Bristle Brush
Painting tool
Beginning of the Magdalenian
Around 22 000 years
The brush stroke is made by rubbing the tool on the wall. The resulting trace depends as much on the fluidity of the product as on the coarseness of the support and the speed of execution.
N. Aujoulat, Lascaux - Le geste, l’espace et le temps. Seuil, Paris. 2004
Commentary :
During the Magdalenian, Upper Palaeolithic artists have access to organic elements that allow them to make brushes.
Plant fibres, hair or horsehair, can be bundled and fixed in a handle with an adhesive such as resin for example.
In Lascaux, the ears and nostrils of horses, some of the geometric signs as well as the legs and hooves of animals are painted with brushes.
Liquid paint can be applied with great precision.
In the bristle brush, the painters already have a perfectly developed technical object, whose form, materials and use remain the same today.
