Earliest Art with the Latest

German filmmaker Werner Herzog has just released a 3D documentary called Cave of Forgotten Dreams. It is the story of Chauvet Cave in France where the earliest human paintings has been found. These date to about 32,000 years ago almost twice as old as the more famous paintings at Lascaux, also in France. You can view the trailer for the film on YouTube, but you'll see even more of this breath-taking art in an eight minute story from England's Guardian newspaper. While praising the film some critics have pointed out a few scientific errors in Herzog's script so a visit to the official website is well advised. The website has a virtual tour of every gallery within the cave with excellent still pictures as well as explanations of the history of the site.

You are unlikely to ever see these works of art in person since the Chauvet Cave is closed to the public and even most archaeologists in order to protect it from changes in humidity that might promote mold growth on the organic pigments. Thus world travelers have no advantage over a stay at home South Easton boy. I once did a presentation on American art for my students and threw in a picture of the first known photograph with the caption "this changes everything." Photography seemed to free painters from the need to be representational leading to the abstract works of the 20th century. While photography quickly asserted its own artistic side almost all photos still are about something. When a Lumiere brother' early film showed a train pulling into a station audience's ducked to avoid getting hit, but the advent of films didn't seem to push still photography into abstraction.

Viewing the Guardian video linked above gives you a real feel for the volume of the paintings and the mysteriousness of the cave itself. This effect must only be magnified in 3-D. The still pictures give you extensive coverage, panoramic views, and excellent close-ups, but something is missing that is present in the movie. Herzog actually speaks to this issue in the Guardian video because at the dawn of art, the first artists were thinking about this issue also! Live animals, the base of almost all prehistoric art, are full of motion. Herzog points to an eight legged bison as an early attempt at animation, and a rhino done in multiple outline almost seems to be shaking his horn. The use of the natural contours of the cave also seem to accentuate motion. It seems that motion pictures were the goal of representational art from the beginning. In an age of digital video cameras does the still photo have a future?

By the way, what you get with 15,000 years of technological advances is a much more colorful cave art at Lascaux. While the Chauvet drawings used charcoal and red ochre, the artists at Lascaux add browns and yellows to their animals. The Lascaux website, by the way, is one of the most spectacular I have ever seen. Using flash animation you descend into the claustrophobic cave and a helpful graphic pop-ups to tell you to stop and look at a painting as you pass by. The panoramic views make it seem as if you are inches away from the art. The link above may or may not take you to the English flash version of the website for which you need the latest version of flash player; it's worth it to view the site with flash. The site may also pop-up in French (Thank you Mr. Ialenti). If it does click on accessibilite and you'll soon find your way to Anglais.