Prehistoric Cave Paintings

Don’t worry about copying this down right now.

Chauvet (Shaw-Vay) Cave

• 30,000 BCE – Paleolithic Age

• Southern France• Wild horses, bison,

mammoths, bears, panthers, owls, deer, <-RHINOS, and wild goats were all depicted.

Bradshaw Foundation

• Rendered with artistic line quality, observant contour line definition, frenetic movement

Pech-Merle Cave

• Known specifically for dotted, stylized horses.• 25,000 BCE in Dordogne, France• Depicts silhouettes of hands. Example of

positive and negative imagery & implied texture with the spots.

positive/negative imagery

implied texture

Pech-Merle, 16,000 BCE, Southern France

positive space

negative space

Pech-Merle, 16,000 BCE, Southern France

Altamira Cave

• Northern Spain• Artists utilized shades to heighten accuracy of

depiction.• 15,000 BCE

Altamira Ceiling, 15,000 BCE

Sculptural effects were created with painted animals over rock formations. Artists took advantage of the bulbous contours of the rocks.

Bull Ceiling, 15,000-13,000 BCE, cave painting, Altamira, Spain.

Lascaux (Lass-Co) Cave• Dordogne, France• 15,000 BCE• Bulls, deer, and horses all depicted in motion along

natural surfaces.• Large scale

Lascaux

great sense of motion & realism

Great Black Bull, photograph N. Aujoulat (2003)

Lascaux Shaman?

• Possible depiction of a shaman.• Shaman: “a person regarding to have access to,

and influence in, the world of good and evil spirits.”

• Endowed by nature (enhanced by teaching and practice) with powers of self-control that allow them to fall into a trance at will.

• Once in the trance, they hear voices and obtain information.

Differentiate between the caves with 3 unique words for each.

What makes them unique?Chauvet

1. example: oldest cave: 30,000BCE (can’t use this)

2. 3.

Pech Merle

1. 2. 3.

Altamira

1. 2. 3.

Lascaux

1. 2. 3.

2-Minute Essay

• In your notes:– Select one cave from today’s discussion and write

why you selected it. The more specific details included, the better. Did you like it? Did you not? WHY?

• Be ready to share your opinion.

So what do the paintings mean?

• Take a few minutes and brainstorm why the paintings would even be made? What was the motivation behind their creation? Why would a hunter-gatherer spend time making these images?

• In groups of three, read the pink box on page 8 in the maroon Art through the Ages.

• From the text, re-answer the questions: What was the motivation for cave paintings? Why would a hunter-gatherer spend time making these images? Is anything known for certain?

• Finally: in your group, creation an original advertisement for a Pre-historic “artist”. What services would he/she offer? What would it say? What images (drawn) would be included?