This celebrated 11cm figurine has some experience. It was born during the Paleolithic era and thus is among the oldest 3D representation of human form. It is estimated that was made around 29,000 years ago by the Gravettians.
It was recovered in 1908 in Lower Austria but recent studies concluded that it originally came from northern Italy, by the Garda Lake; this notion makes me smile since that’s the place where I spent a considerable amount of time of my childhood summer holidays.
The travel of the Venus (or its raw material) from Italy to Austria could be the aftermath of incidents which might have required years or more.
Just like any of us life and experiences take us places. The sooner we realise there’s no real destination the more peaceful we will feel. The Venus has travelled for all this time, now it resides at the Natural History Museum of Vienna and who knows where will it be in the future.
The steatite -or oolitic limestone- from which it was carved is porous and allows an easier sculpting; moreover you can use this stone to make talc and soap.
Curvy shapes rule the roost and it will roll about like a fruit stone on the table if you don’t hold it. Hypothesis about its meaning and reason to be are many: from an early fertility deity -a mother goddess- to a talisman to assist female reproductive cycle. I have also thought about a toy, given the size; a super ancient doll. Who knows.
But the most interesting thesis involves art: it could be a self-portrait.
At the time you couldn’t buy yourself a mirror at the supermarket and the only reflection you could get of yourself would be overlooking a pond… and you surely don’t want to frolic and make art with your friends at the lake while pretty much everything around you could potentially kill you, given you’re living in the Stone Age.
So the only way to make a self portrait would be to look down on yourself while standing. And that’s what the proportions of the figurine suggest together with the lack of facial features.
The idea thrills me!
The mental image of a woman living in the Paleolithic, being in her cave carving a stone and creating her self-portrait just blows my mind.
There’s nothing so exhilarating about the act per se, but what’s fascinating is the glimpse behind it: the desire to depict yourself, taking effort out of your life to make it, while all you need to do is survive.
But that’s how art is. It is a necessity, a call you can’t ignore.
And The Venus is also a confirmation that our bodies are one of our main sources of inspiration.
We are cool.