Archaic Sculpture Revision

1
Archaic Sculpture Revision

• (600 480 BC)
• Kouros
• Kore

2
Typical Kouros Features

• Depict male youths
• Almost always standing frontal pose in the nude
• Left leg moved forward, arms close to their
  bodies touching the side of their thighs.
• Almost strict symmetry as the different parts of
  the anatomy are depicted as simple geometric
  forms.

3
Facial Features

• Beaded Hair
• Volute Ears
• Archaic smile
• Use of paint for eyes etc
• Flat planes but increasingly naturalistic through
  more gentle incisions and rounded curves

4
Typical Uses of Kouros Figures

• Found at the cemetery of Anavyssos (c.540), on
  the base a verse was carved
• Stand and grieve at the tomb of Kroisos the
  dead,in the front line slain by the wild Ares
• Others were votive offerings or possibly cult
  statues
• E.g. bronze Apollo

5
Typical Early Female Figures

• Clothed more artistic interest in drapery
  geometric symmetry, rather than in development of
  anatomy in kouroi.
• Berlin Kore, funerary statue from Attica
• ca. 560 BC

6
Clothing

• Acropolis 682 kore c.525
• Chiton and Ionic himation
• Use of patterning and colour
• Body shape becoming more visible beneath clothing
  creating more naturalistic garment folding.
• Metal diadems and jewellery could be added

7
Peplos Kore

• C. 530
• Breasts visible beneath smooth lines of her robe
• Femininity achieved using smooth rounded carving
  of arms and face
• Hair falling more naturally on shoulders not
  just a curtain.
• Traces of colour remain originally very bright

8
Method of Production

• Egyptian grid method drawn on solid block of
  stone for proportions New York Kouros?
• Mainly marble as bronze casting in infancy some
  doubt in early dating of Apollo bronze.
• Gradual move to depicting the parts of the human
  anatomy in proportions related to one another,
  e.g height of the head soon became the obvious
  point of reference, and a standing figures
  height was expressed by a number of heads. In
  reality, the human head fits about 17 into mans
  height, - several Kouros exhibit proportions
  (Kroisos, Aristodikos, Bronze Kouros)
• The use of steel chisels after 500 BC allowed for
  a different process of roughing-out and cutting
  the stone where the chisel can be held at an
  acute angle to cut against the stone allowing in
  turn for more freedom of movement and expression
  to the artists hand. In contrast, a soft chisel
  (like bronze) against hard stone must be held
  perpendicular relative to the surface, and must
  be used to pulverize the surface crystals slowly.