Cave art, Lascaux and decorated caves
Cave art (from the Latin parietalis, relating to the walls) refers to all the works of art created by man on the walls of caves and rock shelters. The art practised by the humans of the Upper Paleolithic is one of the most touching and precious testimonies of our distant ancestors' passage on earth. The Dordogne is incredibly well endowed in this field. The whole world knows the cave of Lascaux and its marvellous bestiaries. The iconography known to this day includes animal figurations most often, more rarely human, as well as many schematic motifs, signs. All forms of graphic expression, painting, drawing, airbrushing, engraving, sculpting and modelling accompanied man's gesture during his multiple incursions into the underground as well as the open environment. Because of the variety of spaces used, the conditions of conservation can be different from one site to another. The best known and preserved are the deep sanctuaries ("decorated caves"), but there are also cave entrances, rock shelters, not to mention works that have disappeared forever, because they were made on more fragile or destroyed supports. The two dominant forms of expression in Palaeolithic cave art are drawing and engraving. They occupy an important place in the iconography of the caves and shelters of the Dordogne. However, there is a technique much more rarely used in this context, which, at Lascaux, takes on a monumental dimension: it is painting, a pictorial form that can only be found elsewhere in France, at Font-de-Gaume and, very occasionally, in some caves in the Pyrenees. The techniques seem simple and the material means rudimentary in view of the excellence of the works produced. A few flints, blocks of pigment, grinders, brushes and stamps, skin stencils and very skilful hands: here are all the products and tools necessary for the graphic construction of the famous sanctuary. To discover these treasures in their stone setting, go to Lascaux VI (facsimile), Font de Gaume, Teyjat or Villars caves. The National Museum of Prehistory in Les Eyzies will give you a wider view of prehistory in the Land of Man.
Photographers in love with the Périgord
We will mention only two major names in the field of photography, having succumbed to the charm of the Périgord, surprisingly for very different reasons. The first is Edouard Baldus (1813-1889), a famous naturalized French photographer of the Second Empire. Originally from Prussia, Edouard Baldus fled his native land at the age of twenty. He arrived in France in 1838. A trained painter, he exhibited several times at the Salon. Success was slow in coming, and he quickly turned to photography when the calotype, a paper printing process using negatives, was developed by the Englishman William Henry Fox Talbot. Baldus' photographic work, almost exclusively devoted to architecture and landscape, was marked by the numerous official commissions that made him one of Napoleon III's favorite photographers. He was a remarkable witness of his time and of the way modern engineering transformed the territories. He carried out numerous photographic surveys on the restoration of monuments or railway works. His work took him to Périgueux, where he immortalized the cathedral, the bridges, the facades to be demolished... He took part in the 1851 Heliographic Mission commissioned by the Commission des Monuments Historiques to draw up an inventory of the most remarkable buildings in need of restoration in various regions of France. Mainly known for his silver prints, Édouard Baldus nevertheless devoted more than 20 years of his life to heliographic engraving, an intaglio printing process that allows the transfer of an image onto a copper or steel plate thanks to a light-sensitive gelatin
The second photographic artist attached to the Perigord region is none other than Robert Doisneau. His famous black and white pictures which have been shown all over the world are no longer known. Less known is the work he did privately with the Périgord as a backdrop. This humanist photographer came to spend his first paid holidays in the Dordogne Valley. From then on, he would return regularly until the end of his life and take many photographs there. From a famous photo taken in 1939 in front of the Carlux train station, where his wife Pierrette Doisneau and three of his friends can be seen, an ambitious project was born: the creation of an exhibition gallery dedicated to Robert Doisneau, in the heart of the train station building, once restored.
Périgord, like a movie set
The cinema loves the Dordogne, and the Dordogne loves it back! At least 5 films are shot in the Périgord every year, for both television and cinema. It is very exciting to know that you can meet a star or an international star at the bend of an alleyway in a Perigord country house. Will you recognize Ben Affleck or Matt Damon behind their sunglasses when they come to buy the latest Ridley Scott filming stopped by the current health crisis? Perhaps you will dine with a famous actor on a terrace one evening in Périgueux? Contrary to popular belief, it is not only the sites (castles and medieval villages) or the natural landscapes (rivers and green valleys) that explain why the Périgord is filmed more than one day out of two. It's not just because of the local cuisine either... Well, not just because of the local cuisine... It's because of a fierce political will. Since 2008, the departmental council has been a forerunner in this field, setting up a fund to support film production. Public money is thus invested in private productions, thus triggering significant economic spin-offs from filming in the region. For every 1 euro invested by the local authorities, 10 euros are spent by the production, thanks in particular to the remuneration of local extras or technicians or by booking accommodation. In addition, we note the remarkable filming reception office, a team dedicated to the needs of the film and to location scouting.
