Exploring the Chauvet Caves
Perhaps you’re like me and never gave thought much about ancient cave paintings — or if you did, you simply disregarded them any deeper consideration, writing them off as primitive and crudely executed. Then during a mixed media course exploring the sacred & profane, my professor and friend, Pauline introduced me to The Cave of Forgotten Dreams by Werner Herzog, a documentary about the Chauvet Caves in the Ardeche region of France. As I was reminded more upon a more recent viewing, the film’s biggest strength is the extensive filming showing the grandeur of the cave paintings.
Panel of Horses, https://www.bradshawfoundation.com/chauvet/
Discovered in 1994, the Chauvet Caves are considered to be among the oldest cave paintings in the world by radiocarbon dating and were created in several stages, several thousand years apart. The paintings have been perfectly preserved for the last thousands of years due to the main entrance being blocked by a landslide. Not much is known about the original purpose of the paintings, and it’s all speculation given the length of time passed, but evidence suggests that people did not live in the cave, so they could have been related to religious/spiritual purposes. In order to insure that they stay preserved as experience from the Lascoux caves shows the negative impact , only a select group of archeologists, geologists, and paleontologists are permitted into the caves.
Cave replica, image from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/
Instead, visitors can see a replica of the cave painting several kilometers away. I had the opportunity to see it in 2018 when Pauline invited us to come along. The tour is guided which unfortunately means that you can only look at the drawings for a pre-selected amount of time. However, even with these limitations the tour offers a great understanding and appreciation of these ancient artworks. The exhibit shows the great thought and care that went into the paintings and dignifies the creators as intelligent creators. For example, since the paintings are dependent on the formations of the walls, the replica imitates the rock formations.
Rhinoceros, https://www.bradshawfoundation.com/chauvet/
Frequently, one sees the grand story of art in such a way that shows these early works as the start of the build up towards the naturalism, linear perspective, and detailed anatomy of the Renaissance and then a disintegration of these artistic values to the abstraction of modern and contemporary art. Instead, one should seek to view the cave paintings as worthy art by their own means with a conception of reality that is not reliant on naturalistic portrayals of the subjects. A better reading of the cave paintings sees the manner in which they are painted - the sweeping, broad contours that make up the animals, the laying of various figures against one another, and the use of the rock walls of the cave - as key features which reveal deeper significance of the works. I particularly love the way in which the repeated gestures of a figure createsthe illusion that the animal is moving.
If you ever happen to find yourself in the Ardeche region of France, I would definitely recommend a visit. For a more budget friendly option, however, you can check out the Cave of Forgetten Dreams.