Cave Art

This week in Art History we are learning about Prehistoric Cave Art.  We talked specifically about the caves of Lascaux and I began by telling them the story of the cave's discovery.  The International Committee for Preservation of Lascaux is a great source for this story.  It starts off with 4 boys and their dog going on a hunt for a cave which they believe contains treasure. I always show my students this photo as an image prompt to talking about what it must have been like to discover the cave.  Most of them are too young to get the image, but every once in awhile a student recognizes the Goonies.  (I have no idea where I got this image.  If you know the source, please let me know.)



We talk a lot about these caves and what they mean.  Rick Steves has a great video that is short and concise but covers a lot of good information on the caves.  I make sure to draw the students' attention to the tour guide's comments about how they were sacred spaces to the people that created them.



Another great source for exploring the caves is the homepage of the Lascaux Caves themselves.  The site is really quite impressive, complete with eerie music and a virtual tour of the caves.  My students really enjoy this a lot!

After we talk a lot about the caves-- why did they exist? who made them? what was the purpose? how did they make them? -- we jump to the future and take a look at the Sistine Chapel.  First off, I love mixing up Art.  I think it's great to compare Art from different times, because it becomes so clear how related to a specific time the Art can be.  And then, after closer inspection, we also begin to see the similarities.


There is an amazing virtual tour of the Sistine Chapel that I use to teach about this particular artwork.  As I pan and zoom around the space, students always start by noting what's different.  It's old, but not as old!  It's so colorful!  Look at all the naked people!  Then they start to zero in onto some of the similarities.  It's on a ceiling. It's a cavernous space.  The images are telling a story.  I remind them of the tour guide in the video talking about the caves as sacred spaces.  I always end the discussion by prompting the students to think about what they would think if they were some future generation who stumbled upon this artwork.  What would they think about us based on this?  Would they be right, or would they be wrong?

For Art History, we continue on from this point to look at other ancient artworks and to discuss what guesses we can make about the Art based on the artworks.  I tell them that Art historians are just like scientists.  They gather evidence and make a hypothesis and sometimes they are right, and sometimes they are wrong.

If I were teaching this in a studio class, I would continue the unit by having students create their own sacred space based on the Lascaux Caves and Sistine Chapel.