Fertility and its nature has always been a dilemma that societies, cultures, and humans have faced. Dating all the way back to prehistoric times there have been many remedies that have been conjured up in order to harness the power of fertility. It is “as a life giver, she was identified with the mysterious powers of procreation and exalted as Mother Earth” (Fiero 5). Due to this responsibility, the numerous female statuettes excavated by archaeologists displayed the vital role that women had in prehistoric communities. Also, the art suggests the figurines seem to have featured certain aspects of the female anatomy that were hyperbolized and accentuated. These features were the breasts, glutes, and abdomen. This presented the major physical changes of woman as she carried another human being in her whom for nine months. The art suggests how the people used these statuettes and what it meant to the prehistoric era and its main audience. It shows how primitive these people were with the practice of sympathetic magic and how it set up an infrastructure, where power was gained over a person, object, or animal by capturing it visually (Fiero 5). This power enhanced itself as the users or audience would see the power as homeopathic almost like how wearing Air Jordans will give one the ability to play like Michael Jordan the same theory applied to this. Since, there was such high value and responsibility for women as caretakers and child bearers this type of idolatry or praise
Prehistoric and ancient artists represent men and women in various ways and the works of art tell an altered story, which reinforces old-fashioned gender roles. Additionally, representations of prehistoric and ancient genders illustrate the social standards of their specific periods. The views of gender presented by the works of art are still recognizable, despite all individual’s current sensibilities and views today. An individual’s contemporary view is of gender and gender rules illustrates the significant social progress that the human culture has made. Although the Woman of Willendorf and Kouros/Statue of standing Youth artworks were created at different times, the genders can still easily be depicted within the artwork.
The marble used to create the sculpture brings out the fine quality of such material. It also adds elegance and sensuous grace to the whole sculpture. The use of marble links the sculpture to the radiance and softness of the female skin. The hips of the
It portrayed the woman as being the care giver of life, and it showed her as something everyone looked up to, either for riturals or as a figurine of fertility. She may have been the Goddess of life; a status similar to “Mother Earth.”. However, I believe that the purpose of ti was to show woman what their capabilities were, and it seemed to focus on the strengths that they possessed and what their functions in society were. In this case, the large breasts, stomach, and hips (Selen). It potentially was used to symbolize new life, or maybe even a new beginning. Now if you focus on this statuette you will notice that it’s roughly only about 4 inches long. The statuette is named the “Venus of Willendorf” after Willendorf, Austria, where she was found, and the name “Venus” was named after the ancient Roman Goddess of Love
The body of the woman has mane and the hair fall over accentuated breast feature on the body. The mane is o presenting both a feel of nobility and fright on the face of a lioness, which has a skull of bone and stylized whiskers on the face . The head is raised in a form of adoration with the solar disk and cobra emphasizing the cosmic aspects of the divinity of the goddess . The face is modeled with high precision on which the eyes are small and eyelids that have been painted as it were a collar or the robe’s edge. The statue is in a seated position on a block with the fingers that have been shaped significantly with a focus on the distinctive feature of anatomy that the artist sought to add with much delicacy, resting on her legs. The goddess’s legs have inscriptions that are added to the surface of the throne. She stands as a towering figure with soft feline features that invoke power and fear especially with the nature of her eyes in the statue. Her elegance calls attention to her presenting a valid reason why she was both feared and
The Woman of Willendorf is a red stained limestone sculpture. It was created around 25,000 to 20,000 BCE and it depicts a woman with enlarged breasts and an enlarged abdomen. When I look at the sculpture, I see a woman with no face, large breasts, a large abdomen, and a small stature, she also appears to be wearing a headdress and missing feet. It is believed that the artifact is either associated with fertility or fatness. The former association is that the enlarged breasts and enlarged abdomen could mean that the woman is pregnant which is a sign of fertility. The latter association is that the fatness represents beauty in a time where the availability of food was scarce. The purpose of the artifact may be never known, but one thing that
Anthropologist Emily Martins book” “The Woman in the Body: A Cultural Analysis of Reproduction” is an ethnographic study of male-oriented metaphors for women 's reproductive processes and women 's real thoughts about those processes through interviews.
