Throughout all of history women have been a main focus in the presentation of art.
However what they stand to represent in society and culture has been ever-changing. The representation of women in art culture has shifted over time.
Representing them as powerful figures of divinity, objects of fertility and motherhood, to sexualize objects.
This progression can be viewed through their relationship and placement with animals throughout Western art work.
In prehistoric and ancient art
women were often shown as figures of power. In a multitude of artworks the depiction of power has been amplified with the inclusion of animals
both as symbols and signifiers. The snake goddess is a perfect example of woman's divinity being shown through her relationship to animals.
Holding the snake shows her command over the animals. The snakes themselves symbolize mystical power, something the goddess
also has full command over. The most significant aspects of the statue are the snakes and her bare chest,
the standalone symbol of femininity and fertility. She is not sexualized there seems to be virtually no voyeurism at play here.
Further on in Ancient Greece we see another example of symbolic animals in the Athena Parthenos sculpture.
She is shown with her attribute the owl to show her wisdom.
The owl is an essential signifier of her role as a powerful goddess.
As we go through history, especially in the beginning,
women are seen as a figures of fertility and a representation of motherhood as well.
It can be seen in a multitude of images and art pieces like the woman with the bison horn.
Together with the animals, or in this case the bison horn, the art can display a strong message.
In this artwork the female body is presented with a focus on her breasts and enlarged hips to show her ability to bear children.
Also the Bison horn possibly representing the moon,
displays the idea of the female body that menstruates with the moon cycle. This piece therefore displays the idea of fertility and motherhood.
These art pieces can represent more than one thing as well.
For example the snake goddess displays not only a figure of fertility, with the accentuated hips and breasts,
but a woman of power, the power she holds over the snakes.
Before being seen as erotic, woman were seen for what they gave to the world -children, childbirth.
In art we see this with the presentation of women along with animals to display the idea of fertility or as a maternal figure.
As history has progressed women began to be perceived in a sexual nature.
Towards the start of the Etruscan era women were still pictured in the nude.
However, they were seen more as an object for a man's viewing.
Through this objectification the purpose of a woman shifted completely to now be for the benefit of a man.
In the piece Aphrodite Eros and Pan it's clear that
Aphrodite is under attack by pan the half animal as he trying to touch her sexually.
Pan's desire for her reflects the power of gender and the patriarchy in the specific time
This combination really exemplifies the idea of a sexualized woman as her half naked form is the centralized image of the piece.
Another piece that displays this concept is the piece Apollo battling Lapiths and centaurs.
The centaurs are shown to be
specifically grabbing female genitalia and breasts which leads to the idea of the female form once again
being objectified and sexualized. The men are not being touched at all.
Therefore, sexualizing only the women form. Art can display the idea that women at the time showed no real importance other than sexual purposes.
Women's agency and how they have been displayed in artwork
has progressed over time from figures of power and divinity, to maternal figures, or erotic objects.
Sometimes she is with the animal and sometimes her representation is through the animal.
In the end women's ever-changing role in culture comes into focus when we look at their relationship to animals in art.
