I suppose my first post will focus on one of my newest obsessions. Paleolithic art, specifically the Venus of Willendorf.
This lovely lady was a statuette of a fertility goddess because in the ancient world, making babies was everything.
I know what you must be thinking. "Well, why would they have a goddess who looks like this?"
Well, I can tell you one thing. A ginormous fat lady as my goddess-idol-thingy doesn't seem like my style. Especially if I was a Paleolithic guy running around trying to strangle a stag with my bear hands. Do I really want to pray to a pregnant lady with no sense of modesty?
Well, yes. First off, modesty was kind of out-of-style back then. It was perfectly fine to carve vaginas on cave walls. Second, women weren't looked down on as lesser beings. They held equal status, if not higher.
I read somewhere (in a book my art history teacher lent me) that it was a possibility that these ancient people didn't even realize that man plus woman equals baby. They were under the impression that woman equals baby. The end. I find this hard to believe, but then again, they were cave men. And it kinda makes sense, you know? You don't see any male gods lying around. Women must've been seen as supernatural. Creating life within them. But then it doesn't make sense. I can't decide. I mean, if that's the case, they were just having sex for the fun of it.
But here's what I do think. I think that these were carved by women. I mean, sure, men may have sat around carving these things because of their sheer facination, but I think they would've made them look a little less ridiculous.
I think that the women were carving a self portrait while they were pregnant. They would look down at themselves and just carve what they saw. That's why the goddesses are so short and squat and have huge breasts and little feet. You have that whole perspective thing going on there.
Regardless of the history, I think they are adorable. So I made one of clay.
Isn't she just lovely?
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