Cave Art Paperback – March 31, 2010

If you are interested in art history or just love looking at art, you'd certainly want to look at the earliest examples of art made by humans. You might conceivably buy enough air miles to see all the important works of western art, but many of the artworks shown in _Cave Art_ (Phaidon) by Jean Clottes you are never going to see, and the book's expansive and generous photographs are as close as you are going to get. You'd have to be an expert caver to get to some of the paintings shown here, and even so, many of them are in caves that are now closed to all but the most-degreed researchers. There are so many images here that one might think that there is a large store to draw from, but given that they range from 11,000 to 35,000 years old, it is amazing that the caves, always vulnerable to damage by water, time, and human activity, have preserved the treasures. Indeed, we may be getting a skewed, pinhole view of a larger artistic endeavor; if these artists were working during all those millennia on the outside, creating works on wood, sand, or hides, those works are long gone. The cave art was simply the best preserved, and sealed deep in the earth, it didn't start coming to light again until the nineteenth century.Clottes is an authority to trust in displaying the most important examples of this art. An archaeologist with plenty of books and papers to his credit, he had a leading role in the study of the underwater Cosquer cave discovered in 1985 and the Chauvet Cave discovered in 1991. He summarizes the interpretations that have been put forward to explain these pictures, but it is safe to say that none of them clears the mysteries away. Why are there so few plants here, for instance? What do the abstract paintings here mean? There are dots at random, dots in groups, dots in designs that don't look like anything else, and there are stripes and wavy lines. This book is full mostly of photographs of cave paintings, but there are also some decorated objects; why should this portable art be far more varied, showing birds, snakes, or fawns that don't show up often on the walls, and also showing humans who seldom appear on the walls in comparison with the numbers of beasts? Where are all the people? Many of the paintings here are breathtaking in the way they use minimal lines to bring out a thoroughly realistic beast; many of them are simply primitive (and no less powerful for that). Clottes is not blind to defects in his appreciation of the artwork: ten simple, skillful lines show an animal that is obviously a weasel, but he calls the head "somewhat botched." Among the most easily recognizable forms here are hand stencils. The artist would place his hand on the wall and blow or spit a solution of pigment (hematite for red, charcoal for black) onto the hand and wall, leaving a fully familiar five finger imprint. Strangely, many of the fingers in such stencils are not complete, leading some to speculate that there were medical conditions, accidents, or even religious mutilations affecting the artists; a more likely guess seems to be that the hands were making some sort of hunting signal.Having these handsome photographs displayed together makes it easy to admire the skill of the artists and the range of their interests. It also has to be a substitute for ever seeing some of the paintings first hand. Only a few of the caves are open to the public; there is a list here of caves you can visit. Some of the photographs here show the art intact where it is intact no longer; an aurochs drawn in the clay of the La Clotilde Cave in Spain was drawn over by some visitor after 1971. Well-meaning cleaners have cleaned off parts of the paintings. And sometimes just visiting them defaces them. The famous Lascaux Cave discovered in 1940 was open to visitors afterwards, but had to be closed in 1963 simply because the carbon dioxide breathed out by visitors was degrading the pigments. Even with the cave closed, the artwork which did just fine for so many millennia risks being attacked by mold. It is a treat to have a spectacular big book of photographs of the pristine artwork, the unity of themes illustrating what Clottes calls "the longest artistic tradition humankind has ever known." One page after another stimulates wonder at the ancientness of one of our specie's admirable traits, the artistic impulse.

An absolutely stunning book. The writing is not only scholarly but the photographs are beautiful. The author is an outstanding expert in this field and has had access to other experts in the field as well as access to many of the caves and sites which are now closed to the public. The text is a survey that enables to reader to have a historical trip through the grand, overawing beauty of the art expressed by our remote ancestors. This volume allows us a peek into this world and what it must have been like at times. This is a must for anyone who loves art, the role it plays in people's lives and how our remote ancestors interpreted their lives through their art and through time.

