Venus of Willendorf Sculpture - Symbolic Meaning - Essay Example

Research Paper, History 20 March The Venus of Willendorf Introduction This paper focuses on The Venus of Willendorf sculpture, its symbolic meaning and its purpose. I selected the topic The Venus of Willendorf because looking at the sculpture, it can be defined in many different ways, but the course meaning affects humanity up-to-date. The Venus of Willendorf in her existence serves as a reminder to her people that there is a better life, free of worries. Lesson learnt was that The Venus of Willendorf was one of the earliest images of the body that was created by the human being. Her great age and exaggerated female forms has been an iconic form of pre-historic art. She was the first woman to acquire the ur-Eve identity that from the patriarchal viewpoint, suitably aimed attention at the reality of the female body. Overview This paper will help one know about the Paleolithic ancestors and their beliefs on different sculptures, with particular focus on The Venus of Willendorf. I hope the reader will understand about the origin, location and the deeper symbolic meaning of The Venus of Willendorf. The Paleolithic era was characterized by the human use of stone tools. People during this time were hunters and gathers, and they sheltered mostly in caves and near rocks. Art was at this time the oldest ever discovered, and a fascinating example includes stone sculpturing and rock painting. The Venus of Willendorf was an ever evolving series of feminist activist art installation. The Venus of Willendorf statuette was founded by archaeologist Josef Szombathy in in1908 in Willendorf, Austria (Skye 79). Symbolism and Subject Skye points out that “obese, covered in body fat, the Venus of Willendorf is unashamed by her appearance” (83). Nevertheless, she is an image of all her people’s desires and wishes. To make their lives better, they call her. The reason the Venus of Willendorf looks the way she does is because she is a carrier of all hopes and dreams for the Paleolithic people. Only a really large woman would be able to back her community and provide heat and food for all of them. The sculpture reminds us that we can attain our dreams and wishes by connecting us to our ancient past. “Upon entering a grocery store or feeling the intrinsic warmth of an electrically heated home”, our Paleolithi ancestors were definitely surprised (Skye 83). Every day, we live the dreams of these Paleolithic ancestors. It’s time we appreciated the Venus of Wiilendorf, who heard the cries of her children. It’s time to dismiss our distress over our bodies and our embarrassment over not being beautiful enough to fit the model of beauty defined by culture. The Venus of Willendorf is beautiful as she is, and in the same way, we are also beautiful in our own different ways. As The Venus of Willendorf reminds her people that there is a better life that free of worries, she prospers in her existence. For most of us in the modern day, we labor under different worries compared to those of our Paleolithic ancestors, but they are no less incapacitating. The Venus of Willendorf sculpture reminds us that we can find comfort in her sufficient arms. As we seek to love ourselves, we need to learn to love our bodies and overcome ours past choices and actions by removing our shame over them. Skye asserts that “sometimes our shame stems from ourselves and sometimes it stems from the words and actions of other people” (83). The source of shame does not matter, what matters is the fact that it can end. By not ending the shame, we carry excess baggage that we do not need to. True self is only known by a person, so there is no need of hindering to what people say about us. Another theory links the Venus of Willendorf with menstrual cycle; this was because of traces of red ochre on the statue and on her vulva. Her hands are laid on her breasts, not on her stomach as pregnant statues would be portrayed. The hands are thin and are shown draped over and holding the upper part of the large breasts with cursorily indicated fingers. There are markings showing that her wrist has a bracelet. Her breasts are large and appear soft, but they are not sagging and pendulous and the nipples are not shown. Her breasts and buttocks are exaggerated, and so is her stomach. Her buttocks and breasts are the main focus of attention and not her stomach. If the Venus of Willendorf is not pregnant, then she can’t be associated with fertility. Before the Neolithic period, there was no farming for the early men. During the time that The Venus of Willendorf was created, the people were hunters and