Gilles Tosello is one of the two painters who worked on reproductions of rock art in the Cosquer cave in Marseille. At 65, the artist who also worked on that of Lascaux and Chauvet, returns for 20 minutes in particular on the techniques of imitation of artists who traveled through our regions some 30,000 years ago.
How does one become a “prehistoric painter”?
My activity is based on two pillars which are the practice of art and the knowledge of prehistoric art in particular. For several years I have been doing both research in decorated caves and practicing drawing as an illustrator.
What are the specific technical registers of rock art?
Each cave has more or less its secrets, its techniques. But many caves share the fact that they are artists who practice a fairly free art in gestures. Although they work on rocks, irregular surfaces, there is this incredible mastery of the gesture, of the curve, and that is what characterizes them first and foremost.
In the case of the Cosquer cave, there are two different sets. There are both techniques that remove material from the wall: engravings, digital traces, made with the fingers and another set that adds more. It can be either black, with charcoal, charcoal, we pick up a fragment of wood charred in the fire and we draw on the wall, or reds, yellow ochres, the other great color of prehistoric art. It is a particular rock that is called hematite, and which is then reduced to powder to mix it with water and make a paste before painting with it.
How to find the right mixture, the right texture?
The manufacturing recipes are not very complex to implement, there are no big technical tricks. In the art of prehistory, everything rests on the talent of the person who handles the hand or the tool. We, the red ocher, we bought it in quarries near Baux-de-Provence [qui tire son nom de la bauxite, une roche ocre]. There are lots of different shades, but it’s the same mineral as prehistoric ochres. Then, we make our own little recipe at the workshop.
And in terms of tools? How do you find the right object to remove or apply material?
Prehistoric artists worked with tapered flints, bone fragments or bits of wood. Contrary to what one might think, the cave walls are quite soft. It is not very resistant under the tool because the walls are often full of humidity – and this makes the stone on the surface much more loose. So any tool that has an angle is effective.
Charcoal, charcoal, it’s even simpler, you just have to find the right format in the fireplace and then you draw. And there, we can also practice the stump. That is to say, we come back with our finger, we crush the coal, we make it penetrate the rock and by spreading it we will transform it into grey. And the grays will create volume, it’s something that prehistoric artists understood quite early in the history of caves, this way of expressing the third dimension in the drawing.
For ochre, there, it is much more difficult to be sure to reconstitute the tool which creates the application. It can be both dried vegetable fiber from which the fibers are separated to make a brush, but the same result can be achieved with animal hair. You can also use the end of a bird’s feather. Dipped in a fairly liquid mixture we can achieve magnificent things.
You also worked on the reproductions of the caves of Chauvet and Lascaux, how would you differentiate between the works of the Cosquer cave?
First Cosquer is placed between the two caves, between 23,000 and 30,000 years ago. It is older than Lascaux, but newer than Chauvet. There are common points between Cosquer and Chauvet, in particular this practice of stump. Cosquer is unique in that the dominant technique is engraving. It also stands out in the theme, the marine fauna is very represented, with seals and penguins.
Which animal gave you the most trouble breeding?
We had trouble with the penguins. Not so much in terms of the design as in terms of the support, which is very crystalline and reacts a lot to light. It is therefore the restitution of the wall that posed a problem for us. Because it’s not just the artistic practice, the pure artistic part actually represents between 5 and 10% of the work.
What material do you use to reproduce the walls?
We use a resin that looks like a kind of synthetic plaster. Vulgarly, it is a derivative of plastic. But this acrylic resin has a great advantage: it does not release toxic fumes and it can be mixed with sand, marble dust or even glitter to create shine.
And we have a whole bunch of workshop recipes to make before the resin has completely set to restore the texture: you have to apply sponges or even sandpaper that will recreate the grain of the rock.
How long did this job take you?
We had a total of 160 m² of panel surface with drawings, which is not much, because the entire cave has nearly 3,500 m² of walls, they are made directly on site, in Marseille. We started in May 2020 and ended in December 2021.
What has evolved the most in the gestures between prehistoric and contemporary artists?
In the nothing gestures, there is the same virtuosity, the same potential. On the other hand, today art is the expression of an ego, of an I, where one seeks to distinguish oneself from the competitor. During prehistory, certainly, the artist blends much more into a kind of service to society. It is an art surely of ritual, spiritual, religious origin. A bit like Romanesque art, which had its geniuses, its gifted people, but whose names we don’t even know.
Do we know how many hands ran the walls of the Cosquer cave?
I would like to know, it’s very difficult… Especially since prehistoric artists probably worked in a logic of learning and training younger people.