We humans have been at it a long, long time. Making stuff,
painting pictures, carving symbols and animals into rock, all in
the interest of making our surroundings a little nicer to look
at. We’re getting closer and closer to pinpointing the exact era
in our history when art came to occupy our minds, and with a
recent finding in France, it looks like humans first picked up a
brush about 37,000 years ago. The recently unearthed artwork is
a huge 1.5 metric ton block of limestone with images painted on
it and carved into it. It is believed to have adorned the home
of ancient reindeer hunters in what is now France. No wonder so
many of the masters have been French – they’ve had more practice
than the rest of us! The subject matter is pretty hard to make
out, but apparently there are some figures and a few carved
elements of anatomy (ahem!). Pretty controversial stuff for way
back then, which just goes to show you that artists have always
been pushing boundaries. I wonder what art from today will look
like in 37,