Pages: 49-61

The article is an attempt to answer the questions posed in one of the publications by Z. A. Abramova, devoted to the analysis of Palaeolithic parietal imagery. How the Palaeolithic artists have achieved such a high perfection of painting and how and in what ways the echoes of the ice age art penetrated into Picasso’s imagination and oeuvre? To answer the first question the author gives his interpretation of the concept of “artistic talent”, based on the theory worked out by the psychophysiologist S. N. Davidenkov. The answer to the second question is based on the properties of the genetic memory. In the author's view, it is impossible to understand the formation and development of artistic activity without taking into consideration the paleoanthropological and psychophysiological evidence.

Keywords: Archaeology, Palaeolithic, art, psychophysiology.

Information about author:

Yakov Sher (Moscow, Russian Federation). Doctor of Historical Sciences.
E-mail: [email protected]