Venus of Villendorf, Prehistoric

                                      

 

          The Venus of Willendorf, now known in academia as the Woman of Willendorf, is a statuette of a female figure estimated to have been made between 24,000 and 22,000 BCE. It was found in 1908 by a workman named Johann Veran .The "Venus of Willendorf" is now in the Museum in Vienna, Austria.

           I think that each type of Venus had its own symbolic meaning that show in design of the female body parts. As the Venus of Willendorf, this represent female sculpture in the Paleolithic era. This sculpture was found in Australia. It carved from a soft porous limestone and tinted with red ochre. But the material not found around that place, maybe it not originally carved where she was found.

           The nudity of Venus is quite revealing of the woman body. You can see that this Venus has a very large size of belly, breasts and she has very wide hips and the detail put into the vulva. So it means to used she as a symbol of fertility. If you look closely, you will see that she never had feet, does not stand on its own. In term of design, maybe it was design for not to place but holding. But In term of faith, maybe this was to show that the figurine could not leave wherever she was placed.

           Size of this sculpture is four to five inches long, clear that the sculptor did not go for realism with the size and shape. It’s easy to holding in one hand. I think that because of their belief, it may have been carried during their hunting missions as a charm to success in their hunting and back to home safety.

            The overall composition I think it has unity of great art. The overall color is the same, it red and the body parts are compact, and there are the harmonies. The Venus has the symmetry, because each side are same.