Thursday 10 September 2015

Cave of Lascaux, discovered 8th September 1940


Art Circle responses to the following are above and below.  Well done everyone!

There are 6,000 representations of animals at Lascaux.  

Why?  Documentation?  Ritual?  Successes?  
The process seems to give the best clue…

“Horses were always drawn first, followed by aurochs (oxen) and then stags. Under such conditions, time itself becomes a crucial factor. This sequence, systematically used for every composition in the sanctuary, responds to biological requirements, revealed by the seasonal attributes seen on the animals. This analysis shows that the horses' features correspond to the early spring, the aurochs to the summer and the stags to the autumn. The various phases of these biological cycles indicate, for each species, the beginnings of mating rituals, which bring life. Over and beyond this literal reading, it is the rhythm, and even the regeneration, of time that is symbolised. The phases of Spring, Summer and Autumn are thus reproduced, a metaphoric evocation that, in this setting, links biological and cosmic time.”
“These vast painted and engraved compositions seem like witnesses to a spiritual way of thinking, whose symbolic significance is based on a cosmogonic approach. From the entrance of the cave to its very depths, the great book of the first – the founding – mythologies unfurls before our eyes, with its central theme, the creation of the world.”


horses, aurochs (oxen), stags, ibexes &bison

indication of scale






Hall of the Bulls



layering image gives sense of time




  


No comments:

Post a Comment