Woman From Willendorf

817 Words4 Pages
Early civilizations include prehistoric, Near East, Egyptian, Aegean, and Roman. In this paper the topic will be able the ideal human figure as well as the similarities and differences to one another. Woman from Willendorf is a prehistoric figure of a woman from the Upper Paleolithic period made of limestone, which was originally colored with red ocher. The figure has exaggerated female attributes and could almost be described as being made up of round and oval shapes. It was thought that because of her voluptuous shape that the figure represented the ideal for women at the time because they were thought to be fertile and healthy, but later theories suggest this was an object to know if another group was friendly or not. PAGE 6 Votive Statue…show more content…
This figure is a single unit with two figures attached: one is Menkaure and the other possibly being Khamerernebty II. The king is youthful, athletic, naked from the waist up, stiff, with one leg out farther than the other, and with his fists clenched over cylindrical objects. He was naked from the waist down because that was the fashion. The kilt he wore was royal as well as the head cloth which symbolized his status. The stiff poses were used to show strength and express power. The queen has a very similar ideal figure, but one of her arms stiffly held onto the king, and she is fully clothed except the cloths sling to her body. She mimics his pose to give an overall balance to the stature. PAGE…show more content…
The ideal for this time is a youthful athletic body, Archaic smile (large wide eyes, and a closed-lip mouth expression). Typically there is nakedness for men, and all sculptures have wig-like hair. Youth and athletic figures were thought to be related with fertility. These types of figures usually had an Egyptian like proportion and size. With rigid poses, stiff limbs, clenched fists, and having one leg in front of the other. Kritios Boy is another marble Aegean sculpture that is more lifelike then the Archaic kouroi. This figure radiates self-confidence with a relaxed calm pose and facial expression. This is when contrapposto (standing figures with opposing alternations of tension and relaxation) started to develop. The boy’s pose alternates tension and relaxation because of the tension in his left leg and opposite shoulder, as well as relaxation in his right leg and opposite shoulder. The contrapposto style made the sculptures look even more lifelike because of the natural poses. PAGE114 &
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