Casas Grandes and the Ceramic Art of the Ancient Southwest

In the flourishing ancient Indian communities of the American Southwest and northwest Mexico, master potters created ceramic arts that are considered among the most accomplished in the world.

The symbolic imagery and distinctive local styles of the region are unmistakable - simple volumetric shapes covered with complex, interlocking geometrical designs that are sometimes combined with bold abstract animal, human and composite figures.

Within this shared tradition are clearly identifiable local styles and symbolic vocabularies, and this lavishly illustrated book focuses on one of them: the ceramic works of the Casas Grandes-Paquime area of northwest Mexico and adjoining parts of New Mexico and Arizona, c.

A.D. 1200 - 1400. For the first time on a comprehensive scale, expert art historians and an artist-teacher discuss the complex imagery of approximately ninety Casas Grandes vessels with fifty pieces representing other major styles of the Greater Southwest.

Exhibition schedule: Art Institute of Chicago, 2 April to 18 June 2006.