San Fransisco, 21 February 2011
The Young Museum is presenting an exceptional exhibition of colossal Olmec masterpieces. “Olmec : Colossal Masterworks of Ancient Mexico” will run from 19 February to 8 May 2011.
Dating from the second millennium B.C., the Olmec civilisation is the oldest in America and considered the mother culture of Mesoamerica. The Olmec developed a sophisticated iconic and artistic style and are mostly known for the giant heads they sculpted in the rocks, which have fascinated the public and archeologists ever since their discovery in the mid-nineteenth century.
The exhibition presents more than one hundred objects, mostly from Mexican national collections, loaned by twenty-five museums. The pieces on display at the Young include colossal heads, a large throne, stelae, priceless miniature boats, figures, ornaments and masks.
The exhibition will unite new discoveries and unseen pieces for the first time and reveal the latest studies about the Olmec culture to the American public. The curator, Kathleen Berrin explains: “In the fifteen years since the last Olmec exhibition on American soil, archaeologists have made amazing finds at key sites in Mexico. Informed by the most recent scholarship, this sweeping international project brings together a terrific collection of artworks that paint a vivid portrait of life in the Olmec heartland.”
The Pre-Columbian Olmec civilisation prospered in the Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco between 1400 and 400 B.C, the period that corresponds to the Golden Age in Green and the Zhou dynasty in China.