These are perhaps the oldest works of art that survive — at least 30,000 years old! The cave has been closed to the public for years, but now there is a replica cave to visit. Read about it in the NYT from April 25, 2015.
Here’s a website. It’s in French…enjoy the images!
Wow. One really has to appreciate the talent and dedication that goes into replicating art so that wider public can view, enjoy, and most importantly interpret art, especially art as ancient as these cave pieces. This ancient are is under appreciated in my opinion and not as widely discussed in primary education as I believe it should be, so it is good news that these strides are being made to make knowledge of this art more known.
Prehistoric art has to definitely be one of the most descriptive art pieces out there. It looks like a bison carved into art. Its interesting because cave art has told stories over the years and have been inspired by many books and movies. For example cave drawings were shown in the movie Ice Age. The drawing told a story of hunters hunting a mammoth and its family. I also think prehistoric art sparks a trend in story telling. If you look at most of the children books today, they are very similar to the cave drawings from prehistoric times. I want to know what materials they used to create this masterpiece, because it has been around for about 30,000 years.
That is amazing. I would absolutely love to replicate cave drawings. That takes so much skill and patience. I think the more things that we replicate and try to bring people into the more people will respond. It is one thing to read about the cave paintings and another thing to actually see it. This opens up another world for anyone studying it. It also gets people engaged and helps them learn. I believe more people should replicate art work so people can see it closely and able to study it more.
This is really quite cool. Even in our most primitive state we were able to create art. It’s funny because I couldn’t even draw some of the images now that were created then. It’s so very important that the cave has been reopened! It is not only proof of how far we have come ,but shows that art is on a much deeper level in then just pen and paper or in this case soot and rock. It is an emotional level which no mater what generation we can relate to.
I think its sad that Lascaux had to be closed to the public. I had no idea it was possible that carbon dioxide from someone’s breath could harm an art piece that way. I was also surprised to read that aside from cave paintings of animals, there also seems to be depictions of vulvas which would imply birth or fertility. I am hoping that one day the caves will be open again to see for myself the prehistoric paintings. I can only imagine how amazing being there and seeing them in person would actually be
The amount of work that went into this replica is really astounding, and it’s all for the preservation and enjoyment of an ancient and culturally rich piece of historic art. The way the article describes the original cave though makes me sad that the original can’t be visited anymore. It truly sounds like an experience that was meant for many people to appreciate and be emerged in. The work that went into the replica though clearly shows attention to every detail and is meant to give a nearly perfect and accurate representation of the original and I think that is very admirable.
It is unfortunate that the only way to conserve some art is to deny public access to view it. A large factor of art is the viewer, so when the viewer must be taken out of the equation, it is regrettable. However, I do think that creating a replica of the cave was a great idea. Saving the originals is important until a better way to preserve them is developed, so I think creating a replica to be viewed in the place of the original is very innovative. It is important that the Chauvet Cave, in particular, is available to the public because of it’s role in art history. It contains some of the earliest prehistoric art discovered. The paintings on the cave walls are a connection to those who have come before us and we must learn from what they created. Prehistoric humans had a culture and they forever immortalized it on the cave walls, and we must do everything we can to protect those paintings. If creating a replica for people to view is the only option, it is better than losing the originals.
Cave art to me is very intriguing! Being able to view it would be very nice. It is quite unfortunate that this is not accessible to the public. I understand completely that this is the measures that have to be taken in order to preserve these magnificent pieces of art! This art in my opinion was made by the prehistoric people in order to give us a picture of what life was like for them. Being shown by the paintings, there was not a lot to do besides hunting and drawing.