"Some Appropiations of Olmec Art"

• In Event: Cooptations: History’s Lesson in Sampling Visual Narratives

Abstract

Olmec art (1500-400 B.C.) has no written text that would aid in their understanding. Thus, for over a century, this impressive and monumental stone sculpture corpus has been subject to a variety of interpretations made by dilettantes, art historians and archaeologists. In this brief review, I will present various uses of ancient Olmec art in modern Mexico, as well as diverse scholarly interpretations in the US and Mexico. Most of these interpretations, instead of advancing a comprehensive vision of the past, promote various current ideological interests.

Author

• Rebecca B Gonzalez Lauck, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia