The Venus of Willendorf was created circa 28.000-25.000 BCE, in Lower Austria. I have drawn it from 3 sides. It is an 11.1-centimetre-tall (4.4 in) and I made sure that the Venus of my drawing is exactly 11.1 centimetres tall. What do you see? You see a faceless woman with large breasts, big hips, missing feet, and two tiny arms resting on the Venus’s breasts. Such unevenly distributed body fat is rare unless a disease is featured. But even if a diseased woman is shown, we can not function without a face and it is much better to have feet. This selective and exaggerated expression of features has lead to the speculation that this figurine is expressing an idea and not a person (selfies become fashionable much later). Is the Venus expressing fertility? It is hard to dismiss this assumption. Upon seeing this cute but impressive female figurine, my first reaction is ‘This woman can feed many babies’. Like my grandmother, who at WWII gave breastfeeding to her own baby and to three babies born to mothers who suffered under the food-shortages or war trauma. Having said this, a big breast-size doesn’t guarantee breastfeeding. Nursing a baby sufficiently is about milk-glands, not about fat. Still, the Venus of Willendorf has two skinny arms positioned on her large breasts. One could say, proudly resting on her breasts, as if to show that her breasts are her biggest treasure. This Venus is, in our eyes, related to fertility and not to sexiness, so many refer to this figurine as ‘The Woman of Willendorf’. Christopher Witcombe criticizes: “The ironic identification of these figurines as ‘Venus’ pleasantly satisfied certain assumptions at the time about the primitive, about women, and about taste”. I agree despite the possibilities that how a good looking woman looked like could have been differently defined 30.000 years ago, if such definition or feeling was lingering in the mind of prehistoric people at all. Certainly maximising the survival of babies was hugely important and with that in mind, the Venus of Willendorf would indeed be better named as the Woman or even Mother of Willendorf.
Paula Kuitenbrouwer
My original drawing and one art print is available at my Etsy and I like to point out that Potted History, at www.pottedhistory.co.uk/ has made some lovely Venus of Willendorf replicas.
@mindfuldrawing on Instagram
Decades back, I read a remark that most people dare not to accept their greatness. Today such quote would provoke criticism because currently there are too many inflated egos grabbing power and money. If it wasn’t for the middle class, the mediocracy, the sane and well balanced mass, and the majority of people who ‘Stay Calm & Carry On’ that we are still sailing through epic well-fare inequalities without revolt. So, bravo for this ‘middle’ group. However and despite of living through this inflated ego era, the quote recently inspired me to run an experiment as I applied in solely on art practice.
The same counts for a book made by my art friend 
My Celtic inspired Illusion-Fusion ‘Horses, Hares & Swans’ art card is now available at 
This is a handmade card showing the illusion of an antique golden-silver disk with Lapis Lazuli inlays. There are four boars, many swans, and 4 hidden faces to discover. Inside the card there is a full colour inlay and an extra inlay with the following text: My Celtic Art Project. This is my contribution to my ‘Who are the Celts?’ course at Oxford Department for Continuing Education, week 5 ‘Make your Own Celtic Art’ (2017). At the end of a demanding week of studying participants were challenged to make their own Celtic art. I used Golden/Silver ink-pens, an ordinary Bic blue pen, art paper, a protector, and many rulers to create an illusion of a golden plate decorated with silver and Lapis Lazuli boars. Notice the boars, hidden faces, and many swans.