Reply To: Prehistoric Abstraction

[Jessi Willeto]

I think it is the gentle use of gesture in prehistoric art. It’s not literal depictions but often suggestions of whatever they are implying, even exaggerated to show the importance of a feature. The venus Willendorf is a perfect example. She is curvy, with enlarged breasts and a stomach, to depict the importance of fertility. These are suggestive to that implication, and it is obviously not anatomically correct to proportion. It does perhaps portray the intention behind the art pieces better with use of abstraction. A lot of prehistoric imagery is more symbolic than literal BECAUSE it was used often for spiritual or ritualistic purposes.