Cave art, Lascaux and decorated caves
Parietal art (from the Latin parietalis, relating to walls) refers to all the works of art created by man on the walls of caves and rock shelters. Upper Paleolithic art is one of the most touching and precious testimonies to the passage of our distant ancestors on earth. The Dordogne is incredibly well endowed in this field. The whole world is familiar with the Lascaux cave and its marvellous bestiaries. The iconography known to date includes animal figures, more often than not human, as well as numerous schematic motifs and signs. All forms of graphic expression - painting, drawing, airbrushing, engraving, sculpting and modelling - accompanied man's gestures during his many forays into both underground and open environments. Because of the variety of spaces used, conservation conditions can vary from one site to another. The best-known and best-preserved are deep sanctuaries ("grottes ornées"), but there are also cave entrances and rock shelters, not to mention works that have disappeared forever because they were produced on more fragile or destroyed supports. The two dominant forms of expression in Paleolithic cave art are drawing and engraving. They play an important role in the iconography of caves and shelters in the Dordogne. However, there is one technique much more rarely used in this context, which takes on a monumental dimension at Lascaux: painting, a pictorial form found elsewhere in France only at Font-de-Gaume and, very occasionally, in a few caves in the Pyrenees. The techniques appear simple and the material resources rudimentary, given the excellence of the works produced. A few flints, blocks of pigment, grinders, brushes and stamps, skin stencils and highly skilled hands: all the products and tools needed for the graphic construction of the famous sanctuary. To discover these treasures in their stone setting, visit Lascaux VI (facsimile), Font-de-Gaume, Teyjat or Villars caves. The Musée National de la Préhistoire at Les Eyzies offers a broader panorama of prehistory in the Pays de l'Homme region.
Photographers in love with the Périgord
We'll mention just two photographic luminaries who succumbed to the charms of the Périgord, surprisingly for very different reasons.
The first is Édouard Baldus (1813-1889), the famous naturalized French photographer of the Second Empire. Originally from Prussia, Édouard Baldus fled his homeland in his twenties. He arrived in France in 1838. Trained as a 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 perfected 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 to his era and to the way modern engineering transformed territories. He carried out numerous photographic surveys of monument restoration and railway works. His work took him to Périgueux, where he immortalized the cathedral, bridges, facades to be demolished... He took part in the 1851 Mission héliographique 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 over 20 years of his life to heliographic engraving, an intaglio printing process that transfers an image onto a copper or steel plate using light-sensitive gelatin.
Robert Doisneau is the second artist-photographer attached to the Périgord region. His famous black-and-white photos have been seen around the world. Less well known is the work he produced privately, with the Périgord as his backdrop. This humanist photographer spent his first paid vacation in the Dordogne Valley. From then on, he would return regularly until the end of his life, taking numerous photographs. Based on a famous photo taken in 1939 in front of the Carlux train station, showing his wife Pierrette Doisneau and three of her friends, an ambitious project was born: the creation of an exhibition gallery dedicated to Robert Doisneau, within the restored train station building.
Périgord, like a movie set
Cinema loves the Dordogne, and the Dordogne loves cinema! There are at least 5 film shoots a year in the Périgord, for both television and cinema. It's very exciting to know that you can bump into a star or an international film star just around the corner in a Périgord bastide. Perhaps you'll dine with a famous actor on a terrace one evening in Périgueux? Contrary to popular belief, it's not just the sites (castles and medieval villages) or the natural landscapes (rivers and verdant valleys) that explain why Périgord is filmed more than every other day. Nor is it because of the local cuisine... Well, not only that... First and foremost, it's 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, generating significant economic spin-offs for the region. For every 1 euro invested by the local authorities, 10 euros are spent by the production company, in particular by paying local extras or technicians, or booking accommodation. In addition, we'd like to draw your attention to the remarkable filming reception office, a team dedicated to the needs of the film and to location scouting.
