Since we had recently talked about the art of Lascaux I thought that this was an interesting adjunct. The impressive fellow in the top photo is a "Heck" bull, a herd of which has just recently been brought to England for study. They are the closest living creature to the Aurochs that are painted on the walls of Lascaux. Aurochs, as a breed died out centuries ago, and these animals are apparently a result of "back-breeding" with the most ancient cattle breeds in Europe...the kicker is that this was a pursuit initiated by Hermann Goering(pardon any spelling mistakes there) who wanted to re-create some Aryan Eden. Two brothers by the name of Heck were hired to scour Europe for the most ancient breeds they could find...including the lovely, shaggy red Highland coo(cow). There is also quite a bit that is still unkown , or at least in question, about the techniques that they used to ultimately re-create this breed. But, decades later, here is now the closest living relative to the animals, long dead, who were painted in the caves of Lascaux.
This is not necessarily by way of opening any particular discussion...I just thought that we were in need of a new place to start and this article caught my imagination...art imitating life imitating art...kind of cool.
Make of it what you will...off to paint.
6 comments:
The deleted post is mine...I just discovered I could go back and make corrections on the original post...Way Cool...except I think there are a couple of other errors, but I am going to leave it as it is...
The Irish and I are sitting in a bar in Richmond, Ky. , as part of what was bill as a" jazz crawl" but has turned out to be a gathering of fossils. Stay or go?
Windhover, looking for a little action, or what was that disco tone? Actione?
Windhover, you are sitting in my Mom's birthplace, Richmond, KY.
WM, Now those are some interesting photos. I had no idea that the Nazis had wanted "Aryan" livestock as well as the people to eat them, although I'm not terribly surprised at the idea. Given the number of years that is usually required to develop new traits and the fact that the Nazis were in power only from 1933 to 1945, the Heck brothers must really have been brilliant geneticists.
WH, For some reason, your aborted (or was it?) jazz crawl reminded me of a story our chorus director told us the other night. She and her husband have just returned from a trip to Ireland. One of her main goals was to get off the beaten path and listen to some genuine Irish musicians and music. She did get to do that, but even more, when recommendations came her way, she wound up listening to that most American of music....no, not jazz...but country western. Apparently, in the past ten years or so, Nashville has become the world music capital and most of Europe has hopped on the bandwagon. Our Swedish guests mentioned that their little town has three nightspots that have country bands playing every weekend.
American jazz, while I'm sure it is still popular in Europe doesn't have the cachet it once did. It is difficult to point to modern country music as a great American cultural export. Hmmm, am I being a snob, or maybe just an old fogey? Maybe I should be making an effort to appreciate Carrie Underwood and Trace Adkins. I already know I don't care for rap and hip-hop music. I should be making an effort there too.
I hate to think that I've gotten to "that age" where anything different from what I've liked up to, say, the age of 50 is just going to slam into a mental block I erected.
Me, oh my, I'd better get back to re-reading David Brooks article. Come to think of it, his article is pertinent to my little quandry. "Our brain is computing value at every fraction of a second. Everything that we look at, we form an implicit preference". That goes for what we hear as well.
OK, that's enough for now. It is still too early to start using my brain...I've got laundry to take care of!
Some additional information...Apparently Hitler actually ordered the project and Heinz and Lutz Heck used the red Highland cows, French Camargue and Spanish fighting bulls and a Corsica breed. The Aurochs were around until the 17th century and were said to be the size of Rhinos...Caesar made reference to them also...
What Hitler was looking for was to recreate a symbol for the Aryan Nation, not a food source. There are only 13 animals that were brought to England for study and there is no mention of how immediately successful the breeding program was initially. It seems that most of the animals were slaughtered at the end of the war and only a few small herds remained. These are much smaller than the Aurochs but have many other characteristics. Science factoid for the day.
WH...I ordered 2 WB books from amazon, so any discussion on him will have to be put on hold until further reading can be done. I'll let you answer Jeannie's questions from the other night...re: Sistine Chapel ceiling and Stonehenge.
Having dinner guests tonight, so I'm out of here for the rest of the day...see ya.
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