent religious iconography rather than arbitrary decoration.
link checked 17 Sept 2026Karl A. Taube
Argues the Olmec jade and stone carvings in the Bliss collection encode a coherent religious iconography of were-jaguar transformation, maize deities and ritual bloodletting, rather than being purely decorative, and that this iconography underlies everything later Mesoamerican art did with the same symbols.
link checked 17 Sept 2026