Minneapolis Institute of Art

Figure

Olmec artist

Date

11th-6th century BCE

Medium

Ceramic

Culture

Olmec

Department

Arts of the Americas

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

The Olmec people developed the first cities of Mesoamerica. Situated in the tropical lowlands of Mexico, these early urban societies produced most of the major features of later regional civilizations: monumental architecture and sculpture, hieroglyphic writing, a calendrical system, and intensive agriculture. The distinctive Olmec art style, expressive of their religion, greatly influenced subsquent Mesoamerican art. A prominent motif in Olmec art is the baby face, a fleshy human face with drooping mouth, squinting eyes, and snub nose. Here the distinctive features are part of a naturalistic depiction, but in many Olmec pieces they merge with feline traits like snarling lips and fangs. These pervasive references to the spiritual union of a jaguar and a human allude to an Olmec conception of the supernatural status of rulers. México, Americas

The authoritative record is held by Minneapolis Institute of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.