Venus of Willendorf

At first look at the Venus of Willendorf it is a hard think this is beautiful. Knowing in society today something like this figure is not appealing to the masses. But I feel this little figure describes beauty in so many ways. I learned a little about her in my first art history class. Looking at her a second time I am finding different things about this figure I didn't know before. I know she was said to be carried around kinda like a lucky charm for women to have good fertility. I found it interesting the different details on the figure had so many reason to why it might have been made that way. For example the Venus not having any feet, it could be that it was so she wouldn't walk away or that women don't need to have feet to be fertile. Going into the actual blog questions now, the reason we should talk about the Venus even though we know so little about her is because we are able to look into the past and see what they have done. Maybe she is what they era thought was beautiful, maybe she was what the women actually looked like. Though we don't know a lot about the Venus doesn't mean we can't get ideas or try to figure out ourselves what she was for. For me I think that if we look at this figure and become open minded to why she was created the way she was that she would become something amazing. I look at her and I want to figure her out. She shows the first signs of human curiosity about ourselves. The word Venus I think was used because it has a sexuality to the figure, a very open sexuality. The reason the term Venus is so problematic is because Venus was never thought of as very sexual, everything about this figure is just out there in the open and for a lot people that was not what the Venus was about. Venus was tasteful in sexuality and in love. As for the Venus of Willendorf everything about her from her chest to her bum are enlarged. Venus of Willendorf was nothing like the perfect Venus in all the works of art from the Renaissance era. In the article The Venus of Willendorf that is online, I feel the beauty of the figure comes from the understanding that she looks more fat then pregnant. The figure meaning that she was a lucky woman who didn't have the many tasks of hunting and gathering. If people carried her around for good luck that meant in some way they wanted to be like her. The figure was beautiful to them and a sign of hope of a good life of leisure. In today's society the wanted look is some Photoshop woman on a magazine. I feel that if the article is true about the woman wanting to look like this fatter woman, that our views today have changed quiet a bit. It is sad to think that no one thinks the way they did back then. In today's world bigger is not better, beauty is looking like you are half dead. Beauty should instead be full of life. 

Introduction

Hi my name is Laura Offe, I am a Graphic Design major. This is my senior year of college but I still have two years left till I graduate. I love art, I mostly love making art. I draw and do photography and most recently my new passion is graphic design. I got my associates in Fine Arts in Sheridan Wyoming, and then I transferred here to get my Bachelors in Graphic Design. So needless to say I have already taken art history classes but Central does not except them. So I am very glad there is an online class for me to take, reason being I can't stand being in another three hour lecture class about art. Don't get me wrong I love art and I love looking at art and talking about it, but I don't want another lecture class. That being said one of the main things I wish I could have remembered and retained from my art history classes is the names of the artists the paintings that I really enjoyed. We also learned lots about different cathedrals and it was really interesting for me. I loved looking at the cathedrals and saying one day I would love to see that in person and be able to tell people the story behind them. My old art history teacher gave us a lot of background to the art which I really enjoyed. I am really hope the class will be like that in some ways because it would make thing interesting for me. Over all I am pretty excited for this class, I am excited to see some amazing pieces of art again and get a second opinion. It is also a nice change to be able to blog about what we think and feel, instead of having a seven page paper at the end of the quarter. So thank you for that! :)

~Laura Offe