WINDELS (Fernand). — Lascaux: The “Sistine Chapel” of Prehis - Lot 311

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WINDELS (Fernand). — Lascaux: The “Sistine Chapel” of Prehis - Lot 311
WINDELS (Fernand). — Lascaux: The “Sistine Chapel” of Prehistory. Montignac-sur-Vézère (Dordogne), Center for Prehistoric Studies and Documentation, 1948. Large quarto, 138 pp., numerous illustrations, plans, and photographic reproductions in black-and-white and color, paperback with an illustrated, embossed cover. First edition of this important monograph devoted to the Lascaux Cave, discovered in 1940. Introduction by Abbé Henri Breuil, member of the Institut de France, and preface by André Leroi-Gourhan, then deputy director of the Musée de l'Homme. The institutional bibliography correctly lists the first edition as published in 1948, 138 pages, in 31 × 24 cm format. The book constitutes one of the very first major photographic collections dedicated to Lascaux. Fernand Windels, a photographer and publisher who took refuge in the Dordogne during the war, was commissioned by Abbé Breuil to photograph the cave paintings. Beginning in October 1940, he thus participated in the first systematic efforts to document the cave. The book features extensive illustrations reproducing the cave’s paintings and engravings, along with fold-out maps, surveys, and numerous photographs of horses, bison, deer, and large bulls. Some reproductions are in color. A contemporary review describes the book as a veritable “corpus” of images from Lascaux photographed by Windels and highlights the quality of its extensive black-and-white and color illustrations. The documentary value is considerable: Windels single-handedly carried out a large part of the photographic documentation of the cave, working notably with four acetylene lamps; his photographs were subsequently used, in collaboration with Annette Laming, for stylistic analysis and the preparation of this volume. Paperback copy. Cover and spine heavily worn: significant losses on the spine, torn caps, tears and small marginal losses, creases and rub marks; stitching visible in places. Interior, however, remains in satisfactory condition, and the fold-out map is present. Copy in need of restoration.
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