by Mark McKinnon
The discovery of the cave at Lascaux and the artwork found within, generated so much interest that at it’s height almost 1200 visitors a day would venture into the cave. It soon became obvious that the open acess to the cave was causing damage to the paintings. In 1963 the French government decided to close the site.
A great historical treasure would have been lost to the average public except for a ingenious plan to recreate the most interesting parts of the cave, The Great Hall o f Bulls, and The Painted Gallery
Realizing that society would suffer from the closing of the site, the French officials decided to build an artificial structure with a concrete shell that recreated the walls of the original to exacting specifications. They dubbed this shell Lascaux II. The paintings were reproduced on the walls of the replica by projecting the images onto the new cave.
A great resolution to a chronic problem in the Art History world was accomplished by the French government. This solution ensures the protection of the original cave and the enrichment of human society by revealing the hidden artifacts to a new generation.
by Mark McKinnon
On the Northern slopes of the Pyrenees in France, among a tremendous concentration of Palaeolithic caves and prehistoric sites exists a renown sanctuary called Lascaux.
In September of 1940 a group of teen-agers were seeking mythical treasures along the banks of the Vézère river. There were stories of tunnels that ran under the river which contained treasures beyond imagination. What the teens discovered was treasure beyond what they could ever have imagined.
The Walls at Lascaux
The cave had been hidden for thousands of years, estimates range from 15,000 to 30,000 years. Because of it’s physical location, along the side of a hill, and the erosion of the land surrounding the entrance, the cave lay cloaked, unseen by human eyes since the stone age. Once the teens uncovered the entrance, the world was anxious to follow.
by Mark McKinnon
40,000 years ago the cave painters began to explore their existence through artistic representation. The artists were adept at their craft. From the images they left on the walls and ceilings in caves all around the world, we can learn much of our early ancestors. The caves in South-Western France contain some of the most outstanding examples of primitive art ever discovered. In fact that area in France contains a wealth of these caves that have astounded Art historians. Relatively recent discoveries have yielded a wealth of anthropological and cultural information about our mural painting relatives. Over the next few days we will explore this area in France where the caves have so wonderfully revealed the nature of early human artistic endeavor.
by Mark McKinnon
The history of Art is a long and on going story. It is the story of the manifestation of human emotion into physical representation. The work that has been produced is enormous! There are many stories of individual artists to be investigated.yet even a simple understanding of the history of Art is an endeavor of immense proportion, composed of many different people, places, and ideas. This blog is an attempt to describe the growth of the history of Art through writings about all these components.
The beginnings of Art are unknown because material tends to decay, although some of the earliest preserved pieces are cave paintings done by ancient cultures from hundreds of thousands of years ago. This seems like a good place to begin our foray into the history of Art.
