The name of the French scientist Andre Leroi-Gourhan is known today to
everyone, studing primitive history and primitive art in particular. He
came into science when a great number of materials had already been
accumulated and their new comprehension was required. Basing himself on the
achievements of his forerunners - Edouard Piette, Henry Breuil and others,
Leroi-Gourhan made a great contribution in the study of the Palaeolithic
art. He wrote about 400 scientific publications in different fields of
archaeology, ethnography, history of religion.
Andre Jorge Leandre Adolf Leroi-Gourhan was born in Paris in a family of an
engineer. Still in his childhood he acquired a passion for natural
history, having seen in the museums of his native city skeletons of the died
out animals, bones of the Cro-Magnon man and the Neanderthal from
Chapelle-ou-Sen, stone tools and ethnographical collections.
In the oriental languages school in Sorbonna he first got a degree in
Russian - in 1931, and then, in1933 - in Chinese philology. He got a
Doctor's degree in 1935 in Sorbonne. In 1936 he went with an ethnographical
expedition in the Far East. Acquaintance with the ethnographical
collections of the Parisian and London museums, practical study in Japan
formed Leroi-Gourhan's vast outlook, first as an ethnologist, studing the
evolution of material culture and then - as an archaeologist,
palaeoanthropologist, pri-historian, studing material and spiritual culture
of the primitive man in detail.
In 1945 he was appointed as a deputy director of the Museum of the Man,
then - Professor of the University in Lyon, since 1956 - Professor of
Sorbonna, since 1963 director of the Ethnology Institute, an honored
Professor in College de France, a member of the Institute of France ( an
Academician).
Although Leroi-Gourhan has no purely ethnographical works, the
ethnographical material is widely presented in his many significant
publications: ("Evolution et technique" (1943-1945) in two volumes, "Le
Geste et la parole" (1965), "Mecanique vivante" (1983).
Leroi-Gourhans's methodological working-outs in the field of practical
archaeology were of great importance. Studing Palaeolithical sites of
Arcy-sur-Cure and Pincevent, he had worked out a series of important for the
European archaeology of that time principles of the excavation process ( a
complex approach to the investigation of a monument, a complete
stratigraphic investigation with the help of working pits and thorough
clearing of layers, accurate fixation and registration of the received data,
photography, drawings, models).
His studies in the cave paintings and prehistoric art are the most
significant and interesting. In that field he has gathered many new facts
and worked out his own methodological basis. His analysis of styles and
comparison of petroglyphs with small form objects helped to create a new
theory of style inconstancy in Palaeolithic paintings and basing on its real
changes in time make chronology more accurate. Together with Annette
Laming-Emperaire, Leroi-Gourhan developed Max Raphael's structuralistic
approach, suggested in the middle of 30s, and spoke against direct
ethnographical comparativism. He suggested to reveal the inner structure of
the representations in themselves ("Les Religions de la Prehistoire",
(1964), "Prehistoire de l'art occidental", (1965). In these works
Leroi-Gourhan also put forward a hypothesis that the man's most ancient
mythological notions about the world are reflected in the Palaeolithic
paintings.
Andre Leroi-Gourhan was an outstanding organizer and teacher. He taught in
the Lyons University, in Sorbonne, in College de France. In 1946 he
organized a center of an ethnological education in the Museum of the Man, in
1948 - a documentation center of pre-historic studies and in 1962 - at the
Chair of Ethnology in Sorbonne - a center of pre-historic and proto-historic
studies.
In 1952 Leroi-Gourhan was elected the President of the French
Pre-Historians' society. He also was a member of different scientific
commissions, a participant and organizer of international scientific
meetings. After Henry Breuil's death in 1961 he took up his place on the
"pre-historic Olimpus"; he received many suggestions from the editors to
write introductions to different publications. Being in the course of many
years the editor of "Gallia Prehistoire" magazine he made this publication
very authoritative in scientific circles.
Andre Leroi-Gourhan's activity was appraised according to his deserts. In
1974 he was awarded with the Golden medal of C.N.R.S. (National Center of
scientific researches in France). In 1978 - Grande Prix of the national
archaeology of the Ministry of Culture; in 1979 - the Golden Medal of the
Academy of Architecture, national prize of the Fissen fund and Legion of
Honour. In 1980 he became "immortal", that is he was elected in the
Academy.
Not all the scientific theories were undoubtedly accepted by researchers,
some of them did not stand the test of time, but on the whole Andre
Leroi-Gouhran's scientific meaning is invaluable, and he is, for sure, the
key figure in studing both Palaeolithic art and pre-historic culture in
general.
Main publications:
LEROI-GOURHAN A. Le geste et la parole. TT. I - II Paris, 1964-65.
LEROI-GOURHAN A. Prehistoire de l'Art occidental. Paris. 1965 (1971,1998).
LEROI-GOURHAN A. Dictionaire de la prehistoire. Paris, 1988.
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