Chauvet Versus Laxcaux: Comparing Cave Paintings Essay Example
Chauvet Versus Laxcaux: Comparing Cave Paintings Essay Example

Chauvet Versus Laxcaux: Comparing Cave Paintings Essay Example

Available Only on StudyHippo
  • Pages: 2 (436 words)
  • Published: February 13, 2017
  • Type: Essay
View Entire Sample
Text preview

Both sets of caves have several paintings that are very similar, as well as many that are vastly different. The styles of art in both are fairly similar, although more colors are used in Lascaux, as well as a wider variety of angles (Lascaux has a horse in frontal view). The red ochre is consistent throughout both caves. The hand prints, both positives and negatives, seem entirely absent from Lascaux, while there are many more “symbolic” signs, such as the XIII, leading me to believe that they may have perhaps been a primitive form of descriptors or signatures. There appear to be a greater variety of animals in Chauvet than in Lascaux.

While ibex, rhinos, felines, horses and bison are common to both caves, Chauvet has what I would conside

...

r more exotic animals, such as hyenas, mammoths and panthers, as well as bears, whilst Lascaux has the more domesticated animals such as cows and bulls. The way some of the animals, primarily the owl near the end of Chauvet, are drawn with finger tracings is completely unseen in Lascaux, although that may be primarily due to the way the particular media presented itself. I think it is also important to note that the objects of the paintings also tell us quite a bit of the locations and state of culture during these time periods.

It's clear that Lascaux is a cave of a more sedentary tribe, with the “hut in a tree” as well as with the more domesticated animals as the cows. The fact that the dwellers of Lascaux had the time to craft different colors of pigments also leads

View entire sample
Join StudyHippo to see entire essay

me to believe they were more sedentary. In stark contrast to those in Lascaux, the paintings of Chauvet are of more predatory animals, such as panthers, suggesting that those dangerous creatures may be a sort of trophy, should one be adept enough to bring it down.

The dwellers of Chauvet seem more concered with the glory of the hunt, than creating symbols, signs, or “Great Sorcerers. I personally believe that the Chauvet paintings are older than Lascaux's. The paintings in Lascaux go beyond simply portraying animals in the profile, at one point even having a horse in the frontal view. The variety of colors is also greater, leading me to believe there was more time available to experiment with colors. The pictures also feel like there are more stories being told, more of a progression in ideas and the concepts displayed seem more in depth than at Chauvet. Lascaux's cave paintings feel more mature as art to me than those in Chauvet.

Get an explanation on any task
Get unstuck with the help of our AI assistant in seconds
New