gatherers. “Therefore, a fertile Earth Mother goddess would be of little use to the men and women of an Upper Paleolithic hunter-gatherer society” (Skye 90). This makes The Venus of Willendorf not to be associated with the fertility goddess. The sculpture displays a woman with an exaggerated stomach that protrudes, but it doesn’t hide her pubic area. A tan of fat stretches around her middle, connecting with the big flat bottom. Her genital area appears to emphasize on the labia and vulva, which are fully detailed and made visible, but it is unnatural that she had no pubic hair. The lack of a face is very important to the sculpture. This is because it means that The Venus of Willendorf is to be regarded as a sexual object that is anonymous instead of a person (Kauth 92). According to Kauth, “The Venus of Willendorf has no face because at the time that she was made, the living women of whom she is a form of representation were increasingly ordered as a unitary class” (95). The Venus of Willendorf has been understood as a flesh and blood woman who has the potential for childbearing. Given the body fat reserves, she is considered to be as reproductive as possible. In connection, her external organs of sexual generations are explicitly restored. This is the first well-known depiction drawing of the clitoris in the entire history of art, and an everlasting wonder in non-pornographic representation into the present day. Kauth points out that “the appearance of the external genitalia is made even more explicit by the lack of pubic hair” (93). The nudity of the sculpture hasn’t often been recognized as of interest in itself, but it is quite relevant. In the first representation of the hairlessness body, we know that the middle upper Paleolithic pubic hair was portrayed on abstracted vulva forms in carved batons. The Venus of Willendorf showed a natural woman without the pubic hair or one whose has been shaved. The Venus of Willendorf Visual Analysis Chart Visual elements of The Venus of Willendorf Composition The sculpture of The Venus of Willendorf figurine is highly noted for its corpulence; she’s fat, large, with dangling breasts, a wide, flat bottom, a heavy stomach and thick thighs. Size It was approximately 30 feet above the Danube River; this is about 4 ½ inches tall. Technique Although The Venus of Willendorf is covered in body fat, she is unashamed of her appearance. The reason she looks the way she does is because she is a carrier of all hopes and dreams for the Paleolithic people. Only a really large woman would be able to back her community and provide heat and food for all of them. The sculpture reminds us that we can attain our dreams and wishes by connecting us to our ancient past. Colour The limestone material was painted with red ochre that is barn red and the tone was not incidentally of blood. The red color in both blood and the paint comes from the iron content. Without making further attempt to find a meaning, the color of blood should still have an effect that all humans of any time could respond to. Texture The art was crafted from fine porous oolitc limestone. This kind of lime stone is found in warm and shallow seas. Style The ironic identification of this sculpture pleasantly satisfies some assumptions of the time about how primitive and naïve women were and about its taste and preference. Accroding to Koppelman and Franks, “Venus, of course, was the Classical goddess of sexual love and beauty”, but The Venus of Willendorf is the opposite (124). The Venus of Willendorf’s figurine is highly noted for its corpulence; she’s fat, large, with dangling breasts, a wide, flat bottom, a heavy stomach and thick thighs. The portion of her bulk is focused on the torso, dusky legs taper into small stumps, and her arms are thin and spidery in appearance. According to Skye, “because of her thin arms, some modern goddess-lovers have labeled her as pregnant rather than fat” (80). This kind of notion has more to do with our own cultural psychology rather than the reality of the statue. Marquis Paul described it as a headless, armless, and footless ivory statuette (Witcombe, “The Venus of Willendorf”). The Venus of Dolni Vestonice is another Venus figurine, a ceramic sculpture of nude female dated to 29,000-25,000 BCE. It was found during the Paleolithic era in Moravian basin south of Brno. This was during the warmer period of the last ice age. This period was known as the mammoth hunters. Hummel points out that they portrayed “wolves, horses, foxes, birds, cats, bears, or women with exaggerated female attributes” (288). The sculpture is believed to be a fertility charm. With the absence of the facial