by: Linda G. Miller
Event: Lascaux: “The Sistine Ceiling of Prehistory”: The Complex Story of an Ice Age Sanctuary
Location: Center for Architecture, 01.30.09
Speaker: Randall White — Professor of Anthropology, New York University
Respondents: Simon Carr — Painter; Terrence Moran — NYU Professor of Culture and Communication, NYU; James McCullar, FAIA — Immediate Past President, AIANY; David Bennett, FAIA — Representative, International Tunneling and Underground Space Association
Organizers: AIANY Architectural Dialogue Committee; American Society of Landscape Architects; Les Maison Française, NYU
Hall of Bulls, Lascaux Cave, Montignac, France.
Courtesy AIANY
The flame created by burning animal fat and juniper twigs in a small clay lamp would flicker across the contours of the cave, bringing to life about 2,100 realistic paintings animals ranging from a 16-foot-long bull to tiny 18-inch-long horses. Since the complex of prehistoric caves with 17,000-year-old paintings were accidentally discovered in 1940, anthropologists, archaeologist, and art historians have marveled at the abilities of the artists to create depth, mix unnatural colors, and build scaffolds to tell stories that are indecipherable to this day.
In the subterranean gallery of the Center for Architecture, which is about one-third the size of Lascaux, NYU Professor of Anthropology Randall White, one of the world’s leading specialists in the study of Paleolithic art, discussed the 30 years of research he has conducted in the Dordogne region of France, where the caves are located. “Lascaux is not an island,” says White, “it’s part of a collection of caves.” In his opinion, Lascaux has been out of fashion for the last 20 or so years since other discoveries as old as 33,000 years have been found in the region. They are “not quite the same, but as impressive,” he says.
So why is Lascaux continually intriguing? In addition to the paintings themselves, there are stories about overzealous archeologists, mismanagement of the site by bureaucrats, and shady dealings by the locals. But today’s headline reads that Lascaux is in crisis mode — fighting for its life, and Mother Nature seems to be against it. In brief, the caves were opened to tourists after World War II, and the influx of thousands of people disturbed the cave’s natural equilibrium. After being plagued by fungi and bacteria then by re-crystallization of the rock itself, the caves were closed to the public in 1963. That year an air recirculation system was installed to mimic the cave’s natural currents. When in 2000 it was decided that the caves needed a new air conditioning system, authorities hired a company from the region that had experience doing supermarkets, not pre-historic caves.
The last time White visited Lascaux in 2001, he studied mold instead of the paintings themselves. “We’ve created a monster,” he says. “Lascaux has been turned into a laboratory.” Today, only a few scientific experts are allowed to work inside the cave and just for a few days a month. To satisfy the public and local economy, Lascaux II, a replica of two of the cave halls — the Great Hall of the Bulls and the Painted Gallery — was opened in 1983, 200 meters from the original. In addition, reproductions of other Lascaux artwork can be seen at the Centre of Prehistoric Art at Le Thot, France.
This brings us the Art Cave, an award winning project designed by Brooklyn-based architecture firm Bade Stageberg Cox. The Art Cave was built for private art collectors to house works they owned by contemporary artists such as Donald Judd, Richard Serra, and Vito Acconci. Instead of disturbing the natural beauty of the landscape on the 17-acre site in Napa Valley, the architects reverted to the idea of the primitive cave to shelter and showcase the works of art. The cave’s presence is articulated by weathering steel entry portals incised into the hillside. This modern cave satisfies local building codes. The design takes advantage of tunneling construction techniques developed for the wine industry to create a column-free interior volume. Like the original Lascaux Caves, the Art Cave is not open to the public, but unlike Lascaux, it has ever changing exhibitions to showcase the owner’s collections.