First Painter by Kathryn Lasky (2000) is the kind of picture book that motivates you to learn more about a topic. One expects this quality from DK Publishing. The afterword states, “ First Painter is an imaginative reconstruction of the most elusive historical moment —the birth of the artistic imagination.” It is about artistic process. An adolescent girl's first drawing releases a horse from the rock: “ I trace the outline of the horse's head buried in the stone and follow the pale gray vein to draw the horses back.… I feel the strength of its pounding legs, it speed.… I make many legs, more than the horses really need. I paint them soft and misty. These are running legs. I feel the speed. I hear the hooves.” The paintings by Rocco Baviera give this story the necessary sense of mystery. This book inspired me to me to search for videos about the Chauvet cave in France. Discovered in December 1994, it's considered one of the most significant finds in Paleolithic art, painted about 30,000 years ago. This is a fabulous book for the young artist or archeologist.
