Nude woman (Venus of Willendorf) Video Lecture - Humanities/Arts

[MUSIC PLAYING]
DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: People
love definitive answers.
We really want to have a clear
understanding of everything
we see, art historians
especially so.
But people also
love to make things.
We love to make art.
And one of the oldest
works of art in the world
yet found, is a small
female figurine that's
sometimes simply
called Female Nude,
but is still universally known
as the Venus of Willendorf,
a name that makes
no sense whatsoever,
but really speaks to the lens
that our culture looks through.
DR. BETH HARRIS: She
acquired the name Venus
when she was found in 1908, in
a village in Austria, called
Willendorf.
She's only about 11
centimeters high,
and she dates from
about 25,000 years ago.
So she's really old.
And, in the museum in Vienna
where we we're looking at her,
in the Natural History
Museum, they've
shrouded her in
darkness, in a glass
case, illuminated from above.
The outside looks
like a great temple,
and on it, it says
"Venus of Willendorf."
DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: And
in fact, in the temple,
there's a little button
because, remember,
this is a science museum.
Lots of kids, and kids love to
push buttons, and when they do,
the white light on the
figurine turns red,
and a little flute music starts.
Now of course we have no idea if
these people listened to music,
what that music would've been.
It's really an attempt
to fill in all the gaps.
We know almost
nothing about her.
We don't know why she
was made, who made her.
What we have is the figure,
and virtually no context.
It is in some ways an
anthropological object,
rather than an art object.
DR. BETH HARRIS: By
giving her the name
of an ancient Greek goddess,
the goddess of love Venus,
we were assigning
meaning to her.
A meaning of her being
a goddess figure,
and somehow associated
with fertility.
DR. STEVEN ZUCKER:
Now, we have no reason
to believe any of that is true.
I suppose we do have a
little bit more context,
and that is, this is only
one of quite a number
of female figures that have
been found from this era.
This is during the
last ice age, and it's
some of the first figural
sculpture that we've seen.
What's interesting is that
almost all the sculptures that
have been found have
been female figures.
DR. BETH HARRIS: We should
say all the figures that
have been found so far
are female figures,
and they're nude.
But they're of different shapes.
Some exaggerate the
breasts and buttocks.
But others are thin.
But maybe in 10
years, or 100 years,
art historians
and archaeologists
will find male figures.
DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: So,
all of this is guesswork.
All we've got to look
at is the figure itself.
Let's take a close look.
DR. BETH HARRIS: She has
no feet, and very thin
arms, which she rests
high up on her breasts.
And she has no facial features.
DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: That's
consistent with almost all
the figures from this
period that have been found.
There is a careful rendering
of the hair, or perhaps
a woven hat that's on her head.
Some archaeologists
have suggested
that this might be a
reed hat that she wears.
DR. BETH HARRIS: Oh.
There's the music
and the red light.
DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: That's
right, a small girl
has just pushed the button.
The hands are articulated
ever so slightly,
defining the fingers.
And archaeologists who have
looked at this carefully
have suggested that perhaps the
exaggeration of the stomach,
and of the breasts, and of
the head-- those are bulbous
shapes throughout--
are partially
a result of natural
shape of the stone.
This is a limestone object.
She's symmetrical,
and it's clearly
not something that
was meant to stand up.
As you mentioned,
there were no feet.
But this is a figure that
would easily fill a hand,
and you have the
sense that this is
something that was
meant to be held.
DR. BETH HARRIS: Carried
in a pocket, perhaps.
Something like that.
She does fit
comfortably in a hand.
We know that she was
originally painted
with ochre paint, a
kind of red paint.
Beyond that, it's really
hard to say much more.
DR. STEVEN ZUCKER:
So, we'll continue
to be fascinated by it.
Art historians will continue
to try to find answers.
And in some ways,
I'm sure we'll always
fall into the trap of
reflecting our own interests,
and our own needs, as we try
to understand this object.
I'm not sure that we'll ever
fully understand it or be
able to retrieve its
original meanings.
DR. BETH HARRIS: Nope.
[MUSIC PLAYING]