Everybody Likes Cave Art

Cave Art and Why it's the Beginning

How many of you have seen cave art?  Good, most of you have.  You may not know where or exactly when, but you've seen it.  Do you appreciate it? Do you respect it as having high quality? Do you accept that there isn't a lot of realistic quality to the subjects? 

I introduce cave art as the first lesson in drawing one courses for numerous reasons.  Discussions range from early human records, minerals, animals, and the urge to create with the importance of historical records. 

• Do you like the art work you see on the cave wall?
• What do you think they used to make the different marks?
• How did they make the color? 
• How did they apply the color to the cave walls?
• Pigments, and minerals discussion: Science hallway
• Historic implications and timeline comparison: History Hallway (Math Hallway?)
• Line Quality, 
• Composition, artist intent, etc.

For years I began Drawing 1 classes with the cave paintings of Lascaux, France.  Now I've changed to the movie by Werner Herzog "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" 2010, the cave art of Chauvet, France.  Cave of Forgotten Dreams is the result of Herzog's exclusive access to the recently discovered Chauvet caves in the South of France, and their truly extraordinary cave paintings, dating back 32,000 years.

But, the Lascaux story must be told to students first (Finding Lascaux). I still begin the school year with the story of the discovery of one of the most famous caves of art and how some teenagers and a dog were the ones to do so.  

Finding Lascaux
Four Boys and a Dog


In September 1940, four boys and a dog set out on an adventure in Dordogne. The boys - Marcel Ravidat, Jacques Marsal, Georges Agnel and Simon Coencas – where intrigued by an old legend about a tunnel running under the Vezere River linking the old Castel of Montignac to the Manor of Lascaux. According to the legend, this tunnel would lead to a second tunnel and a treasure hidden deep in the woods of Montignac.

Robot the dog with two of the four cave's discoverers




Finding Lascaux

FULL LASCAUX WEBSITE

This is the best cave art "MOVIE".

Cave of Forgotten Dreams. 

Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Mankind's Lost Masterpiece

The Art of the Chauvet Cave

I play the beginning of the movie on Netflix in class and don't provide much information prior. The documentary speaks for itself.  Even with Werner's weird accent.  The beginning of art.