For my museum report I decided to do mine on a Kouros found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. A Kouros is a Greek statue of a young male. The height of the sculpture was 6"4" tall. While observing this piece I found that it was made out of tan colored marble, and naked. His arms are tightly by his sides with holes in between his sides, but his fists are closed and connected to the body. The hair that is on his head looks braided and long. He stands with one leg in front of the other with no weight shift. He is very detailed, he has a necklace on his neck, a belly button, and is somewhat muscular. There is also cracks and chips taken from the piece because over time it deteriorated. This was made in 580 B.C.E. .
This is one of the earliest marble statues of a human figure carved in Attica. The rigid stance with the left leg forward and the marks at the side, was derived form Egyptian art. The pose provided a clear, simple, formula that was used by Greek sculptures throughout the 6th century B.C. In this early figure almost abstract, geometric forms predominate; and anatomical details are rendered in beautiful anagous patterns. The statue marked the grave of a young Athenian aristocrat. .
A kouros is a freestanding statue that can be found decorating temples and used as grave markers. Whether votive or used for funerals, kouroi were expensive things, and only the wealthy could have enough money for them. They can be made out of terra-cotta, white marble, and wood. These were basically life-size or maybe larger sculptures. They were striding or standing and were to be brightly painted and sometimes had inscriptions for commemorating a person. They were also usually sculpted in marble, and limestone, stone kouroi seemed like they were reflecting the blocks that they were initially carved from.
In the Archaic period the Greek artists tend to not share the obsession that Egyptians had with solidity.
