Module 2: The Very First Graphic Designs

I didn't find it very difficult to choose the exploration topic for this week's field journey entry. Between the development of various alphabets, written languages, and illustrated manuscripts as forms of visual communications, the cave markings were the early graphics designs that interested me the most. These prehistoric petroglyphs were the earliest ever graphic designs that are still preserved today in various caves throughout the world. I got a chance to visit some of these caves in France during a trip I made in July for a friend's wedding.

Me standing in front of the entrance of Font-de-Gaume, cave in southern France containing paintings dating from around 17000 BC.

When I went to the Dordogne region in Southern France, I didn't think much of visiting the cave paintings, as I was more interested in the castles, food, and wine. But my friend convinced me to go two caves and told me of their historical significance. I've ready about the caves at Lascaux in my history textbooks, but never really explored prehistoric human markings in more detail. Because the caves at Lascaux were now closed to the public and only a replica exists for visits, we wanted to see the real deal. So We chose to visit a cave called Font-de-Gaume near Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil. The cave contains one of the earliest examples of prehistoric polychrome cave paintings and engravings, dating back to around 17000 BC (during the Magdalénien period). These were really old graphics designs, the earliest I've ever seen live not reproduced in a textbook!

Artist depiction of Cro-Magnon artists painting in Font-de-Gaume, by Charles R. Knight. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Font-de-Gaume.jpg

The tour guide at the cave said there are 230 figures currently recorded in the cave, but possibly more that have not been discovered. They are images of 80 bison, around 40 horses, and more than 20 mammoths. These are polychrome paintings because they use multiple colors or various red tones and black. These images are considered to be one of the best examples of prehistoric cave paintings that are still open to visitors. And to connect this to what I learned in my reading, these are "pictographs" because they are pictures representing the actual things being depicted. In this case, various animals.

The second cave I visited was the famous Pech Merle cave also in Southern France. This cave is more than a mule long and contains numerous murals of that date from the Gravettian culture around 25000 to 16000 BC. The image that fascinated me the most were the cave paintings of the human hands. It almost looked like the artist placed their hand on the rock and "spray-painted" the outline of it.

Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e6/Pech_Merle_main.jpg/429px-Pech_Merle_main.jpg

After visiting the caves, and reading the textbook, I decided to do a bit more exploration on my own about the purposes of these designs. The Wikipedia article on cave paintings tells us the exact purpose is still unknown. Megg's History of Graphic Design says that "these early pictures were made for survival and for utilitarian and ritual purposes." (p. 7). Other theories suggest that they were not decorations, but ways to communicate with others. Graphics designs is a form of visual communications, and perhaps, these earliest forms were used to communicate to both living and dead (as ceremonial or magical functions).

I also found a very interesting article recently that suggests some of these graphics may also be the earliest forms of animation. It's interesting that even prehistoric man can conjure up moving graphics! The example below shows that these images may have been created by "cartoon-like techniques to give the impression that wild beasts were trotting or running across cave walls."

Source: http://blogs.discovery.com/.a/6a00d8341bf67c53ef01630642ce83970d-pi

Wow! Who thought graphic design wouldn't be a part of a leisurely vacation in Southern France or such a fascinating part in the foundation of human history.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_painting

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Font-de-Gaume

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pech_Merle

http://news.discovery.com/history/prehistoric-movies-120608.html