Venus of Laussel
Figures of ideal women and men have been used to draw attention to the product by appealing to the opposite sex in the 21st century. Back when capitalism wasn’t as strong, nude female figures weren’t wielded as mere marketing toys. Paleolithic age cavemen shaped numerous nude women figures with exaggerated body parts, or as we now know, ‘Venuses’. Venus of Laussel portrays the characteristics of these symbolic artworks. Venus of Laussel is a nude female figured artwork found in Maraquay, France. The Venus is decorated with color pigments possibly made from red ochre. (Visual-arts) The figure has pendulous breasts along with distorted hips and buttocks. Despite the amplified female body parts and unlike its precursors,
…show more content…
The marble statue signifies Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty and pleasure, in a half naked way. The mastermind behind this artwork, Prexiteles, has carved the way for many more sculptors within that age, encouraging them to bring female nudity to the scene. (UChicago) Even though Aphrodite was considered as a goddess, Prexiteles didn’t hold his rasp back. Before his most famous sculpture, Aphrodite of Knidos, he sculpted two more statues of Aphrodite, one being fully naked and the other covered in garment. The fully naked statue raised eyebrows in Athens. (Union) These were the first steps to emphasize female figures on an erotic level. However after Aphrodite of Knidos, more naked female statues of goddesses were made that caused to rename Prexiteles’s statue to ‘Modest Aphrodite’. Aphrodite holds the classical contrapposto stance that gives the figure realistic proportions. Her hands are placed in a motion shielding her womanhood, at the same time exhibiting her beauty. She is holding a cloth piece with her left hand whilst covering her pubis with the other. The transitions between body parts are bold and a slight smile is appearing on her face. Aphrodite of Knidos is the first monumental female nude in classical sculpture, which guarantees its place in the exhibition.(Aphrodite of Cnidus) Aphrodite was portrayed as if she was about to take a bath but surprised to see someone watching. The slight smile on her face and her uncovered breasts linking with her being the goddess of beauty shows ‘female nudity’ concept has (d)evolved a lot since Paleolithic ages. The sanctified fertile woman figure transformed into erotism and pleasure in Hellenic ages. The artwork was even used in a temple as a cult statue. Even though religion and nudism are far away from each other in 21st century, Hellenic people didn’t conceive portraying their gods naked as taboo