Comparison of Venus of Willendorf and the Lady of Auxerre - Assignment Example

Comparison of two art pieces Introduction Artwork traces its origin back from the ancient days. The usage of symbols by man has been in existence since time immemorial. Signs and symbols were used as a form of communication as they represented different objects, ideas and even events. For example the dove was used as a symbol of peace while the anchor represented hope. Symbols have also been used for confidentiality purposes; there are cases where some communities used symbols to preserve their secrets so that only members of the particular community would understand the message being conveyed and have any outsiders excluded from understanding. It has been argued that these symbols are not just mere fantasies and imaginations by man but contain some fragments of truth in them. The use of symbols has also received appreciation among Christians. This is evident from the writings of a catholic scholar one Father Martin C. Darcy. From one of his books “The meaning and matter of history” he appreciates the existence of poetic insight and myth and insists that they should not be written off. He goes ahead to note that myths and symbols created a link between the old age dry facts and the present day civilization. This therefore indicates that the signs and symbols that have always existed from time immemorial are of great significance to mankind and need to be studied in the depth to get to understand what they actual stand for. These sign and symbols convey important messages and lessons from the ancient times and should therefore not be ignored. In this study we are to discuss some of the most ancient artwork by mankind in the form of Venus of Willendorf and the Lady of Auxerre; their origin, their symbolism, the similarities and differences between them. We will also discuss their relevance in present times. Image Identification The Venus of Willendorf is artwork in the form of sculpture. This artwork is a statuette of an obese female figure approximately 11 cm high that is about 4.3 inches. Conspicuously, the feet supporting the obese figure are quite small and the ankles are not easily visible. The artwork behind the sculpture portrays vast knowledge in the field of anatomy. It is believed to have been created between 24,000 and 22,000 BCE but only got to be discovered later on in 1908 thanks to an archaeologist going by the name Josef Szombathy (Fergusson 99). He is believed to have discovered it in Lower Austria in a village near the city of Krems at a Paleolithic site near Willendorf. The material used to carve the sculpture was oolitic limestone covered with red core which actually did not exist in the local area where it was discovered. The Venus of Willendorf was later relocated to Naturhistorisches Museum in Vienna. The sculpture was of such great influence that other forms of art work that were discovered thereafter were jointly termed as Venus figurines (Fergusson 112). The model derived its name from an older model that had already been discovered over fifty year earlier and this was as a result of the many characteristics it shared with the older models. After thorough analysis and debates, in the year 1990 it was jointly agreed by researchers that the model must have been made in 24,000 BCE. The pattern on the head of the sculpture has attracted wide debate as to whether it is braided hair or woven. The existence of textiles that had been woven creates a possibility of the pattern being basketry. The Venus of Willendorf was alternatively referred to as the Woman of Willendorf. The Lady of Auxerre is also an artwork in the form of a sculpture and traces its origination back to the Museum of Auxerre. It was discovered from the Paris based museum by a Louvre curator going by the name Maxime Collignon in the year 1907. The model is comparatively small but quite tall with a height of 75 cm. It is believed to have been carved from limestone Cretan between 650 and 625 BC. It is a symbol of a Greek goddess from the ancient periods (Donohue 76). How the sculpture found its way into the Museum of Auxerre remains a mystery yet to be solved till date. From a journalistic view, the evidence of polychrome decoration on the sculpture which dates back to the 7th century BCE when Greece came over its Dark Age suggests a Greek touch on the sculpture. It also has a narrow waist of a Minoan-Mycenaean goddess with straight hair which is an indication of an Egyptian association. Efforts had been put in place by Nikolaos Stapolidis since 1990 to help come up with a more specific date and place of origination of the Lady of Auxerre. The sculpture portrays the Cretan style which is an ancient style in the field of art from Greece (Donohue 88). Analysis of Style The Lady of Auxerre sculpture brings out Cretan style in form of a kore or a maiden from the way it is dressed. This was traditional meant to portray a goddess although at times these sculptures were used on graves. The function of the model was to try and indicate the position of women in the society as far as religion was concerned. The sculpture is also characterized by spiky hair which symbolizes the Egyptian queens. The front view of the sculpture is characterized by an archaic smile which is an indication works. The rich style is also clearly brought out in this sculpture through the dressing which are an indication wealth no wonder the sculpture is associated with queens and goddesses. The purpose of this style is to justify the existence of social classes in the society. The Venus of Willendorf sculpture appears to be obese; this was intended to depict a pregnant woman, insinuating ability to produce children. The then society strongly believed that production of children brought with it production of natural goods with the society highly depended on for both subsistence and commercial purposes (Nead 98). The level of fertility among women was believed to be an indicator of fertility of the soils, plants and even animals; this was so since people did not understand how sexual intercourse influenced production of babies. This model made people to believe that fat women were more fertile. COMPARATIVE STRUCTURE Some of the similarities between The Lady of Auxerre and The Venus of Willendorf include: Both the images were originally made from limestone as seen from the discussion above. Both the images were carved in ancient times. Both the models are artwork in the form of sculptures. The differences between the two models are as discussed below: The lady of Auxerre was discovered from the Museum of Auxerre while the Venus of Willendorf was discovered in Lower Austria. The Lady of Auxerre symbolized wealth and existence of social classes while the Venus of Willendorf was a symbol of fertility among women. The image of the Lady of Auxerre was slim and tall while the Venus of Willendorf was obese short. The Lady of Auxerre was discovered by Maxime Collignon while the Venus of Willendorf was discovered by Josef Szombathy. Conclusion From the above discussion it is clearly evident that artwork is deeply enrooted in the system of mankind since the ancient times. Artwork in ancient times was a very serious phenomenon among the people and was treated with a lot of respect as compared to current times. For example in the case of the sculpture of the Venus of Willendorf, it had people in the ancient times strongly believing that a woman being fat was an indication of fertility since the sculpture was obese (Nead 56). It is therefore in order to conclude that artwork has always been in existence since the ancient times up to date, although presently it is practiced in a more modernized manner. Works Cited Read More