1. Prehistoric Art

2. What does Prehistoric mean?
Events that occurred before written history.
This part of history is divided into three periods
The Stone Age
The Bronze Age
The Iron Age

3. Paleolithic Era (Old Stone Age) was from 33,000- 10,000 BCE)
There were two kinds of art during this time
Parietal art- paintings and engravings found in caves along the walls
and ceilings (these caves were ceremonial sites, not for shelter)
Mobiliary art- small, portable sculpted
objects buried at habitation sites.

5. Venus of Willendorf 25,000 BCE Made of Limestone 4 3/8” high
Naturhistorisches Museum in Vienna, Austria
Suggest abundant fertility and a plentiful supply of food
Found in 1908
Venus is the classical goddess of love and beauty
This “Venus” was sort of a joke a “failed Venus”-not feminine

6. She is seen as a fertility idol due to the large breasts, the vagina being indicated, and a round stomach- compared to Venuses of the Renaissance with long thin bodies and no indication of a vagina.
Some argue whether she is wearing a hat or if it is braided hair on top of her head
Treatment of hair was rare in Paleolithic figurines
She was perfectly preserved-never had feet
Arms are short and skinny comparatively and hold the top of her breast
She doesn’t have a face because this focuses on the only parts needed for reproduction
The sculpture fits in your hand nicely

7. The Venus of W is a very realistic representation of a fat woman, however, she probably
is a realistic representation of
a woman at that time
The Prehistoric people would have
spent too much time hunting and
gathering to become overweight
Perhaps the V of W was very important
among her people and was well fed and
allowed to be lazy!
Images of women outnumber those of men greatly at this time
-Were women dominant?

8. Compare and Contrast
How does the view of women from the Paleolithic era compare to that of today?
-physically
-societal role

9. Influential and Powerful Women of Today