Female fertility figurines are among the oldest art objects. Their curvaceous bodies represent motherhood, sexuality, and abundance. These statuettes were common in the ancient Mediterranean and surrounding areas, where they reflected goddess cults.

A unique and fascinating art collection of female-fertility-related objects found across the cultures of the world, from prehistory to the modern time. The objects are ethnographic, ritual, religious, or purely artistic in nature.

Disk-headed akuaba figures remain one of the most recognizable forms in African art. Akua ba are used in a variety of contexts; primarily, however, they are consecrated by priests and carried by women who hope to conceive a child.

Dec 1, 2017 · The perception of feminine beauty underwent profound metamorphosis many times during our history with many ideals appearing and disappearing cyclically. The earliest known expressions of feminine beauty are contained in figurines, collectively called Venus, that are dated back to the European Ice Age approximately 25,000 years ago.

Akua’ba figures were important fertility aids among Akan-speakers in Ghana in the past. They depict an abstracted female form in wood and were created by male carvers. While this figure is called Akua’ba (Akua’s child), it is clearly not meant to resemble a child.

They indicate the importance of art and rites associated with fertility and childbirth among the Buddhist laity, of which women were a major component. The wreath, small breasts, and gentle modeling of her full-hipped body associate this figure with Greco-Roman imagery.

Discover art by Van Gogh, Picasso, Warhol & more in the Art Institute's collection spanning 5,000 years of creativity.

Dec 9, 2023 · Reflecting this, art often reduced women to idealized stereotypes of fertility, beauty, or virtue. For example, prehistoric paintings frequently depicted women in crude, exaggerated forms emphasizing fertility, such as the Venus of Willendorf.

Apr 11, 2024 · In Greco-Roman mythology, goddesses such as Aphrodite and Venus were depicted in sculptures and paintings as idealized embodiments of feminine beauty and power. These divine figures were often depicted in the nude, symbolizing their role as creators of life and sources of fertility.

Oct 11, 2024 · Statues like the Venus de Milo and the Aphrodite of Knidos represent the height of aesthetic idealism, where the proportions and symmetry of the female body were carefully crafted to evoke notions of beauty, fertility, and grace.