Week Two: Venus of Wallendorf

Hey there!
This week I will be discussing an article written by Christopher Witcombe titled "Venus of Wallendorf". The article talks of a statue found in Austria that dates back to the prehistoric age (24,000- 22,000 BC) of a woman whose body is not what people today consider beautiful. It's amazing how many conclusions one can come to about a figurine that is only a little more than four inches tall. Witcombe describes the way that Venus of Wallendorf got her name; from the classical God, Venus, who always appeared in art nude, with a more curvy body, but most of all beautiful because after all she was the God of Beauty. MacCurdy so named the woman because of her nakedness and curves, just like Venus except for her weight and for this reason MacCurdy was mocking the statue. Classical Venus is shown in her paintings as modest with hair covering her private areas. The woman figure has a pudgy stomach, large breasts, and plump legs, these descriptions classify her today as fat and ugly. But what really is beauty? Today one might answer: "A stick-skinny, tall, and well groomed woman". However if Classical Venus for the Greeks and other cultures who she was worshiped by was seen beautiful in her curvy naked form, then who is to say that in the prehistoric ages it was beautiful to be obese? It was true in the medieval days that a person who was larger round the middle was seen as wealthy because they were able to feed on many foods. It could be the same situation here, this woman was seen as beautiful and wealthy because of her size. Even though the characteristics of the woman don't fit the stereotypical Venus, there is no evidence to say that this was not, in those days, beautiful. Then it is safe to say that this woman could be the Venus of her day.
            The next question to ponder is what exactly was her purpose as a little statue? If you consider all the details and size, as Witcombe points out, the woman fits perfectly in the palm of a person's hand, not able to stand up on her own she fits just right in a hand. This leads to a possibility that she was a God herself or deity that was worshiped among prehistoric peoples. There are many reasons as to where or why this statue came about and all are important to know, but sometimes hard to figure out. Why is always a tough question to answer and it something that can better be defined with the more evidence one gets from this period of time. It is important to study these statues and little objects because every piece of the puzzle helps to put the whole story together and although we will never get close to finding out the truth, the more prehistoric discoveries, the closer one can get the truth. Like mentioned earlier, it is amazing how many different things one can come up with all because of this little statue. It is an interesting piece of art that looks dull, but has many characteristics when one takes the time to sit down notice the small details of the Venus Of Wallendorf. Hope you found this interesting and informational!
Until next week! -Karlie

Hello!

Hi everyone!
My name is Karlie Bannister and I am a junior here at CWU and I am majoring in History and minoring in Art History, hence the reason I am taking this class. I have a passion for Art and last year had the wonderful opportunity last year to go on a ten day study abroad trip to Greece, where so much history lies. It was an amazing experience and I learned so much about the classical art and architecture of famous Greek structures. If all goes as planned I will also get to study abroad for 5 months in Estonia in the Spring, which I am so excited for! Traveling if another passion of mine and my favorite thing about visiting different places is experiencing the culture and arts of that area. After taking the Humanities course here at Central I have discovered that my favorite era of art history is the Renaissance, so many wonderful pieces of art came out of that time and the stories of the artists and how the structure or painting came to be just fascinates me. I look forward to learning much more about Ancient and Medieval art this quarter and am excited to jump right in!