I can only tell by body language that they want to spread heroism between men and women. The use of marble links the sculpture to the glow and smoothness of the male skin. In this sculpture, it appears to be characterized by imagery aimed at the sense of the marble statue. The standing sculpture appears to be relaxed, while the median line makes an angle. While standing upright, the figure’s feet are place in a certain way that brings a shifting effect or movement and a stable poise.
Making big choices in life can be difficult, especially if that big choice is having children. There are many men and women who are infertile that still want to have children. Most decide to adopt other children who do not have families or their families do not want them. But when adoption is not an option, there is now a way where those men and women can have their own children together through fertility treatments. Fertility treatments could be a good thing:being able to freeze egg and sperm, they can help infertile couples, and avoiding transmitted diseases would be easier.
I was drawn to this time period as well as these two sculptures. As I researched both sculptures I was fascinated by how much respect the people of that time had for their women. Not only for what they could do for them, but also for what they looked like. They didn’t see the weight and size as a grotesque thing; but more as a thing of beauty. In
The subject is not at all idealized in any manner, but rather the artist uses realism in such a way that the statue depicts the woman crudely. This change occurred because as both political and social changes strayed from the deep-rooted Greek societal norms, so did Greek art from idealism. Art of this age began to indulge in a variance of experiences and an individual’s uniqueness. Within this period, old age was also “Feared and mourned beyond wont by the life-loving Greeks,” whereas age previously signified wisdom. These themes of old age and the associated misery were existent in many other works of art in the Hellenistic period.
When examining the statue, there is an old woman bent and weary. Her posture helps clue us in, with her age and the state of her health. The figure is dressed in cloth that drapes off her body as she carries a basket that is filled with what we may think are offerings. On her head, there are vines that create a band around the top of her head used to signify the festival that was going on during that time. The specific detail that is seen on this statue persuades us to want to know the story of this woman. Doing so, the process involves lots of research about the time and art. During the hellenistic period, artists begin to introduce more inner beauty than physical beauty. There is an opportunity to learn more about the structure itself, then settle for what is given and seen.
This sculpture is of a women breast feeding her child. The face of the two people is elongated, as well as the breasts of the mother. This is common to all African Art because they wanted representation of what is being expressed. In this particular sculpture, a supernatural power is being called upon. The power has been asked to protect the mother and child, and to
The sculpture to the far left is from the archaic period. Archaic art is famous for the establishment of the human figure as the central image and the law of frontality. As seen above, archaic sculptures are famous for their “archaic smile” that is present during any occasion. Therefore, pain or sorrow is never depicted. With all sculptures having the same facial expression, it leaves no opportunity for interpretation or individuality. This was a pattern among archaic art because it was meant to represent order.
The authors’ interpretation of archaeological evidence is more easily compared since both reference female pillar figurines. Meyers highlights that these replicas are overwhelmingly found in domestic settings, abundant, and are only of pregnant women or those in lactation. Given this evidence, Meyers argues that these figurines were used as a vessel to bring a mother blessings during her pregnancy, birth, and lactation (Meyers 2002, 286-287). Sommer evaluates the terracottas from a different angle, using their existence as a way to challenge his idea that monotheism was prevalent in Ancient Israelite society. Like Meyers, Sommer believes that the figurines serve as a “tangible prayer” for soon-to-be or new mothers used overwhelmingly in homes. He goes on to refute that they were representations of goddesses by quoting Meyers’ evidence which claimed that goddess
In verse 12, there is the motif of guilt and sin, arranged in such a way as to form an assonance for emphasis. Verse 13 contains the motifs of the folly of Ephraim which leads to his destruction, and the imagery of the female body, both common threads in the book of Hosea. The imagery of the female body, particularly regarding death in childbirth, is deeply connected to ideas of taboo, human fertility and agricultural fertility. These verses encourage us to question the world around us and to be prepared to leave our comfort zone.