In my
column for 28 April 2023, titled “Foreshortening
In Rock Art,” I discussed examples of San rock art in Africa that exhibited
beautifully controlled examples of the perspective technique of foreshortening.
In that aforementioned column I wrote “Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary (2023) defines foreshortening as ‘to shorten by proportionately contracting in the direction of depth so that an illusion of projection or extension in space is obtained.’ What this means, in effect, is that the lines representing dimensions extending toward or away from the viewer are shortened to conform with the dictates of perspective which says that the more perpendicular the line or edge is to your position the shorter it will appear as it recedes from your position toward the ‘vanishing point’.” (Faris 2023)
I summed up that column with “all of these examples are believed to have been produced by San artists at unknown dates, and illustrate an amazing attention to detail as well as a sophistication in presentation. These so-called primitives were effectively using an art technique supposedly discovered by the famous artists of Renaissance history. Examples may be found from other rock art traditions, but, it is a technique that is quite advanced in visual portrayal, and thus relatively rare.” (Faris 2023) I should have known better than to make such a pronouncement on the rarity of it because I have since found examples on Magdalenian bone carvings from European caves of 17,000 – 12,000 years ago. These particular examples may not be as finely done as some of the San examples from last April’s column, but they are untold thousands of years older illustrating again the high level of achievement and knowledge of Magdalenian artists.
“Grotte de la Vache (Cave of the
Cow) is the smallest of the prehistoric caves at Ariege, which are open to the
public. The remains of
(in?) this cave date between 15,000 and
12,000 years old. The most important chamber of the cave is called Monique, where
a complete camp of the hunters was excavated. After 20 years of work it was
possible to reconstruct the whole camp. This includes weaponry, tools, typical
game and of course the artworks.” (Showcaves)
“The main discoveries at La Vache
were sculpted bones and ivory. There were also uncountable Magdalenian tools,
arrowheads and other debris. So this was the place where the artists of
Bedeilhac actually lived. So the cave is today actually a sort of cave
archaeology museum. The most spectacular discovery is a fragment of bone with
engraved cave lions, and a second bone with two wolves facing one another. Then
there is a bone with two reindeer, one sniffing the other. Another bone shows
ibex in profile and face on. Even human silhouettes and some symbols were
found.” (Showcaves)
Grotte Bedeilhac is a nearby painted cave which also contained some finely
carved bone figures. The author of this reference is suggesting that the people
who painted the walls of Grotte Bedeilhac actually resided at Grotte de la Vache.
From the excavation reports we know that someone did reside there, but we
cannot know that it was the same group as the cave artists of Grotte Bedeilhac.
I have examples of four different bone carvings from Grotte de la Vache with examples of animals portrayed as if facing directly away from the viewer, in other words foreshortened. The most famous has been dubbed the “initiation bone” as its discoverers interpreted its scene as a record of some sort of ceremony. On what has been reported as a bird bone, from the left we can see a group of six humans. In the center is a prominent male horse with breath indicated. Under the horse’s tail we see a bear facing directly out at the viewer (foreshortening) and under the horse’s neck is a fish. Directly to the right of the fish is a view of the head, neck and back of an ibex facing away from the viewer (more foreshortening), and on the right some swoosh marks.
In another example a piece of bone has the head and neck of an ibex facing to the left with the head, neck and back of another ibex facing away from the viewer (more foreshortening), and at least two more highly stylized ibex also facing away to the left.
Another piece of carved bone is decorated with a group of wolves, with one wolf on the far right of the design looking tantalizingly straight out at the viewer.
My final example is shaped like a tent peg and then engraved with designs including a reindeer on the far left, and what appear to be again two foreshortened animals just to the right of center, apparently an ibex and another reindeer. Additional engravings are farther to the right.
Finding examples of such forced perspective techniques from that early age has been a pleasant surprise. We all know of the marvelous artistic productions of the Magdalenian period but I really did not expect this. The human creative ability is absolutely marvelous. What will we find next?
NOTE: Some images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the original reports at the sites listed below.
REFERENCES:
Captain, The, 2005, Grotte de La Vache, 10 February 2005, https://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=9579. Accessed online 5 June 2023.
Faris, Peter, 2023, Foreshortening in Rock Art, 28 April 2023, https://rockartblog.blogspot.com/search/label/foreshortening.
Hitchcock, Don, Grotte de la Vache in the Pyrenees was home for the artists of Niaux Cave, https://www.donsmaps.com/grottevache.html, Accessed online 5 June 2023.
Showcaves, La Grotte de la Vache, The Cave of the Cow, https://showcaves.com/english/fr/showcaves/Vache.html.
Accessed 5 June 2023.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment