New York Kouros: Difference between revisions

The '''New York Kouros''', also known as the '''Attica Kouros''', is an early example of life-sized statuary in Greece. The marble statue of a Greek youth, ''[[kouros]]'', was carved in [[Attica]], has an Egyptian pose, and is otherwise separated from the block of stone. It is named for its current location, at the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] in [[New York City]].<ref name="Kleiner2009">{{cite book|last=Kleiner|first=Fred S.|title=Gardner's Art through the Ages: The Western Perspective|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mBrvazPDFoYC&pg=PT124|date=2009|publisher=Cengage Learning|isbn=978-0-495-57360-49|pages=124}}</ref><ref name="Condra2008">{{cite book|last=Condra|first=Jill|title=The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Clothing Through World History: Prehistory to 1500CE|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vDXXAMqvzBQC&pg=PA83|year=2008|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-33663-8|pages=83}}</ref><ref name="Woodford1988">{{cite book|last=Woodford|first=Susan|title=An Introduction to Greek Art|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zEQ37GCPE5sC&pg=PA43|date=1988|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=978-0-8014-9480-2|pages=43}}</ref> The Metropolitan Museum of Art said in "Marble statue of a kouros (youth)" that "The statue marked the grave of a young Athenian aristocrat."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Marble statue of a kouros (youth)|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/253370|url-status=live|access-date=June 4, 2019|website=[[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]|publisher=}}</ref>

The statue is similar to the (near-contemporary) statue of [[Mentuemhat|Mentuemhet]]<ref {{efn|name=":0" group="lower-alpha">fn1|[[Statue of Montuemhat]], Egyptian Museum, JE 336933 (CG 42236)}}</ref>{{Cite and represents an example of [[Daedalicweb|daedalic statuary style]].<ref>last=Nickel, |first=Philip. “APAH|title=APAH Journal: Purpose and Intention—Greek vs. Egyptian Sculpture.” Spraguehs, |url=https://www.spraguehs.com/staff/nickel_philip/APAH/Assignments1/JGreekEgyptSculpture.pdf|access-date=December 3, 2020|website=Spraguehs}}</ref> and represents an example of [[Daedalic|daedalic statuary style]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Dunham|first=Rebecca Ann|url=http://etd.fcla.edu/UF/UFE0010838/dunham_r.pdf|title=The Origins of the Kouros|publisher=University of Florida|year=2005|pages=22–25, 112–115|type=Masters thesis}}</ref> The statue is stylized and not representational. It is highly geometric, and the body is idealized and abstracted, especially in the muscles and the areas of the joints.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|title=Marble statue of a kouros (youth)|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/253370|url-status=live|accessdate=December 1, 2020|website=[[The Metropolitan Museum of Art]]}}</ref> The eyes and face are not realistic to how a person would look; this statue is not attempting to be observational in nature. The motif of a male figure with his arms straight to his sides, standing upright, and facing forward is unmistakable. The kouros is stiff, rigid, and linear; there is little movement depicted<ref name=":0" /> and “thethe detailsfigure's ofspecifics aren't touched on in the overall body contouroutline areof largelythe unaddressed”subject.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=Anastopulos|first=Harry|title=Daedalic style|url=https://www.brown.edu/Departments/Joukowsky_Institute/courses/greekpast/4726.html|url-status=live|access-date=2021-03-05|website=www.brown.edu[[Brown University]]}}</ref> However, the left foot is displayed as forward of the right foot, potentially signaling to the viewer that the kouros is walking, although this perspective is hotly contested among scholars.<ref name=":0" />

This kouros was carved in Attica during the archaic period of [[Ancient Greece]].<ref name=":0" /> It was a time that Greece was splintered into many [[City-state|city-states]]. Greek artists were making more and more naturalistic representations of the human figure throughout the [[6th century before ChristBC]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Department of Greek and Roman Art|date=October 2003|title=Greek Art in the Archaic Period|url=http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/argk/hd_argk.htm|url-status=live|access-date=2021-03-05|website=[[The Metropolitan Museum of Art]]}}</ref> During this time, Greece was coming out of an [[orientalizing period]], where Ancient Greece was increasingly influenced by various eastern and southern civilizations. This explains why the statue takes on a more natural look than previous Greek art yet still retains those orientalizing features—particularly the Egyptian influence, with whom they had considerable contact.<ref>{{Cite web|lastlast1=Harris|firstfirst1=Beth|last2=Zucker|first2=Steven|date=December 20, 2015|title=Marble statue of a kouros (New York Kouros)|url=https://smarthistory.org/marble-statue-of-a-kouros-new-york-kouros/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-03-07|website=[[Smarthistory]]}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title=Statues|url=http://kemetexpert.com/category/statues/|access-date=2021-03-05|website=Kemet Expert|language=en-GB}}</ref> Kouroi were often used as grave markers or dedications for the gods.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite book|lastlast1=Hurwit|firstfirst1=Jeffrey M.|url=http://www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000047786|title=Kouros|last2=Plantzos|first2=Dimitris|last3=Campbell|first3=Gordon|date=20032010|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-1-884446-05-4|volume=1|language=en|doi=10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.t047786|author-link2=Dimitris Plantzos|orig-year=First published in 2003, revised in 2010}}</ref>

Many kouroi, in the style of this one, were typically heavily Egyptian influenced, with the left leg forward and arms to the side.<ref name=":3" /> Historical evidence suggests that Greeks had some familiarity with Egyptian technical procedures by this point and that Greek visitors to Egypt—charmed[[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]]—charmed by the [[Statue|colossal]] Egyptian statuary they saw—persuaded Greek sculptors to adopt and augment the style to remove, in the words of Hurwit, [[Dimitris Plantzos|Plantzos]], and Campbell in ''Kouros,'' “the stone screens connecting legs and arms”, “the vertical slab against which Egyptian statues were usually set”, and to strip the subject matter down to the nude.<ref name=":3" /> They also used the Egyptian grid system.<ref name=":2" />

ThisThe particularDepartment kourosof “revealsGreek Egyptianand influenceRoman Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art stated in both''Greek Art in the Archaic Period'' that through the proportions of the statue, as well as its pose, andthis proportionsparticular kouros shows its influence from Egypt.”<ref name=":1" /> In fact, like many other kouroi, the pose and stance itself was directly borrowed from Egyptian art, likely explaining its similarity to statues such as the statue of Mentuemhet<ref {{efn|name=":0" group="lower-alpha" />fn1}} and the [[iconography]] behind the similar stance and posture.<ref name=":0" /> This kouros served as the grave marker for a young Athenian Aristocrat and was produced by a person of the Attic culture.<ref name=":0" /> This is shown because in Athenian culture funerary monuments were especially popular for marking the graves of people who died young (but not necessarily depicting them).<ref name=":1" /> In these respects, this kouros is very typical for the Greek kouroi of the time.

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[[Category:Sculptures ofin the Metropolitan Museum of Art]]