The Venus of Willendorf is a simple statue of a woman made out of limestone. The Venus of Willendorf is not very tall. In the statue there is shiny and yet rocky texture to it. The body parts of the woman have seem to be exaggerated. The figure was found in 1908. It was labeled "Venus" by a man named Josef Szombathy.
The art in medieval times has many statues of woman that are nude and this just adds to that number. Venus is a goddess of beauty and sexuality. I remember the name Venus from learning about Greek mythology and also learning about the planets. This statue doesn't have that elegant look so some may not she is worth being called Venus. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Whoever created this statue wanted to show off the beautiful aspects of being a woman.
I can see how Venus of Willendorf can be considered the statue of fertility, I think it is because it's due to her massive belly. Others may think that she isn't pregnant but she is just fat. Some may also consider her an earth mother. Looking at the Venus statue I do think that she is some what mother like, I think it has to do with the texture on her head that makes me think of motherhood. I also wonder as to why there is a lack of hands and feet to the Venus statue.
I am not sure why it's a big deal about the name "Venus" because art is determined differently by each person. We should see art as for what it is not the content of its name. Although some works of art are named certain ways to allow the viewer to see it as the artist had seen it. I think that Venus is a good name for this statue because it allows people to look at the differences in the word venus and how it applies to the statue. Art can be ugly to some people and to other it's a masterpiece, its really in the eye of the beholder.
I would disagree that the statuette is simple, purely on the fact of how high quality the detail is. Sure she may seem simple that she doesnt have anything going on, or she is not wearing with a lot of designs, but her details are (for me at least) exquisite. Her curves are nicely smooth and plump, the artist toke care in making her look real not caricature. The shadows of her legs indicate that the artist cared to make dimples for legs and the detail in her hair was mesmerizing. Maybe that why many are troubled by the Venus of Willendorf because they think her as simple with hard questions.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that each person has a different view on artwork. Everyone has a different reaction or emotion to all different types of artwork. I do believe that this small figure was created as a symbol of fertility. My reaction to the piece of artwork instantly is fertility, which goes along with a motherly role. In my opinion she has no apparent feet or hands because they are not what the artist wanted to focus on. They were not of importance to the Venus of Willendorf.
ReplyDeleteIn reference to your comment about beauty being in the eye of beholder. I wonder if the finders of this statue are actually inadvertently correct with the using the term ‘venus’ to describe this statue. They used in the form of a joke, but the thing about that is that we do not know as much about prehistoric culture as we would like. I could see that in prehistoric culture, this statue might actually be a representation of what they think beauty is and indeed the name would fit. The great part of artwork like you says that it is the viewer to judge, but I have been curious to see if the actual standards of beauty are actually greatly different between Greek/Roman cultures and prehistoric.
ReplyDeleteI really like that fact that you said, "I think that Venus is a good name for this statue because it allows people to look at the differences in the word venus and how it applies to the statue". I also feel that by naming the statue venus it really opens up the interpretation and analysis of this statuette. If the statue had is simply "woman" then i do not feel as though as many people would be looking deep into this piece as something more meaningful. There is another question that should come to mind when calling this figurine a work of art...are people really calling it ugly? Or are they simply comparing it to more recent and elegant statues and then simply saying that because they are showing different views of the same idea,then they could not have the same name because of the great differences?
ReplyDeleteI like the point on that art depends on the eye of the beholder. It is difficult to judge art, because each person does have a different definition. Recalling a class I took earlier, a question was posed at one point that asked, "What is art?" The interpretations were varied throughout the spectrum. In the same way, the Venus of Willendorf is the same, open to many interpretations.
ReplyDelete-Brian Popielarczyk