France, officially the French Republic is a unitary sovereign state comprising territory in Western Europe and several overseas regions and territories.
It has played a leading role in the arts throughout history and especially during the 19th century and has been influential in their development both within France and elsewhere, especially across Europe. The arts have long played an important role in French culture, with a heritage dating back perhaps to the 25000 year old cave paintings, to frescoes and decorative paintings in churches, and forwards to the great era in French art: the impressionists and post-impressionists of the 19th and 20th centuries.
After reading and researching into the details of pre-historic art in France. I can say that the story of French art starts with the cave paintings.
The cave paintings were frequently painted in dark, damp conditions, and were (and still are) an astonishing achievement.
Almost around 30,000 years down the line, these paintings have mostly represented animals.
According to my understanding, these were the animals that were being hunted at that time and were sometimes invented animals or mythical creatures. Frequently, the paintings are of animals that are no longer found in France, such as the bison.
The true meaning and role of these cave paintings is not clear – maybe they were simply decorative or they actually played a role in the primitive religion is still a big question for us and probably the truth about these paintings will never be known.
Very fine examples of cave paintings have been found at several locations across France. Today I’m going to share with you two examples that are very important and interesting.
- THE LASCAUX CAVES
The world famous caves at Lascaux are found near Montignac, 30km north of Sarlat in the Dordogne. The paintings in Lascaux caves date from the period around 17,000 years ago, although the caves were occupied for a long period – perhaps 6000 years in total – during the Magdelene period.
HOW WERE THESE CAVES FOUND?
The Lascaux caves were discovered in 1940 by a group of teenagers who were searching for their dog.
Here is my version of how those boys found one of the MOST magnificent and important caves in the history of France :
“September 12, 1940. A warm afternoon in south-western France. As two schoolboys hunt rabbits on a ridge covered with pine, oak and blackberry brambles, their dog, Robot, excitedly chases a hare down a hole in the ground beside a downed tree. As boys will, the youngsters begin to dig, widening the hole, removing rocks — until they find themselves not merely in another world, but another time.”
In the cool dark beneath the known world, the boys discover “a Versailles of prehistory” — a vast series of caves, today collectively known as Lascaux, covered with wall paintings roughly 17,000 years old.
The paintings at Lascaux caves are mostly pictures of large animals. There also seems to be a bison hunt as there are also some carvings of animals , and a few images of people in such a sequence. In total there are more than 1000 images in the cave system.
Fig1. Original painting of an ‘Auroch’ from the Lascaux caves.
The picture shown above is of the ‘auroch’, an early relative of the ox that is now extinct. There are several paintings with Auroch’s made on them. From what I know is that the Auroch was a sacred beast in prehistoric time and hence was found often.
In the caves, there are also paintings of a creature with two long straight horns, not identified as a real animal and known as the licorne (unicorn).
After the end of the second world war the caves were opened to the public, to great acclaim, but then were closed in 1963 because the paintings were being damaged by the breath of thousands of visitors.
A copy of the caves was created nearby so that visitors to Lascaux could still appreciate the caves. Known as Lascaux II.
Fig 2. One of the many copied paintings from the caves in Lascaux.
The picture above is one of the copied paintings in the remade/copied lascaux caves. As far as possible the same materials – natural pigments etc – and techniques have been used for the copies as for the originals. Hence, there is a striking similarity between the two images. Recently, I heard that even the re-made/copied caves have began to get damaged, probably because the paintings are made up of the same materials.
- THE CHAUVET CAVE
This magnificent discovery was made in December 1994 and remains one of the most important prehistoric sites to date. It was found accidentally by three local cavers – Christian Hillaire, Eliette Brunel-Deschamps and Jean-Marie Chauvet after whom the cave was named.
The Chauvet cave is situated next to the famous Pont d’Arc , above the old river bed upon which the Ardèche flowed before the archway opened up and changed its course. It contains a vast array and unique collection of cave paintings dated up to 32,000 years old which makes them the oldest cave paintings in the world.
These paintings contain images of animals such as the ibex, mammoth, giant stags, horses, lions, bears, rhinos and even an owl! What makes these paintings even more extraordinary is the expressive techniques that are used, such as the use of perspective in the ‘panel of horses’ which shows several animals on the same plane, or with the impression of movement shown by the duplication of the bison’s horn and hooves. The cave was also strewn with cave bear skulls, one of which was found placed carefully upon a high slab as if on an alter.
Now I’m going to share some of the cave art paintings from the chauvet cave :
- THE OWL
Fig 3. The owl
The sections of the Chauvet cave are geologically distinctive, and the artists used this to differentiate the rock art. The long-eared Owl is found in the second section of the cave, which is separated from the first section by a chamber which contains no wall art, even though there is suitable rock canvas for it – an archetypal curatorial device. The second section of the cave offers different artistic techniques. Black is now the predominant colour and engraving is common.
How I think It has been made :
The Owl has been engraved by using a tool on the soft surface of the rock, once this surface had been prepared and scraped clean. The intriguing aspect of the Owl is that it is depicted with its head seen from the front but its body from the back.I think, It may well be the earliest representation of the birds unique ability to turn its head through 180 degrees, an ability which many cultures associate with supernatural powers. One sees the Owl whilst returning from the deepest depths of the cave – is it looking back down there, with its inhumane ability to see in the dark?
- LARGE HORSE PANEL
Fig4. The large horse panel
The Horse is found near the Owl in Chauvet Cave , and has been drawn using the same technique.
The figure is complete, as it is showing details such as the full mane, its eye and a furry chest. However, this engraving is not entirely representational, as the legs taper into lines, whilst other lines echo the mane and the back. There are also unexplained parallel lines under the Horse.
- THE RED BEARS
Fig 5. The Red Bears
A number of cave bears are depicted in Chauvet. Cave bears are identifiable by the steep incline of their foreheads. These three bears are found near the prehistoric entrance [not the present entrance] to the cave, on a panel in a small recess.
The bears are painted in red. The central bear has been painted using the natural relief in the cave wall, with the shoulder following the line of the rock surface. This is a common artistic technique employed in prehistoric parietal art, suggesting that the cave wall topography whilst seen by torch light inspired the subject matter. The central bear is a complete figure, whilst to the left of it is an isolated bear head, and to the right of it a near complete bear. This may depict a sleuth of bears. The artist used a technique known as ‘stump-drawing’ – the use of fingers or a piece of hide to paint the muzzle and to emphasize the outlines of the head and forequarters; a form of perspective.
Few other examples of decorated cave systems :
– Pech Merle near Cahors. Dating back further than Lascaux, possibly 25,000 years, there are numerous paintings of a wide range of animals on a deep cave system that runs for more than a kilometre into the hillside
– Cosquer Cave near Marseille, now with an entrance that is under the sea, is thought to have been occupied 27,000 years ago and again 18,000 years ago. notable especially is the presence of paintings of marine animals at Cosquer.
Text Source:
- Prehistoric art in France. 2014. Prehistoric art in France. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.francethisway.com/culture/prehistoric-art-france.php. [Accessed 22 October December 2014].
- Prehistoric Cave Art of Spain & France (land tour) – Archaeological Institute of America. 2014. Prehistoric Cave Art of Spain & France (land tour) – Archaeological Institute of America. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.archaeological.org/tours/europe/9817. [Accessed 22 October 2014].
- Lascaux – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2014. Lascaux – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [ONLINE] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lascaux. [Accessed 22 October 2014].
Image Sources:
Rhea Gupta 