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When I saw that quote I was instantly reminded of: "During the Old Stone Age, between thirty-seven thousand and eleven thousand years ago, some of the most rem
by phillmv 14y ago
When I saw that quote I was instantly reminded of:
"During the Old Stone Age, between thirty-seven thousand and eleven thousand years ago, some of the most remarkable art ever conceived was etched or painted on the walls of caves in southern France and northern Spain. After a visit to Lascaux, in the Dordogne, which was discovered in 1940, Picasso reportedly said to his guide, “They’ve invented everything.”
What those first artists invented was a language of signs for which there will never be a Rosetta stone; perspective, a technique that was not rediscovered until the Athenian Golden Age; and a bestiary of such vitality and finesse that, by the flicker of torchlight, the animals seem to surge from the walls, and move across them like figures in a magiclantern show (in that sense, the artists invented animation). They also thought up the grease lamp—a lump of fat, with a plant wick, placed in a hollow stone—to light their workplace; scaffolds to reach high places; the principles of stencilling and Pointillism; powdered colors, brushes, and stumping cloths; and, more to the point of Picasso’s insight, the very concept of an image. A true artist reimagines that concept with every blank canvas—but not from a void"
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/06/23/080623fa_fact_thurman http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/06/23/080623fa_fact_...
Nothing is new, etc.
- JonnieCache 14y agoEven better, it's recently been found that in many of these ancient sites, the paintings cluster at the points in the cave where the human voice resonates best. Apparently it's possible to walk through the caves in darkness, shouting and clapping, and when one hits a peak of resonance, to turn on ones torch and be suddenly surrounded by art. http://www.insidescience.org/content/caves-stonehenge-ancient-peoples-painted-sound/571 http://www.insidescience.org/content/caves-stonehenge-ancien...
- DanBC 14y agoThe BBC Radio four programme 'Noise, a Human History' had an episode (the first?) exploring this. They had people clapping in caves. It's fascinating. The BBC don't seem to have this available on any of their catch-up services. (It's probably around on unofficial places.) (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01rglcy http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01rglcy)
- garethadams 14y agoIn fact, they're all available apart (currently) from episode 3 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01rglcy/episodes/guide http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01rglcy/episodes/guide
- ljf 14y agoI'm sure you have already seen it, but if not check out 'Cave of Forgotten Dreams' - Werner Herzog - it blew me away, the art and artistry is stunning in those caves.