Discovering Lascaux (History and Prehistory)

by Gilles Delluc and Brigitte Delluc

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 2905983825
• ISBN13: 9782905983824
• Release Date: August 2000
• Publisher: Éditions Sud Ouest
• Length: 64 Pages
• Weight: 0.68 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 7.5" x 10.2"

Customer Reviews

An awesome artifact of Cro-Magnon prehistory!

During a recent trip to southern France, I was privileged to enjoy a tour of Lascaux II, the replica of the original grotto whose dazzling white walls of calcite were decorated by Cro-Magnon man with a series of some 600 paintings and 1500 engravings. "Prehistoric man chose it as a sanctuary 17,000 years ago, decorating it with a breathtaking display of wild oxen, horses, bison, stags, wild goats and a multitude of enigmatic geometric symbols". But the context of a very crowded tour conducted in French (a language I understand reasonably well but it is not my mother tongue) simply didn't allow for a full, quiet, contemplative appreciation of the wonders of this fascinating piece of live history. So it seemed appropriate to purchase a book to bring home as a memory and a way of better appreciating the paintings, the science involved in the discovery and exploration of the cave and perhaps the complexity of the lives of the Cro-Magnon artists who crafted this beautiful artwork so many millennia ago. "Discovering Lascaux" is a short read that will occupy barely longer than the time it took to tour the cave but the enjoyment really rests with the photographs of the paintings and the etchings. Whether or not you've been lucky enough to actually take the tour in the flesh, anyone interested in the cultural anthropology of pre-history will enjoy "Discovering Lascaux". This "collection" of richly detailed paintings show that the residents of the Vézère river valley, despite their obvious intimate detailed knowledge of the fauna around them, chose to render them with an artistic style that was every bit as formalized as Picasso's cubism or Raphael's Renaissance works. Recommended. Paul Weiss