Karin Frank
:
The Willendorf Venus Couple
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The Venus of Willendorf has a husband!
Since the discovery in 1908 of the small, amply formed female figure she has inspired the imagination of many: men as well as women, serving both scientists and artists as an object for projection in very different directions. Male-dominated interpretations see her as a 'Venus' and as a fertility goddess while female-dominated interpretations regard her as a matriarchal mother deity, but many of the hypotheses are based on a lack of knowledge about the society and cults of the later Palaeolithic Stone Age.
One thing that the figure is certainly not is a 'Venus', which stems from an entirely different geographical region and a different culture's mythology. Whatever the truth here maybe, by placing a partner at the female figure's side, Karin Frank has presented an interesting hypothesis on Palaeolithic Stone Age gender relations, and so aimed in a social direction. Her 'Adonis' has all of the attributes of an athletic hunter with his horn-tipped spear and apotropaic helmet. Her new 'Venus' has been given muscular arms in place of stunted insect-like little arms, and her legs have feet, and in contrast to the faceless original she has an alert gaze, which characterises her as a potentially proactive woman, as a subject instead of an object.
(Elisabeth Priedl)
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