Download - Facing The World
December 09,2001
Art 261, Critical Analysis
Facing The World
It is said Helen of Troy had a face that could launch a thousand ships, and that a face can
tell a thousand stories. The focus of my writings here, in a thousand words or less, will be on two
figures with hardly any faces at all.
Over a thousand years ago a Paleo-Eskimo sculptor carved an image into a piece of ivory.
Now far from its place of origin the carved ivory figurine, found on Punuk Island in the Bering
Sea, incites our imagination as it sits inside a glass case at the Alaska State Museum in Juneau,
Alaska. As we study this figurine, (Object 11A5028, #15), one wonders at its simple style and
wonders again as to why it was made.
Approximately 7-112 inches in length, the highly stylized ivory sculpture with a
mandorla shaped head, has no arms or legs but exquisitely represents the human form.
Resembling Okvik design, the dark brown, partially mineralized ivory f"Punuk Island Man"] has
an eyebrow ridge that casts heavy shadows into the eye sockets creating a strong contrast for the
long thin nose, that tapers to a blunt point. The intriguing carving's smooth, shiny surface is
incised, front and back, with thin dark lines. Old-time-Eskimo people went naked indoors and
the figurines rarely show traces of clothing, but these incised lines possibly suggest clothing on
the upper torso of the "Punuk Island Man".
Generally the Eskimo culture has little need for ceremonial sexual stimulus although
Cottie Burland writes in her book, Eskimo Art, that there are a small number of ivories showing
ithyphallic males (19). Though sexual elements were rare in Eskimo art, they occurred
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sometimes with magical connotations. In order to bring nature into a creative mood and bring
about more fruitful results in ". . old times [in Alaska] there was a spring festival in which
young men wore masks and carried around bone or ivory penes strapped to their bodies, but this
was rare"(59). Vitality, sex and procreation were linked as a kind of spiritual development. The
"Punuk lsland Man" is sirtrple and modest. Burland informs us that:
"Many little . . . simple, modest, naked ivory figures of men and women" were made and were
often put under a woman's pillow as a charm to ensure that her children would be beautiful.
This mysterious "Punuk Island Man" would fit comfortably in on$ hand and it is easy to
imagine the tales he could whisper, if he only had a mouth.
Long before the "Punuk Island Man" was carved, a Paleolithic sculptor carved into a
piece of limestone and created one of the most famous figures of Paleolithic woman, called the
"Venus of Willendorf'. She sits inside a glass case at the Naturhistorisches Museum in Vienna,
Austria. Only slightly more than four inches long, the highly stylized figurine of an abundant
woman has a round ball shaped head covered in a mass of carved curls, that also cover her face.
Although she has no face she does have arms and legs. The Willendorf figurine, painted with red
ocher, has greatly exaggerated breasts, belly and buttocks. Her slender affns rest on top of her
swollen bosom, her belly bulges above her pubic triangle and her legs taper from enormous
thighs to petite little nubs without feet.
The sculpture of the "Willendorf Venus" differs dramatically from the "Punuk Island
Man" by her highly exaggerated female form and absence of facial features. Time Life's edition
of The Epic of Man states the common theory that the Venus was a figure used in Paleolithic
times in the "Mother Goddess cult",(35). Used as a symbol, in much the same manner as the
phallus in the Paleo-Eskimo ceremony, the Venus was meant to symboli ze good living, (30).
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Brian Cardy writes in his pper, Prehistoric Art, that the Venus was small and portable and was
". .caried by the male hunterlgatherer as a reminder of his mate back home", (01). The
"Willendorf Venus", hiding her eyes behind a veil of curls, would lie unashamedly in on$ nakn.
It's easy to imagine her smiling seductively, if she only had a mouth.
The absence of detail in the sculptures, "Venus of Willendorf' and "Punuk Island Man,"
give cause for theorizing and speculations. Were these hand held iconic images links to a
spiritual realm? Why does neither piece have a mouth? Could there be a prehistoric canonical
recipe for figurines passed down through the ages from artist to artist, carried from continent to
continent? Were the artists conveying some deep meaning as they chipped and carved the
images? Or were they merely enjoying the creative process? Although these questions spark the
imagination and lead to speculations they probably will never be answered with complete
authority. The answers linger somewhere in the transformation of humankind, from makers of
simple stone tools into artists. This wonderful achievement brought about by the innate need to
create and set in motion by Paleolithic man spread across the globe and changed the face of the
world forever.
Works Cited
Burland, Cottie. Eskimo Art. London: Hamlyn House. 1973.
Canby, Courtlandt. The Enic gf Man. New York: Time Inc. Book Division.196l.
Clardy, Brian. Prehistoric Art. http ://www j lc.net/^.bri an/ artlpretnstoric.html