Venus of Lespugue Figures
Marija Gimbutas and Joseph Campbell share more than a few things in common. In addition to their passionate and prolific studies of mythology, mutual admiration for each other’s work, and—of course—the cohabitation of their archives and libraries at OPUS, they also hold at least one archival artifact in common. In both collections are replicas of the wondrously iconic “Venus of Lespugue” figurine, excavated from a French Pyrenees cave in 1922.
For Marija, the figure is a prominent example of the abundant Goddess imagery found within ancient cultures. Indeed, the original artifact is exceptionally old, estimated, between 26,000-24,000 years.
While the original is carved from ivory, Campbell’s replica (pictured left) is composed of ivory and Gimbutas (pictured right) from plastic. While working on his Historical Atlas of World Mythology in Lucerne during the 1970s, Campbell was gifted his Venus by a member of the local McGraw-Hill design studio. He featured the image in Volume I, Part 1 of the Atlas, in a section called “Symbols of Female Power.”
