Originally, I was going to place a Fun Facts photo... Yet, the history is so significant in all this. History is Written in Hoofprints has been an analogy and a phrase comparing the bond of horse & man, stated by Blue Star Equiculture from its inception. Though I have seen examples of these drawings in the past, little did I understand the extent to which numerous sites across the continents have such historical examples of artwork. Some discovered decades ago and quite famous. Others newly discovered, and one can be sure there are more... In 1947, LIFE magazine’s Ralph Morse went to Lascaux, becoming the first professional photographer to document the breathtaking scenes. ** Lascaux: Early Color Photos of the Famous Cave Paintings, France 1947 | LIFE life.time/culture/lascaux-early-color-photos-of-the-famous-cave-paintings-france-1947/#ixzz3HWx80HFj “In [Cro-Magnon mans] most expert period,” LIFE noted in its Feb. 24, 1947 issue (in which a handful of Morse’s photos first appeared), “his apparatus included engraving and scraping tools, a stone or bone palette and probably brushes made of bundled split reeds. He ground colored earth for his rich reds and yellows, used charred bone or soot black for his dark shading and made green from manganese oxide. . . . For permanence, the finest pigments of civilized Europe have never rivaled these crude materials.” In 1948, a year after Morse’s pioneering photographic work, Lascaux was opened to the public. But in 1963, the cave was closed after 15 short years when experts determined that carbon dioxide from the breath of thousands of visitors, as well as spores and other post-Ice Age contaminants tramped in from above ground, were damaging the paintings. Today, only a handful of people are allowed inside Lascaux for a few days each year to monitor damage (a mysterious, encroaching mold is the latest culprit) while they work to keep the magnificent paintings adorning the walls from going the way of their creators, and vanishing entirely. The Bradshaw Foundation has extensively written on the Lascaux Caves, and more sites containing Rock Art across the globe. In the Lascaux Caves, their statement of accounts: Of the animals, equines predominate [364]. There are 90 paintings of stags. Also represented are cattle, bison, felines, a bird, a bear, a rhinoceros, and a human. Among the most famous images are four huge, black bulls or aurochs in the Hall of the Bulls. One of the bulls is 17 feet (5.2 m) long - the largest animal discovered so far in cave art. **bradshawfoundation/lascaux/index.php History is all around us, treasure & preserve it. Living History walks along with us today... Support Working horses Helping Horses, Humans, and Mother Earth. Support our mission and JOIN THE HERD! equiculture.org/join-the-herd.aspx
Posted on: Wed, 29 Oct 2014 11:09:23 +0000