纪录片《文明》 第12期 创世纪的第二个瞬间（12）（在线收听）

But he was obsessed with animals,

他非常着迷于动物

one animal in particular,

特别是一种动物

not the bison, but it's cousin, the bull,

不是野牛 而是它的近亲 公牛

an animal to which he returned again and again.

一遍又一遍地出现在他的作品里

Do we think this is mere coincidence?

这只是巧合吗

He liked to call himself a modern primitive,

他喜欢称他自己为现代的原始人

and in those images, glimmering images in the caves,

从洞穴里那些幽亮的图案中

he found, he thought, a fountainhead

他找寻着 思考着

of everything that was truly creative about the artistic instinct.

艺术天性的一切创造性本源

So he paid cave art the ultimate compliment

所以他通过创作类似的作品

by doing something very similar.

来表达对洞穴艺术最真挚的赞美

He looked at a bull

他观察公牛

and then he produced this beautiful,

然后创作出了这头

dashing, impulsive picture of a bull

美丽的 雄赳赳气昂昂的公牛

so close to the original in Altamira,

它与阿尔塔米拉的原作如此相似

it could even have been a studious copy.

甚至算得上是学习性的临摹了

But then he produced another ten prints,

然后他又画了十幅

bulls drawn from his own enormous range of styles,

完全不同风格的公牛

from meaty naturalism

从充满肌肉的自然主义

through classical Cubism

到经典的立体主义

to a lightly delineated bull that's really

再到这幅只有简单的线条勾勒

just a pair of horns

几乎只有牛角

and then that other thing that bulls always need.

和公牛必须有的另一部位的画