History of Western Arts Greek art Standing Youth ( The Kritios Boy)

Greek art Standing Youth Introduction: Greek or Hellenic art developed in the Greek peninsula, on the islands of the Aegean Sea, and on the shores of Asia Minor. The inhabitants of Greece called themselves Hellenes, and their country Hellas.

Greek art Standing Youth Gods- The Greek Gods were generally nature personifications, who assumed human forms. Each city chose a patron divinity. Greek also has produced great philosophers like Socrates, Plato, Aristotle. The Greek Art is often divided into:

Greek art Standing Youth 1.Pre- Hellenic, including chiefly the Cretan and Mycenaean (about B.C.) 2.Hellenic, subdivided into Archaic( B.C.) Classical( B.C.) Hellenistic (3rd C. B.C. to Christian era.)

Greek art Standing Youth Sculpture: It was in sculpture that the Greeks excelled. They were first to attain perfection in carving, statues of the human body, both in relief and in the round, at rest and in motion. Their ideal perfection of physical qualities was achieved by athletic exercises for the full development of bodily beauty.

Greek art Standing Youth Sculpture: It was in sculpture that the Greeks excelled. They were first to attain perfection in carving, statues of the human body, both in relief and in the round, at rest and in motion. Their ideal perfection of physical qualities was achieved by athletic exercises for the full development of bodily beauty.

Greek art Standing Youth The result was their magnificent physique and sculptors found splendid models among the competitors for the games. The themes of Greek sculpture were varied and not limited to any one aspect of local life; they were religious, civil, domestic and sepulchral as the need arose.

Greek art Standing Youth Several athletic figures of young men from the archaic period have been preserved. The are often called by the Greek word Kouros( plural kouroi) Among the statues excavated from the debris the Persians had left behind on the Acropolis, there is one kouros that stands apart from the rest. It must have been carved very shortly before the fateful year 480 B.C.

Greek art Standing Youth Standing Youth ( The Kritios Boy) This remarkable work, which some have attributes to the Athenian sculptor Kritios and which therefore has come to known as the Kritios Boy, differs subtly but importantly from the Archaic Kouros figures.

Greek art Standing Youth It is the first statue we know that stands in the full sense of word. Of course, the earlier figures also stand, but only in the sense that they are in an upright position, and are not reclining, sitting, kneeling, or running; their stands is really an arrested walk, with the weight of the body resting evenly on both legs.

Greek art Standing Youth The “Kritios Boy”, too, has one leg placed forward, yet we never doubt for an instant that he is standing still. Why this is so becomes evident when we compare left and right half of his body, for we then discover that the strict symmetry of the Archaic Kouros has now given way to a calculated non symmetry.

Greek art Standing Youth  The knee of the forward leg is lower than the other, the right hip is thrust down and inward, the left hip up and outward ; and if we trace the axis of the body, we realize that it is not a straight vertical line but a faint, S – like curve (or, to be exact, a reversed S – curve ).

Greek art Standing Youth  Taken together, all these small departures from symmetry tell us that the weight of the body rests mainly on the left leg, and that the right leg plays the role of an elastic prop or support to make sure that the body keeps its balance.

Greek art Standing Youth Contrapposto: The Kritios boy, then not only stands, he stands at ease. And the artist has masterfully observed the balanced non symmetry of this relaxed, natural stance. To describe it, we use the Italian word “contrapposto” (counterpoise); the leg that carries the main weight is commonly called the engaged leg; the other, the free leg.