11 Jul 2012

The origins of painting on walls

I’ve become increasingly intrigued by the origins of painting on walls, and the evolution of the form over time, up to the current vogue for street art.  While the walls of caves were not made of brick, they did nonetheless provide people with an early canvass for their painting.  The transition from these depictions of scenes from thousands of years ago to the use of walls for commercial purposes is something I would like to learn more about.  To date the earliest advertising on walls that I’ve come across is from Pompeii.  Any other examples would be appreciated.

Here is a collection of articles that cover various aspects of painting on stone from pre-history.

• Rock art from South Wales dated to c.14,000 years ago.
• Aboriginal art from 28,000 years ago in Australia.
• 30,000 year old paintings from the Chauvet cave in the Ardèche, France. (Pictured above.)
• Neanderthal paintings in Northern Spain c.40,000 years old.
• Stone age painting kits found in South Africa, dated to 100,000 years ago.

There is also my recent post on the discovery of Mayan wall paintings in Guatemala, frescos from Italy, and renaissance grafitto which are other expansions of these discoveries globally, although much more recently that those above.

Do let me know if you have come across other articles or references that cover the pre-history of painting by hand on walls, stone or any other medium.

• Aboriginal
• Ancient
• Ardèche
• Art
• Australia
• France
• Handpainted
• History
• Neanderthal
• Pre-History
• South Africa
• Spain
• Wales