Decoding Creation and Shadow Symbolism: An In-depth Analysis

The Birth of Venus; Painting by Sandro Botticelli
Sandro Botticelli, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Brittany Meadows
LA 462 OL1: Power of Myth and Symbol
Assignment 9.1
11/05/2022
Robert Tindall

In the Neo-platonist perspective, by which Botticelli would’ve lived and been influenced, Venus is symbolic of love, and her beauty is presented in an idealistic fashion to invoke the thought of ideal love within the viewer. It is also said to contain religious symbolism. Venus is painted by Botticelli in the center, with Zephyrus to the left and the Hora of Spring to the right. Similarities have been drawn in Giotto’s “The Baptism of Christ” where Christ is pictured as the central figure with angels to the left and John the Baptist to the right (“The Birth of Venus” Botticelli – An Analysis”.) The religious symbology in Venus is interesting when considering the work of Peter Witkin. Arguments have been made that Witkin’s Catholic faith has influenced his work in creative ways through religious symbology (Muñoz.) Nevertheless, Witkin’s version of Botticelli’s Venus seems to challenge societal notions of heterosexual norms by displaying a nude woman with male genitalia (MacDonald.) An article from Exposure Magazine seems to indicate the model in Witkin’s photograph for “Botticelli’s Venus” is an actual transsexual, and that the piece speaks to how transsexuality was viewed within society at the time he created it. Denoting them as “Others” Witkin is said to ascribe images representative of the marginalized whose tendencies do not align with the regulatory codes of behavior in society. One can imagine that Witkin, growing up in Western culture during a period when psychotherapy would label homosexuals and transsexuals as mentally ill or perverse, the context for which he imagined “Botticelli’s Venus” may make more sense to the photographer’s intention (Chris.)

In conclusion, one could deduce that Botticelli’s Venus is symbolic of the idealistic portrait of love, beauty, and feminism. Witkin attempts to challenge the norms of society’s ideal image of love and beauty by presenting a vision of what he deems society to perceive as unattractive, in opposition to the idealistic qualities that society considers beautiful (Mod 9, Pg 12.)

Works Cited

  • Chris, Cynthia. “Witkin’s Others.” exposure, Vol. 26 ed., no. 1, Spring 1988, pp. 16-26, www.spenational.org/files/store/products/pdf-high/SPE_Exposure_1988_spring_26_1.pdf.
  • MacDonald, Kelsey M. “Apparent Fate, 2010: Dismantling the Notion of Photographic Truth.” 2010, p. 7. Scholarship@Claremont, scholarship.claremont.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1017&context=scripps_theses.
  • Muñoz, Erik Benitez. The Crucifixion in the Work of Joel-Peter Witkin. April 2014. OCAD University, openresearch.ocadu.ca/id/eprint/1260/1/Benitez%20Munoz_Erik_2014_MA_CADN_MRP.pdf. epdf.
  • “The Birth of Venus” Botticelli – An Analysis of the Birth of Venus Painting.” Art in Context, 4 February 2022, artincontext.org/the-birth-of-venus-botticelli/.

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