Thousands of years ago, a person dressed in animal skins painted
pictures on the wall of a cave in France. The paints were made of
powdered red rock and black charcoal. These were mixed with fat to form
big lumps of color that looked like crayons. The painter rubbed the
lumps on the walls of the cave, making pictures of running horses. These
pictures seem beautiful and graceful to us even today.
We need beauty around us. That’s why we paint pictures and make statues.
That’s why we wear beads, bracelets, and earrings. That’s why there is
color and design in our clothes, our houses, our furniture, and most
other things we own and use.
We all love beauty. But what seems beautiful to one person may not seem
beautiful to another. We get our ideas of beauty from the culture we
live in. What is beautiful depends upon the way we see it.
Eye-catching walls
There is a beautiful village about 30 miles from the city of Pretoria, South Africa. It stands in the middle of wild country called the bush. In the village, the people of the Ndebele tribe live in…
Pictures to walk on
Every day, thousands of busy people hurry back and forth over city sidewalks. They hardly ever look down at the gray concrete beneath their feet—except to avoid tripping over a crack or a bump. …
Moving colors
For hundreds of years, fishermen have decorated their boats. Some fishermen like broad, colorful stripes or beautiful flowers on their boats. Others like pictures of saints or mermaids. Still others…
Underground palaces
Imagine you are riding clown an escalator. Suddenly you are deep underground. Instead of a dark, damp place, you are in a magnificent room. It might be the inside of a palace. Where are you? You are…
