from the he.ART

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Maryland, United States
This is a place to talk about ART. Ideally there will be regular posts about images with discussion of the artist, medium, style, content, etc. There will also be frequent posts on poetry and other literature. Hopefully the comments/discussion will be intelligent, responsible, useful, informative, revealing of opinion, and appreciative.


I am an art historian. Yes, I admit it. And isn't that half the battle? I teach Art History and Art Appreciation, trying to share my passion for art with my students. I specialize in the medieval period, reliquaries, 19th century British art, and the Pre-Raphaelites, most specifically the work of Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Poetry and its relationship with the sister art of painting is my second passion. This blog is to explore and discuss these works which enrich our lives.

FYI -- I put the "Mature Content" filter on this blog because of the images of nudes that we will be discussing.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Venus of Willendorf - Age Before Beauty?





The Venus of Willendorf - - For only four inches of limestone and red paint, she looks pretty good for her age! She dates from 28,000 BCE and is the oldest sculpted human form.

Fertility figure? Perhaps.
The cave-man's ideal of feminine beauty? Perhaps.
Status symbol for the best hunter in the group of neolithic nomads? Perhaps.

Whoever she was, whatever she was, she may be the greatest achievement of artistic development in history. Or perhaps she is just the starting point for countless other images throughout time and into our modern world.
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