So powerfully elemental they seemed to speak directly
这些元素是如此醒目 现代艺术家们
to modern artists when they first saw them.
第一眼见到它们 就读懂了其中的含义
The most self-consciously modern of them all, Picasso,
其中最具有现代意识的那位 毕加索
told a friend that no sculptor had ever bettered
曾告诉一个朋友 没有雕塑家可以超越
the Palaeolithic carvers.
旧石器时代的雕刻家们
He bought a copy of this one, Venus of Lespugue,
他购买了这尊《莱斯皮盖的维纳斯》的一个复制品
and kept it in his studio all his life.
并终生把它保存在画室中
Was he touched by its archaic spirituality?
他是被它古老的灵性所触动了吗
No.
不是
He was earthly and worldly,
他是一个凡俗之人
but he felt a deep communion with the makers of a physical art.
却与这艺术品的制作者有着深深的共鸣
And there were traces of that communion elsewhere in his work.
这一共鸣在他的作品里也有迹可循
Despite rumours, there's no direct evidence
虽然并未有证据证实
that Picasso ever visited the painted caves of Altamira
但据称毕加索曾去过阿尔塔米拉洞
or saw in person the extraordinary painted bison
并亲眼见过岩洞里
that those caves contained.
非凡的野牛壁画