features on it, it has made scholars rethink the role it played in the prehistoric society. The statuette is about 10cm tall, 43 mm width and is made of low fired clay at its widest point. The statuette has exaggerated breasts, belly and hips as a symbol of fertility. The famous black Venus of Dolni vestonice differs from other sculptures because of its larger size, sophisticated shape and good state preservation. Ivory was the best material that was used to represent the human body and reached the maximum simplicity in most unique ways. During the carving, the artists paid more attention on sexuality and fertility. Others say it’s a representation of womanhood on the lower part and the manhood on the upper part (Svoboda, Jiří, ‎ Ložek and ‎ Vlček n.p.). Due to its rich deposit of archaeological evidence, the culture of the ice-age people of the Central Europe can be understood through Dolni Vestonice. This statuette is similar to the Venus of Willendorf. They both have big large breasts, bellies, and bottoms. They both symbolize sexual love and fertility. The main difference between the two sculptures is that the Venus of Willendorf doesn’t represent fertility, but is considered to represent people’s desires and wishes, while the Venus of Dolni vestonice represents fertility. Size and Media The Venus of Willendorf is approximately 30 feet or about 4 ½ inches tall. The sculpture was crafted from fine porous oolitc limestone, a kind of lime stone is found in warm and shallow seas. This composition is not found in the area around Willendorf and therefore it makes it evidently clear that the Venus figurine was carved elsewhere and taken to Austria. “The Venus of Willendorf figurine is most noted for its corpulence” (Skye 80). The sculpture is round and when compared to the Neolithic pregnant Earth mother goddess figurines, she has different features on her body. According to Skye, “the Earth Mother goddess figurines, with their oversized stomachs, represent the Earth and its ability to grow seeds into food to eat” (80). They are symbolic to the soil which gives bountifully when nurtured by rains. Purpose and Location Little is known about the origin of The Venus of Willendorf. It was found in Austria, but is believed to have been made elsewhere. The purpose of the carving was a subject of speculation. The statue never had feet and it doesn’t stand on its own. Due to the fact that parts of her body have been linked to fertility and childbearing, researchers believe that the Venus of Willendorf may have been associated with the goddess of fertility. The statue has no face and its head is covered with a circular horizontal band. This might be a representation of a row of plaited hair or some type of headdress. Kleiner stated that the purpose of this sculpture was intended to represent not a specific woman, but all female form (18). Although it’s main purpose and meaning remains hidden in the mists of time, many scholars have tried to show that the female fertility figure was used as a kind of magical charm with its exaggerated belly, breasts, bottom and no face. Patronage The Venus of Willendorf was founded in 1908 by an archeologist Joseph Szombathy (Skye 79). It is now in the Natural history Museum in Vienna. The sculpture wasn’t commissioned. Context Before the Neolithic period, there was no farming in the early men. So when the Venus of Willendorf was created, people were hunters and gatherers (Conserva 45). Women played an important role in every culture. During this time, men hunted while the women gathered and cooked food. With this method of survival, men knapped stones to make tools like knives and arrowheads. Works Cited Conserva, Henry. Propaganda: A Question and Answer Approach. Bloomington: Author House, 2009. Print. Hummel, Rolf E. Understanding Materials Science: History, Properties, Applications. 2nd ed. New York: Springer Publishers, LLC, 2004. Print. Kauth, Michael R. Handbook of the Evolution of Human Sexuality. New York: The Haworth Press, Inc., 2012. Print. Koppelman, Susan and Alison Frank. Collecting and the Internet: Essays on the Pursuit of Old Passions Through New Technologies. North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2008. Print. Kleiner, Fred. Gardners Art through the Ages: The Western Perspective, Volume 1. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2008. Print. Skye, Michelle. Goddess Aloud! Minnesota: Llewellyn Publication, 2010. Print. Svoboda, Jiří, ‎Vojen Ložek and ‎Emanuel Vlček. Hunters between East and West. New York: Plenum Press, 1996. Print. Witcombe, Christopher L. C. E. “The Venus of Willendorf.” n.d. Web. 20 March 2015. Read More