Prehistoric Art - Mrs. Howell's Art Room

Prehistoric Art Cave Art Much of the cave art we have found is located in Europe. Well be studying the cave of Lascaux in the Dordogne

region of France.

The most famous and outstanding examples of prehistoric art made were discovered by accident. The caves at Lascaux in Southern France were found in 1940 by three young boys who wanted to explore a fox den (or so they thought). They actually thought the fox den was a secret passage that led to the manor house. One boy crawled in the hole

and the others followed, sliding down to the bottom. The lighted matches they used to guide their way revealed extraordinary drawings of animals. These astonishingly sophisticated examples of mans earliest art have been studied by scientists and artists since their discovery. For a number of years, the caves were open to visitors and tourists, but have been closed since 1963 to protect the art from disintegration and destruction. Can you imagine painting in a cave

like this? Lanterns were made with flammable material mixed with animal fat to burn longer. Map of the cave of Lascaux

Characteristics of Prehistoric Art: Twisted Perspective Overlapping of

figures Tally marks Hand prints Most are farther back from the entrance to the cave From the Hall of Bulls Twisted Perspective Dead bison an example of twisted perspective.

Examples of overlapping it was like they didnt need them any more, so they just painted over the top of old ones. Examples of Tally Marks

Possible reasons for tally marks: To count how many people needed for the hunting party To count how many animals

there were to hunt To count how many animals were killed Materials Used:

Animal hair for brushes Hollow reeds or bird bones for blow pipes Animal fat to mix pigment with Yellow ochre

Red ochre Charcoal Chalk deposits Scaffolds were made out of tree saplings to reach the upper areas of the cave. Possible reasons to create cave art

To tell stories To honor the animals they hunted To make hunting plans Other examples of cave art

The reason cave art is located farther back in the cave was to protect the art from the weather and also to protect their stories. This shows examples of hand prints possibly the artists signature.

We can learn a lot from cave art: Who we used to be. What our lifestyles

used to be like. That art doesnt get better, it just changes with the experiences. That wherever we find art, we find evidence of human existence. You will be making a piece of your own cave art.

It must have the characteristics of prehistoric art: -twisted perspective -overlapping -tally marks -hand print on back

You must use the pigments (colors) the prehistoric people would have used reds, yellows, black, brown, white You will be working with clay so we can simulate what it would have been like to paint on rock.