Catherine McCormack – The Venus Trap

The Museum of Cycladic Art will welcome renowned art historian Catherine McCormack, known for her book Women in the Picture: Women, Art and the Power of Looking, on Tuesday, September 15, 2026, at Cine Athinaia, for a lecture entitled The Venus Trap: The Enduring Emptiness of the Venus Archetype.

Drawing on the current temporary exhibition Jeff Koons: Aphrodite of Lespugue, Catherine McCormack, who contributed an essay to the exhibition catalogue, will examine the “Venus” archetype both in art history and in Western visual culture more broadly, as a concept that has shaped expectations surrounding female identity.

Beginning with the enigmatic Paleolithic figurines that led feminist archaeologists such as Marija Gimbutas to advocate for the existence of a matriarchal religion, McCormack briefly traces the history of “Venus” as one of the established terms used in the representation of women in art and culture: from the classical Venus of Cnidus and Botticelli’s Renaissance example to modernist reinterpretations, including works by artists who sought to challenge its limitations as a model for the myth of ideal femininity.

Tuesday, September 15, 8:00 p.m.
Arrival time: 7:30 p.m.

Cine Athinaia
50 Charitos Street, Kolonaki

Tickets:
€8

© Cycladic Museum – cycladic.gr

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