Annette Laming-Emperaire joined the CNRS in 1946. Her field of interest was Western European Palaeolithic art, which led her to collaborate with the photographer Fernand Windels on his book Lascaux: Chapelle Sixtine de la préhistoire [Lascaux: Sistine Chapel of Prehistory] which was published in 1948. She undertook a critical analysis of the figures, studied the layering and offered advice for the detailed photographic campaign. In 1957, she defended her State doctoral thesis in which she put forward a new analysis of the figures, as well as a critical overview of parietal art theory, in particular of comparative ethnography. She proved the organized nature of the compositions and highlighted – via comparison of the animal images – the existence of a male/female dualism. This work was published in 1962 under the title La signification de l’art rupestre paléolithique, but prior to this, in 1959, she published Lascaux: Paintings and Engravings which appeared in French, English and German editions. LAVALLÉE (Danièle).
Annette Laming-Emperaire (1917-1977), Journal de la Société des Américanistes, vol. 65, n° 1, 1978, p. 224-226