The Woman of Willendorf
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In my opinion I think one of the earliest sculpture of ancient civilization is the woman of Wilendorf, which is also called the Venus of Wilendorf.It was discovered by an archeologist, named Joseph Szombathy, around 1908 in a Aurignacian loess deposit near the town of Wilendorf Austria. This sculpture measures 110 mm in height and can fit in the palm of your hands. It was carved from a fine porous oolitic limestone and tinted with red ochre. This is a pigment derived from tinted clay and contains mineral oxide. This sculpture was dated back around 30,000 and 25,000 BC and was a derivative from a nomadic society.
This prehistoric art has several intriguing features that stands out. Her physical appearance and structure depicts several characteristics of society back then and it also gave us an insight of how early humans lived. This sculpture can be analyzed by its body features. It has a huge abdomen and breast. It has no face, her hair is designed in a spiral shape, genital area is hugely emphasized, her arms are skinny and placed behind her back and also she has no feet. It is believed that her huge breast, abdomen and elaborate genital area, signifies procreation and nurture. Her lack of face is also believed to be seen as a way in which she has no identity or privilege over anyone else, she is just seen as a sexual object instead of a person. She is supposed to be equal to the other females and have the same duty. Her lack of feet is said to mean several things such as: to make her unable to leave wherever she had been place and they only included the parts that was important since she signifies fertility. The red ochre pigment covering her abdomen has been thought to symbolize menstrual blood seen as a life-giving agent.
This prehistoric art has several intriguing features that stands out. Her physical appearance and structure depicts several characteristics of society back then and it also gave us an insight of how early humans lived. This sculpture can be analyzed by its body features. It has a huge abdomen and breast. It has no face, her hair is designed in a spiral shape, genital area is hugely emphasized, her arms are skinny and placed behind her back and also she has no feet. It is believed that her huge breast, abdomen and elaborate genital area, signifies procreation and nurture. Her lack of face is also believed to be seen as a way in which she has no identity or privilege over anyone else, she is just seen as a sexual object instead of a person. She is supposed to be equal to the other females and have the same duty. Her lack of feet is said to mean several things such as: to make her unable to leave wherever she had been place and they only included the parts that was important since she signifies fertility. The red ochre pigment covering her abdomen has been thought to symbolize menstrual blood seen as a life-giving agent.
It is also argued that this sculpture serves as a good luck charm and that it is possible that men carried it with them on their hunts so that it reminded them of their mate back home and as a charm to bring them success in their hunting. It was also assume that it could even just be a doll for a child due to its miniature size. This sculpture is seen as the goddess of fertility due to its exaggerated features that relates directly to procreation. She is a sentimental icon of ancient civilization and a representation of females during the Paleolithic period. She can currently be found in Vienna’s Naturhistorisches Museum on display for others to get a closer insight on one of the greatest sculptures of ancient civilization.
I will start off by saying your organization was put together in a great way. You began discussing how the women of Willendorf was first discovered by an archeologist. Then you discussed in great detail, the size, features, and those different structures that are located on her body. I feel that if I did not see the picture above your blog, I could actually picture the Women of Willendorf. I would be able to because the description that you described was perfect. Your chose of vocabulary works great with the information you have gathered. I don’t think there is a prominent way to explain Willendorf story because you did everything on point. In your discussion about Willendorf, not only were you capable of giving me insight about her but you also intrigued me on how long humans have been on this earth. This Willendorf looks like a big statue that stands about 6 ft tall. Thanks to your wonderful description, now I know it’s able to sit in the palm of my hand. You were determined to give great insight to who ever read this information. After reading the facts and your opinion, I have been able to tell, that you took your time and worked hard to find the right information. It was a great picture you showed of women of willendorf. She actually is a beautiful woman if you look up close. Your time and patience has showed greatly on your information. I have read your information multiple times to make sure I did not miss anything that seemed irrelevant. I would say, I liked the information I read, and it was good.
ReplyDeleteTo begin, this is a wonderful and very informative blog post. I understood your standpoint and your opinion about The Woman of Willendorf, however, it wasn’t clearly stated until the concluding paragraph, although that may have just been a typical error as it appeared that you meant to include that in the introduction. The amount of detail presented throughout the duration of the blog, from beginning to end, was impressive and provided to be helpful in the understanding of why The Woman of Willendorf proves to be the most astounding and beautiful piece of ancient artwork.
ReplyDeleteI was interested in some of the facts presented in your writing such as the size of the piece. I was amazed to learn that the sculpture was small enough to fit in the palm of a hand, especially after looking at the quite deceiving pictures of The Woman of Willendorf. In most images found, she appears to be much larger or even human sized. I was also very intrigued with the meaning behind the sculpture. I found the meaning to provide further understanding of the symbolic features The Woman of Willendorf possesses. I would have probably assumed that the unproportional characteristics of the sculpture were the result of an unskilled craftsmen or the lack of tools available during this time so it was a great surprise to learn her symbolism of fertility. Without the meaning behind this piece of art it would lessen your argue of it serving as the greatest work in ancient culture. However, you did a wonderful job of proving its significance.
Overall, this was a great post with very few errors. The detail was enough to convince me of its high rank as one of the greatest pieces in history and it was a pleasure to read!
By: Savannah Carson