Art History: Discovering the very first drawings through Cave Art!

 What would you draw if you were the artist of the very first drawing? 

We explored this question during my first of four Art History Classes with MSCR.

We began by learning about the Lascaux Caves in France, and how they were discovered by a cute dog Robot!  What is not to like about a story involving art and a dog?! :)  With my older students, we also discussed the work of street artist Banksy, and how he brings attention to the question “What do we consider valuable art?”.  When we really thought critically about the cave paintings at Lascaux, aren’t they just ancient graffiti?  Why do we consider the cave art more valuable than street artists of today?  

After learning about the Lascaux Caves, I had 8 paintings hung around around the room and invited the students to go around to draw and write what they observe in each painting. I emphasized there were no right or wrong answers, just what they saw. They had to look carefully as some of the cave paintings were on the cave ceiling (aka under the table 😉).

We then gathered together and discussed what they found.  They loved going around and exploring the paintings first hand and had some great observations.  I then introduced them to artist Wayne Thiebaud and we thought about what similar theme the cave art and Thiebaud have in common.  Can you guess?  Here are some of Thiebaud’s paintings.  Wayne Thiebaud is an American painter from California, and painted his most iconic paintings during the 1950’s and 60’s, inspired by the way diners would display desserts.  

Are you hungry yet?  So what is the common theme between the art in the Lascaux Caves and Thiebaud’s work?  If you guessed food, you are correct!  We then went to work creating our own cave paintings depicting foods we liked to eat.  As an added bonus, I encouraged students to work on the walls or under the tables like the cave artists in Lascaux.

Working on the “ceiling” 

I challenged students to use cave art symbols in their work, and here is a pig holding bacon (hard to see, but it’s there!) being chased by cave men!

That is some delicious looking cave art!

A cake fit for a queen!

There is a great book called “The Very First Drawing”, that explores foot prints found by an 8 year old boy in the Lascaux Caves.  What would it have been like to be there when the paintings were made?