Sep 132010
 

Things like this never cease to stir me–primordial beginnings of culture, the first burst of artistic genius.

dg

Inside Lascaux: Rare, Unpublished – Photo Gallery – LIFE.

  4 Responses to “Inside Lascaux: Rare, Unpublished – Photo Gallery – LIFE”

  1. Thanks, DG. That was great.

  2. Have you seen the Lascaux website? It is well made with lots of great pictures and it even takes you “through” the cave.

    Would you consider this the first burst of artistic genius over the carved figurines dating 10,000 and even over 200,000 years before Lascaux? I have an affinity for both the paintings and the figurines; it seems that both artistic expressions are attempting to understand the most basic human elements: life, death, and how to stay alive. I also find it interesting that in Lascaux there a few paintings of humans, and the humans painted all are hunters. Maybe it was a war strategy chamber.

  3. One of the few disappointments from when I lived in Europe was the discovery that the Lascaux visitor site was, in fact, not the actual cave. And while I certaintly applaud the reasons behind closing the original caves, driving 4 hours to see a re-creation seemed a bit silly. I sometimes wonder if I made the right decision. On the upside, we were staying in Bordeaux and they had one or two okay wines to drink. I seem to recall drowning my sorrows with a Left Bank bottle, silently toasting the lion-man.

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