The Venus of Willendorf was found in 1908, by Josef Szambatny in Willendorf, Austria. She is an 11 cm. tall statue, made of porous oolitic limestone. It is believed to have been made in 24-22,000 BCE. The Venus of Willendorf is believed to be the first woman depicted in art. Her name came from Marquis Paul de Vibraye; who named her "Venus" in mockery. He named her the reversal of the classic, "Modest Venus," and gave her the name "Immodest Venus," because unlike the Modest Venus, Venus of Willendorf is not trying to cover herself or hide her body. In fact, her vulva is in clear view, and her nipples are prominent. After many years, her name got changed again to "Woman of Willendorf," to remove the connection to the Classic Venus and to make the piece of work more mundane.The Venus of Willendorf is still being discussed if it is an accurate reading of what females looked like during the stone age. Looking at the diet and lifestyle of the time period, it is estimated that whoever this was the model for this piece was a wealthy woman, she must have had a diet of marrow and animal fat and must not have moved around much.
Good summary of what the Venus of Willendorf is and very descriptive too! I noticed that you commented about her lifestyle and diet and the assumption that if Venus was a real model for this statue, then she would have been wealthy and I agree with that. It reminds me of the 15th through the 17th century Kings who were always shown in paintings and drawings as over weight and larger around the middle area and this was always a sign that they were wealthy enough to afford food... and lots of it! However, it is important to look all the details of the statue that may contribute to other assumptions or theories. For example from the lecture when Prof. Bowen talks of the side view and downward perspective of the Venus compared to a normal pregnant woman and they look the same. This theory could also explain why the Venus doesn't have any feet, because she could not see them.
ReplyDeleteHi L.Charb! I think that the history of the "Immodest Venus" term is so interesting. It really puts the "Venus" nickname in a negative light, don't you think? If you're interested in seeing the armless, headless figurine that Vibraye first nicknamed "Venus" (as a tongue-in-cheek comment), you can see it here.
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Good response to the article L. Charb. It's is quite fascinating how much information we can pull from a figurine such as Venus of Willedorf. Like you mentioned in your post, based on the way she looked, it was speculated that she must have been a wealthy woman. I wonder though, if that was the real reason to her being overweight. I guess what I'm trying to say is that all we can do is give an educated assumption about why she looks the way she does, which is a very good attempt at rationalizing what we truly don't know. I often wonder how right or wrong we would be if we had the chance to travel back in time and see. Would we be right on target? Or completely shocked at our guesses? All these what-ifs leave me wanting to get to know the story of Venus of Willendorf even more.
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