Kritios Boy

Art History

Kritios Boy

c. 480

Thank you.

Contrapposto

References

• http://www.ancient-greece.org
• http://metmuseum.org
• http://idliketocallyourattentionto.blogspot.ae/2007/04/kritios-boy.html
• http://wp.chs.harvard.edu/
• http://www.docstoc.com
• http://www.perseus.tufts.edu

•  Italian term that means “counterpose”.
• Kritios Boy was the first statue to use the counterpose.
• Used for visual arts,
•  Human figure standing with most of its weight on one foot so that its shoulders and arms twist off-axis from the hips and legs.
• Suggests a calm and relaxed state of mind, an evenness of temperament that is part of the ideal of man represented.

Where was it found?

In 1882, excavations begun in the Acropolis of Athens.

Found along with a headless Athena, and the Calf-Bearer.

The torso of the Kritios Boy was uncovered the following year, although his head (like the feet of the Calf-Bearer) did not emerge until the late 1880s.

The head was found 23 years later

“ For this is indeed not merely a beardless male figure but a boy, whose soft flesh, trim but undeveloped musculature, and genitals are those of an adolescent. The greater specificity which the increasing richness of reference to the male form inevitably brought with it makes the fiction that this is a universal symbol impossible to sustain; rather than mirror the gaze of the viewer and enter the viewer’s story, this boy turns his head intent upon his own story in which the twist of his hips guarantees that he is an actor and not merely a spectator. No longer engaged, the viewer now searches for clues about that story, eyeing the boy up and down and appreciating the attractions of his youthful body. The world and delights of the symposion have here entered the religious sanctuary”

-(Osborne, 159).

Body Analysis

Head Analysis

The face:

• Thick nose
• Big chin

The eyes:

• Hollow. Indicating that the eyes were made separately and were inserted later on. 

The smile:

• Lost his Archaic smile
• Serious-looking

Shows ideal figure of a young athletic man.

The statue supports its body on one leg, the left, while the right leg is bent at the knee in a relaxed position.

This stance forces the pelvis to be pushed diagonally upwards on the left side.

The spine acquires an “S” shape curve which makes the shoulder line dip on the left side of the body to counter the movement position of the pelvis, also known as a contra-posto. 

• Material: Parian marble
• Height: H. 1.167 m; restored H. 1.24 m
• Dated c. 480 BCE (Start of the Early Classical period
• Artist: Krito
• Current location: Athens, Acropolis Museum