Art and Writing in the Maya Cities, AD 600–800: A Poetics of Line

Art and Writing in the Maya Cities, AD 600–800 examines an important aspect of the visual cultures of the ancient Maya in southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras. During a critical period of cultural evolution, artistic production changed significantly, as calligraphy became an increasingly important formal element in Maya aesthetics and was used extensively in monumental building, sculptural programs and small-scale utilitarian objects. Adam Herring’s study analyzes art works, visual programs, and cultural sites of memory, providing an anthropologically-informed description of ancient Maya culture, vision, and artistic practice. An inquiry into the contexts and perceptions of the ancient Maya city, his book melds epigraphic and iconographic methodologies with the critical tradition of art-historical interpretation.

• Cultural history of ancient Maya vision and visual works • Detailed consideration and close reading of ‘archaeological artifacts’ as artworks • Scholarship conversant in fields of archaeology, art history, and epigraphy

1. Yuknoom’s stare, the beholder’s share; 2. Gesture and speech; 3. In the realm of the senses; 4. Piedras Negras: capital city, canted landscape; Epilogue: signatures of sociability.