LASCAUX – “CAVE PAINTING”
Art Element:
Line, Texture, Space
Tools:
Artist painting Sample
Art Term Posters
Supplemental Tools/Ideas:
Music – use the boom box in the portable
Books – check the Art Docent library, books from home, etc.
Photo of the artist
World Map – show where artist is from
Color Wheel
Green grass...show how cave people would have mushed it up and created colors
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-29415716
Virtual Cave Tour - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hiFqqqjTxQ
Cave of Dreams – a documentary by Werner Herzog
Supplies:
Thin brown packing paper – 18 x 24
Pencils
Black crayons
Chalk Pastels
Introduction:
1) Today we will be learning from "Lascaux Cave Paintings” - Have you heard of them? Do you know what
where they were painted? - show on map. Do you know how old they are? They are the OLDEST known
paintings on earth! Have you ever heard of Cave People? Even WAY BACK then people were creating art!
2) We will be using three special art skills to create your own cave painting!! First, the cave people used line –
can you see the simple lines they used to draw these animals? They also used color – do you think they went
and bought paints? NO! They had to create paints using natural materials – like grass and mud and flowers.
They also used space – they wanted their pictures to be big and to tell exciting stories!
3. Explain to students that they will be using their hands just like cave people and that they will be pretending
that they are telling a story right on the inside of a cave wall.
4. Okay, let’s make some art!
Procedure:
1. First, hand out torn edged packing paper to each student
2. Have students scrunch paper into a small tight ball. Then unscrunch it and lay it flat on the floor.
3. Now kids will use pencils to sketch out a very large animal. They can sketch smaller animals around it if
they’d like but mainly focus on one large one. Use animal sample pictures in the Lesson Plan Folder.
4. Once sketch is done, students will go over the outline with a black crayon, making sure to create a thick
outline.
5. Next have students choose natural colors from their pastels – browns, blacks, yellows, oranges. Then fill in
the animal - once it is mostly filled in, have the students use their hands to complete the picture – rubbing the
chalk in and getting it right to the outlines.
6. Have kids sign their artwork with a chalk handprint! Their hands should be covered with chalk by now, just
“smack” their hand on the paper and it makes a great print!
7. Once lesson is complete, be sure to spray each piece with set spray so the chalk is not rubbed off.
Also, – consider decorating the hallway as a “cave” for an interesting display.
Summary/Art Quiz:
1. Once students have cleaned up their work area. Remind them what they learned today.
2. Can anyone tell me the artist’s name who inspired us today? And what art techniques did we learn?
And do your remember what tools we used? What was your favorite part of this lesson? Use the Art
Quiz Door Poster for reference.
Artist Inspiration:
Lascaux Cave Drawings
Prehistoric
32,000 – 40,000 years ago
These are the OLDEST painting known to man!!! Deep in a cave at Lascaux, France are wonderful paintings
over thousands of year old. Three French boys discovered the painting by accident over 60 years ago. They
were out on a walk when their dog disappeared down a hole in the hillside. One of the boys went to search for
him and stumbled across a huge cave. One part of the cave was 66 feet wide and 16 feet high, which is very big
for a cave. They found hundreds of drawings on the walls and on the ceiling. On the ground they found fossil
like imprints of different animal paw prints, charcoal, lamps, spear points, and engraving tools. There were
paintings of bulls, ox, horses, deer, bison, and even a wooly rhinoceros. Some archeologists think the caves
were a special place for the cave people to perform rituals, like dancing, singing, and working on these
drawings before a big hunt or war. It seems that people did not live in the caves.
Cave paintings are paintings found on cave walls and ceilings, and especially refer to those of prehistoric origin.
The earliest such figurative paintings in Europe date back to the Aurignacian period, approximately 30,000 to
32,000 years ago, and are found in the Chauvet Cave in France. The exact purpose of the paleolithic cave
paintings is not known. Evidence suggests that they were not merely decorations of living areas since the caves
in which they have been found do not have signs of ongoing habitation. They are also often located in areas of
caves that are not easily accessible. Some theories hold that cave paintings may have been a way of
communicating with others, while other theories ascribe a religious or ceremonial purpose to them. The earliest
non-figurative rock art in Europedates back to approximately 40,000 years ago, and is found in the El Castillo
cave in Cantabria, Spain.