Cave Paintings

As a beloved ex-President, Ronald Reagan almost always gets what he wants these days. But this week, one of Reagan's personal wishes was blocked by a federal convict with a typewriter. Last Friday, Reagan personally telephoned the National Park Service in Washington to add his support to proposed national historic landmark status for a mitten-shaped hill in the Santa Monica Mountains that includes prized Chumash Indian cave paintings. But on Monday, when the Park Service's advisory board met, it concluded that its hands were tied.

Using a new dating technique, researchers from Britain, Spain and Portugal have shown that cave art in Spain is the oldest in Europe, as much as 10,000 years older than some previously dated cave art in France. The oldest art they found was nearly 41,000 years old, which means it was produced about the same time that anatomically modern humans first entered Europe from Africa. That means either that the modern humans brought the technique with them from Africa, that their new creativity was inspired by conflict and competition with the Neanderthals, or that the art was done by the Neanderthals themselves, said archaeologist Joao Zilhao of the University of Barcelona.

Re "Irvine Co., Indians Divided by a Wall Carving," Jan. 3: There does not seem to be much objection from the Indians about the bulldozing of cave paintings while the Irvine Co. seems intent on going ahead. In the Jewish Quarter of the Old City in Jerusalem, the modern dwellings have been built on ancient archeological sites. The dwellings are built on pillions, sort of like parking garages. Nothing has been sacrificed by either the archeologists or the developers and homeowners.

During two brief periods a year, a few select paleontologists, geologists and other specialists receive special permission from the French government to pass through a vault-like door on a cliff above the Ardeche River in southwestern France. Once inside the Chauvet cave, they become members of an exclusive group — those who have witnessed, in three dimensions, the oldest known art in the world. Discovered in 1994, the 32,000-year-old cave paintings show bears, bison, tigers and horses ranging with life-like movement over wavy limestone walls.

An expert on cave paintings will speak and show slides of the world's earliest-known art Nov. 2 at Southern California College. Paul Bahn will focus on recently discovered Ice Age material at a meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America's Orange County Society. Bahn is a contributing editor at Archaeology Magazine and has written numerous articles on prehistory art. He earned his doctorate at Cambridge University in England. The program begins at 2 p.m.

The definitive book on Baja's cave paintings ("A Trek to Hidden Troves of Rock Art," Oct. 27) is "The Cave Paintings of Baja California," written by Harry Crosby and published by Copley Books. Sally Gutman Studio City

Using a new dating technique, researchers from Britain, Spain and Portugal have shown that cave art in Spain is the oldest in Europe, as much as 10,000 years older than some previously dated cave art in France. The oldest art they found was nearly 41,000 years old, which means it was produced about the same time that anatomically modern humans first entered Europe from Africa. That means either that the modern humans brought the technique with them from Africa, that their new creativity was inspired by conflict and competition with the Neanderthals, or that the art was done by the Neanderthals themselves, said archaeologist Joao Zilhao of the University of Barcelona.

DUDE, where's my mammoth? R. Dale Guthrie, professor emeritus in the Institute of Arctic Biology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, has turned to crudely drawn images of such prehistoric beasts as the woolly mammoth, the giant bison and the auroch (an extinct bovine species) to support his theory that -- as is the case with today's graffiti -- testosterone-fueled boys produced virtually all cave art.

Artist Elaine de Kooning, married 44 years to seminal Abstract Expressionist Willem de Kooning, never has felt she worked in her husband's shadow. "I was working in his light, " says De Kooning, 67, whose paintings have been shown internationally in museums and galleries for about 30 years. "And a great many others were working in the same light. I've always been willful and autocratic anyway, and found him an illuminator, hardly a caster of shadows."

Nothing like a little controversy to get the public's attention. Attendance went up this week at the Cypress College Fine Arts Gallery after news broke that college officials had pulled a Rafael Serrano photograph from an exhibit flyer because of fears that its phallic symbolism would offend some people. A news story on the situation was published Wednesday; gallery director Robert Hardy said he saw about 30 visitors in the gallery on Thursday, a high number for what is normally a slow day. "I did notice that staff members from across the campus came by," Hardy said.

