This treasury of over 280 authentic designs contains creations of Argentine Indian cultures dating from 650 BC to the sixteenth century. Seldom seen outside of scholarly journals, the painstakingly adapted motifs originate from the Candelaria culture, La Aguada, Sanagasta, Belén, Santa Maria, Humahauca, Tobas, Matacos, Araucanos, and many other sources.
Appearing on ceramics, bronze reliefs, funeral urns, battle dress, leather bags, jars, ponchos, and other actual art and artifacts, the patterns exhibit a wealth of animal and totemic designs—including serpents, birds, and felines. Other designs feature geometric and rectilinear figures, abstracts, grids, repeating patterns, natural forms, and many other styles. Encompassing a wide variety of shapes and sizes, these designs display extraordinary invention and imagination: far from being primitive, they display a sophisticated understanding of artistic abstraction and methods of creating bold, eye-catching forms.
Artists and craftspeople will find here a nearly inexhaustible source of copyright-free graphics that will add a distinctive South American Indian flavor to textile and wallpaper design, book and magazine illustration, fabric design, and a host of other artistic and craft projects.