Art History: Origins of Art
Within the past week I had an opportunity to watch a documentary on the Chauvet Cave Paintings in France. In school I learned that the Chauvet paintings were the first cave paintings still in existence dating back 32,000 to 35,000 years ago. More recent findings suggest the paintings found in the Altamira Cave of Northern Spain are actually the first, dating back as far as 40,800 years.
I suppose it wouldn’t be enough just to tell you that looking at the origins of human art is inspiratipnal, so I will expound.
It intrigues me to consider what life was like for these people so many years ago. Many of the paintings detail predatory creatures such as Cave Lions and I can’t imagine what survival entailed in their time.
Aside from my fascination with the conditions these artists would have faced, one of the things I find most overwhelming is the sense of connection to them that comes from the images they left behind. Even in 2012, I am able to understand something about not only these peoples surroundings, but also their humanity. Their play with colors and utilization of the rock wall canvas on which they worked are just small examples of their creative choices. The fact they even took the time to transfer scenes from their daily lives shows expression of appreciation for the objects they recorded.
Today has been a rambling day, but if you hadn’t heard of these cave paintings before I hope you will investigate them further.
Thank you for stopping by everyone.
