Beauty and ugliness in Olmec monumental sculpture

Abstract

Beauty and ugliness in Olmec monumental sculpture. Since our Western art tradition has put such a prize on naturalism, we tend to think that other civilizations valued it as much as we did and do. I contend that Olmec monumental art illustrates the opposite, and suggest that the Olmecs most appreciated the anthropomorphic statues that incorporated feline features, and disliked the very naturalistic style of the colossal heads. The latter represented the severed heads of opponents who probably were losers in ritual battles. Therefore they could not claim the divine patronage of the jaguar, and had to appear just as « plain », ugly people.