More about Venus of Willendorf
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For such a small statue, this curvy lady speaks volumes about sexism in art history.
Everyone called her the “Venus” of Willendorf after she was discovered in 1908. Though it’s doubtful the artist had the ability to see the future of Greek mythology, the name was given because people thought that surely her bodacious bod was carved by men celebrating eroticism and fertility. So basically like the first porn.
They may have at least gotten one part right: thanks to some rad feminist art historians, we now know that the strange proportions of the body are most likely the result of pregnant women looking down at their own breasts and stomach, meaning that the statue is actually a self-portrait by an artistic mama.
Sorry boys, but we gotta give the credit for this amazing ancient artwork to the ladies.
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Here is what Wikipedia says about Venus of Willendorf
The Venus of Willendorf is an 11.1-centimetre-tall (4.4 in) Venus figurine estimated to have been made c. 30,000 years ago. It was recovered on 7 August 1908 from an archaeological dig conducted by Josef Szombathy, Hugo Obermaier, and Josef Bayer at a Paleolithic site near Willendorf, a village in Lower Austria. The figurine was found by a workman named either Johann Veran or Josef Veram and is carved from an oolitic limestone that is not local to the area, and tinted with red ochre. It is in the Natural History Museum in Vienna, Austria as of 2003.
Check out the full Wikipedia article about Venus of Willendorf
