Enigma Variations

A novelized exploration of what is and what is not art today. In a colonial city an unusual collection of primitive art is offered for sale. Two anthropologists sent to appraise the pieces for the National Museum, find themselves in a world where the boundaries of authenticity and deception blur.

Noted writers on art, culture, and the tropical Americas, Richard and Sally Price have crafted a mystery at the intersections of art and anthropology. Drawing readers into their quest for a solution, they build an unusual partnership between text and pictures, daringly expanding the possibilities of academic discourse. "Enigma Variations"--in the tradition of "The Recognition"s and "The Crying of Lot 49"--is an entertainment as readable for its intellectual power as for its irresistible drama.