a comparative study of the "Punek Island Man" and the "Venus of Willendorf"

1. December09,2001
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 thousandwords or less,will be on two
figures with hardly any faces at all.
Over a thousandyears 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 againas 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 min