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The Nudity In Louise Shewan's Venus Of Willendorf

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The nude is one of the common subjects in art. Nude man and women have been represented in art for more than 20,000 years. Sometimes nudes tell us something about different civilizations, and it tells about ourselves and world we live in. In order to understand the nudity or the raw representation of human anatomy or human symbolism we need to look at them very carefully. Occasionally, their figures may evoke gods, ancestry or the most powerful of all, fertility. Perhaps one of the prime examples of nudity and fertility was discovered 100 years ago in the Austria town of Willendorf.
Venus of Willendorf also known as “Nude women” - was created in Paleolithic era. Her name comes from the beautiful Greek goddess of love, “Venus”. The name possibly …show more content…

Louise Shewan is bio-archaeology researcher at University of Sydney who has studied “Venus figures” and stated in one of her articles “... the figurines have been variously considered to be fertility idols, self-representations of pregnancy, mother goddesses or charms among other interpretations”. Even today, fertility, reproduction and sexual behaviors towards women are on-going issues in our modern culture.
The artist emphasizes her breasts, which suggests that the figure can take care of a child.
We can also realize that the figure was originally painted in red ochre, symbolic of menses, and, her navel is not carved; rather, it is a natural indentation in the stone. Paleolithic Venus represents a sexual object. That is because early humankind were hunters and being self- sufficient with the ability to reproduce was important. Archeologists also suggest this is might be a good luck charm that a men would carry while hunting to represent the women waiting for them at home.
In 2009 Nicholas Chare provided some evidence of “the sight of ancient edible reindeer or the touching of a nice rounded pair of buttocks” in his article “Sex the Canvas Calling on the
Medium” he provides evidence that the bodies “which are shown in all their rounded

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The figure of the Woman of Willendorf, is carved from limestone and has remains of red ochre. It was probably made between 24,000 and 22,000 BCE.The sculptor may have created it to symbolize the importance of the role women played in societies, or it could have been a symbol of fertility or possibly a doll. The sculpture is of a naked, obese woman with no feet but mostly a full body sculpture. The breasts, the stomach and overall body is enlarged. The belly button is prominent There are folds of fat under the arms and on the buttocks.

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