Venus of Willendorf

Venus of Willendorf is the earliest famous image of a woman. It was found in Austria in 1908 by the archaeologist Josef Szombathy. The statuette was carved from fine porous oolitic limestone. It is very curvy with a protruding stomach and very large breasts and buttocks. Her older age and pronounced female forms made her an item of prehistoric art. Although the statuette is a female, the fact that her feet and arms are missing and there is no defined face, doesn't really make her a woman.
Ever since Venus of Willendorf was found, the name ''Venus" has become a term that described all obese Palaeolithic statuette's of women. Classical "Venus", on the contrary, stands for a beautiful young and nude goddess of love, sex, and beauty.  Classical "Venus's" form,with smaller breasts and not such curvy buttocks and stomach, and sexuality are treated with a high degree of civilized restraint. Venus of Willendorf's figure is exactly the opposite and give it the uncivilized, primitive look.
Today, in many books the name ''Venus'' is substituted by the name ''Woman''. This change was name as if to remove the title of a goddess from the figurine and think of her more like of a human. The lack of a face also suggests that she be seen not as a personality, but rather as a sexual object.
The fact that the statue is also really fat, implies that she was not a woman of Stone Age, because those women would not have had the chance to get that fat from all the work that they did. Venus of Willendorf seems like she was waited on and had her work done by others so that is why she became obese from the lack of movement and excessive intake of fats. Also, the great emphasis on the statuettes vulva and the red ochre that could represent blood, suggest that she served some purpose in connection with female menstruation and a sign of fertility for women. This also increases the chances that the statuette was more likely caved by another female.

Week 1 Introduction

Hello Everyone! My name is Lesya. I am a transfer student from Big Bend Community College of Moses Lake, WA. In college, I was planning to go for a Radiologic Technician, but I never made it into the program so I then decided to major in Art and transferred to CWU!  I am from Ukraine originally and after going back to visit my country a couple of times, I got to really enjoy the historical places there and the culture, which is becoming more and more different than what I remember it to be. This inspired me to want to learn more about art and the history of it, and that is why I am here and taking this class:) looking forward to this quarter with everyone!