This book is a must have for anyone interested in cave paintings. I mean I'm biased in describing it because I like cave paintings so much but it's a large book with large detailed, well lit photographs on each page and it's extremely thorough. It goes through each period of art in different chapters too briefly describing what is in each photo between photo pages. Incredible book. If you like cave art or want to know more about it this is the book you want to buy. Preservation of these caves mean few people should ever go into them and this book is a perfect way to see the cave art without damaging the cave art in the caves.

I am doing research on climate change and its impact on the human race over eons. Ancient art along with archeology in addition to the technical sampling of the earth over time gives us an amazing picture of how man interacted with the earth and its elements.this book provides an amazing open door to the art of prehistoric peoples and the impact their environment had on them. It also gives us great insite as to the climates they faced at differen epochs. the photographs are amazing. The text is well written and the book is highly recommended.

This work is full, wondrously detailed, and offers a comprehensive view of the amazing art that was painted in caves across a rather discreet geographic region in France and Spain. In addition to paintings, a variety of artifacts are included as well.It is a wonderful and accomplished reference; and if you care to know more about your curious ancient, human ancestors, it is a treasure book.

I have visited many of the French caves, both the Lascaux replica and the 'real' ones, and I was eager to have a reference volume on cave painting. Dr. Clottes is a wonderful authority and his lengthy introduction to this volume is an excellent overview of many of the issues and controversies. However, I was a little disappointed in the quality of the photographs. There are much better ones available for nearly all of the cave images, but Dr. Clottes seems to have relied exclusively on his French colleagues to provide the photos. Otherwise, it is a nice addition to my library on this topic.

I've been looking for a good single-volume survey of cave art for a long time. This book is very well-made for a paperback. The binding falls open nicely so you can spread the pages out and appreciate the photos. It is not attempting to cover all cave art everywhere. Rather, it focuses on prehistoric France and Spain, but goes into a depth that a casual reader like myself can easily understand. My only regret is that the hardcover is out of print and thus expensive, because I can see myself returning to this book over the years.

I finally managed to get a copy at a decent price. Very hard to get. If you can, however, it is well worth the effort. Jean Clottes is the master on the topic and all his books are great. His insights and the book's images make this a great book to collect. I just wonder why they don't publish it anymore. If you can't find a copy for your shelf, then get Images of the Ice Age by Paul Bahn.

Long before Michelangelo crawled around the roof of the Sistine Chapel, other geniuses lived and worked and left their mark on cave walls. You're never going to see all these extraordinary images in person, so you might as well grab this wonderful book. I only wish I had it as a hard back.

I am not a learned person,my reason for buying this book is because I have bought all the Jean Aule earths children books and found the fascinating . She researches her books therefore making them believable,.When the ice man was discovered it was amazing how many things were as her characters he was like. When I saw this book I realised it was what I had been looking for, I did not want a book where someone was telling me what it was all in aid of. This large book is full of excellent photos of various cave paintings. The text just tells you the where and perhaps how and leaves you to make your own mind up. This is a book written by an expert who leaves interpretation up to you. It is a book I will long treasure.

主に、洞窟壁画の写真を収録した、分厚い本。大まかに時代を分け、該当する洞窟の写真と解説を収録してある。洞窟アートとのタイトルから想像出来るように、壁画だけでなく、一部その他の芸術も紹介されている。写真は大きくて綺麗で、なかなかの迫力。見開きで写真が掲載されているページが多数あって臨場感があり、何の絵柄かという解説もついている。まるで現地に居るような雰囲気を味わえる、贅沢な写真集だ。だが、洞窟壁画というものは鮮明でないものも多いので、あまり写真が大きいと、かえって何が描かれているのか分かりにくい、ということになっているものもあるように思える。大きな絵画や美術的なカーペットなどを見るとき、少し離れてみた方が何が描いてあるのか良く分かるのと同じ。私のように壁画の絵柄を楽しみたいという人間には、もう少し小さめの写真で、ぱっとページを開いた時に全てのイメージがが頭の中に入ってくるくらいのサイズで十分だった。こちらの本では贅沢過ぎる。洞窟壁画の臨場感を楽しみたい本格派の人にはお勧め、絵柄だけを見たいという人は他をあたった方が良いと思う。

Could not get a better book then this one , on the subject