Ahead of MOCA's sweeping "Art in the Streets" exhibition, opening April 17 at the Geffen Contemporary, The Times interviewed three street art pioneers from the show: Chaz Bojórquez, Craig Stecyk and Risk. A Q&A with Stecyk follows below; read the rest of the story here and here . Craig Stecyk helped define the surf-skate-punk-graffiti aesthetic of Venice and Santa Monica in the 1970s by publishing his photographs of Dogtown and Z-Boys skaters in various magazines.

DUDE, where's my mammoth? R. Dale Guthrie, professor emeritus in the Institute of Arctic Biology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, has turned to crudely drawn images of such prehistoric beasts as the woolly mammoth, the giant bison and the auroch (an extinct bovine species) to support his theory that -- as is the case with today's graffiti -- testosterone-fueled boys produced virtually all cave art.

The definitive book on Baja's cave paintings ("A Trek to Hidden Troves of Rock Art," Oct. 27) is "The Cave Paintings of Baja California," written by Harry Crosby and published by Copley Books. Sally Gutman Studio City

PRINEVILLE, Ore. -- Lenette Stroebel used to drive by horses on a nearby ranch and wonder about the funny-looking animals with stand-up manes, faint zebra markings and stout, rounded bellies. Stroebel, a horse lover for decades, had never seen anything like them. Her curiosity quickly became an obsession. "Just being a horse person, I'd say, 'What are those?' I tried to put two and two together," said Stroebel, who first spotted the horses in the mid-1980s.

Re "Irvine Co., Indians Divided by a Wall Carving," Jan. 3: There does not seem to be much objection from the Indians about the bulldozing of cave paintings while the Irvine Co. seems intent on going ahead. In the Jewish Quarter of the Old City in Jerusalem, the modern dwellings have been built on ancient archeological sites. The dwellings are built on pillions, sort of like parking garages. Nothing has been sacrificed by either the archeologists or the developers and homeowners.

You can escape history here in the Dordogne no more than you can escape duck. Scattered throughout the region in southwest France are fortified towns, bastides, built in the 1200s by rival English and French claimants to the land. Medieval and Renaissance castles dominate hilltops at every turn. Ancient churches and monasteries echo with the miseries of religious strife. Going back further, into prehistory, limestone caves shelter 17,000-year-old Cro-Magnon rock paintings.

Ahead of MOCA's sweeping "Art in the Streets" exhibition, opening April 17 at the Geffen Contemporary, The Times interviewed three street art pioneers from the show: Chaz Bojórquez, Craig Stecyk and Risk. A Q&A with Stecyk follows below; read the rest of the story here and here . Craig Stecyk helped define the surf-skate-punk-graffiti aesthetic of Venice and Santa Monica in the 1970s by publishing his photographs of Dogtown and Z-Boys skaters in various magazines.

For almost two decades, Nick Connell's secluded man-made cave within the Torrey Pines State Reserve has been a stony sanctuary for a private little man who wanted to write a philosophy book that would change the world. During wintertime trips to San Diego from his New Hampshire home, Connell used only a screwdriver, Bowie knife and pickax to hew the cave from a sheer cliff wall.

Writer, photographer and historian Harry W. Crosby will sign the revised edition of his book, "The Cave Paintings of Baja California," at Dawson's Book Shop, 535 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, on Dec. 6 at 2:30 p.m. The book documents more than 200 rock art sites. Information: (213) 469-2186.

An expert on cave paintings will speak and show slides of the world's earliest-known art Nov. 2 at Southern California College. Paul Bahn will focus on recently discovered Ice Age material at a meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America's Orange County Society. Bahn is a contributing editor at Archaeology Magazine and has written numerous articles on prehistory art. He earned his doctorate at Cambridge University in England. The program begins at 2 p.m.