From the archive 2022, a quick thought about art and culture …
She sits on the front porch this morning, enjoying an early spring frost, breathing in a light shiver of air. She is doing her homework reading — studying the image of the Venus in her course book. Here is a woman, she thinks. The maternal goddess. The feminine ideal of the early Stone Age. Her head is turned away, her curly hair hides her face. Is this modesty? No, she has a secret, she has magic.
“This lovely little artifact, is a fertility figure, a symbol of sensuality and desire. Her power is apparent in the exaggerated features of her body. It dates to the Upper Stone Age, making it one of the oldest and most famous surviving works of art ever found. It was unearthed in Willendorf, Austria in 1908.”
Minnie has a sudden moment of clarity. The body of this goddess does not betray her. She is not shamed. She simply is as she is. And, unfortunately for me, I am a woman born 25,000 years too late to be considered beautiful.
I've had similar thoughts when seeing statues of Greek goddesses, so I totally relate ♡ Beautiful words Sharron!
German women are still appreciated for their voluptuousness. Paintings by Rubens of ample women are displayed at the Alte Pinakothek, Munich. YEs magical. Other than for the few built like Miss Twiggy, men in his paintings appear to be saying "YES I'll have that!" I remember a TV program: Are you Being Served, where a large clerk in the lingerie department opens a box of newly imported German-made bras, spans one wider than across her generous front, and reads the size tag: "kleine". (small) Their reputation is international.