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