Chauvet Cave- Class Reflection

 It was incredibly interesting to learn about this cave and connect it to the phenomena of art vs ritual. Initially, I confused this cave with the equally, if not more famous, Lascaux cave. I learned about the Lascaux cave in my art history class and it is one of the reasons I learned that I preferred to study ancient art as opposed to modern. While art today is still impressive and requires great skill, modern humans have more time and resources to be able to perfect artistic skills. There are also classes available and a heavy encouragement to build up a skill involved in the arts. It impressed me how incredibly detailed and clean the drawings were in the Chauvet Cave, they nearly looked like a modern rendition. To be able to do that with limited sources, even if they had a lot of practice out of ritualistic necessity, is incredibly impressive and fascinating. I am sure that through practice and learning from each other, they were able to perfect a lot of the beings depicted in the cave. Nevertheless, the techniques like the shading and the line work look to be beyond their time, and I will forever remain impressed by ancient artists who built up their talent through true technical skill.