Offers an in-depth look at pre-Columbian sources of modern art.

A completely new and revealing story of Pre- and Post-Columbian art as told through over sixty extraordinary artefacts now in the Jay I. Kislak Collection at the Library of Congress.

The World That Wasn't There tells the story of what became known to the West only after the voyages of Columbus and other European explorers: the beautiful and superbly crafted art of North and South America. From the best-known and most ancient civilizations-- such as the Olmec, Maya, and Aztec--to the spectacular vestiges of Teotihuacan, Veracruz, and Nayarit, from the ceramic Venuses of Valdivia, Ecuador, to the gold objects of Tairona, the ceramics of the Incas, and the fabrics and pots of the Nazca region, it is all here, in a stunning book presenting one of the most important private collections of pre-Columbian art in the world. This publication of treasures from the Ligabue Collection, assembled by the Italian palaeontologist and archaeological and anthropological scholar Giancarlo Ligabue (1931-2015), provides an unprecedented opportunity for collectors, scholars, and all those interested in pre-Columbian art.

This guide provides a closer view of the pre-Hispanic world, analysing the origins and decline of the greatest ancient American civilisations.