The Kritios boy and Kroisos

Art is used as a way to express human’s creativity. Ancient Greece art paved the way for the Classical, Archaic and Hellenistic art. Art is very important to the Greeks, Greece have been making art from the earliest time until now. The Archaic period was at time between 700-400 BCE where abundant of Kouros (youth) sculpture were made. They were used as grave markings or sometimes representation of a god. These sculpture were mostly stick figures with no movement made of bronze. After the archaic period, it was the classical period. Classical art represents the perfection of the human body. Many art sculpture represent at transitional art with features that are unique to two different time periods.

The Kritios boy is from the late archaic and early classical. It is a standing sculpture of a nude man at 2’10’’ tall from 480 BCE. This represent a transition from the archaic to classical period. You can see that the artist understand the musculature of the boy. Where the abdominal muscles is very smooth and defined. The sculpture is also standing in a contrapposto style. Where one leg is the weight bearing leg while the other leg is relax. The shoulder above the weight bearing knee is below the relax leg.  The right leg of the Kritios boy has disappear overtime and half of both hands are lost. His eyes are hollowed holes. The Kritios boy represent naturalism but yet idealized in the representation of its athleticism. This sculpture also have a roman art characteristic because the roman celebrate a men’s physical boy. This is show in the muscles geometric pattern in the abdomen of the Kritios boy.

The Kroisos, from Anavysos, Greece was made in 530 BCE with marble. The sculpture is a life size 6’4" tall nude sculpture. It represents a transition from the early to the late archaic period. The leg are smooth with a natural flow. The muscle and bone, is expressed realistically in describing the human body. This sculpture represent the archaic smile and beaded pattern head wear even though it was created in late archaic and have many different characteristics  from the stick figure symmetric arts in the early archaic period. One characteristic that this figure have that is from the early archaic period is that there are no movement in the body. Both hands are at the side and the figure is looking forward. The body is very ideal but realistic. This figure was made as a grave marker for a family whose son died in war. This is important because you can understand why the artist focus so much on the musculature of the body. Soldiers who go to war is seen as strong and manly, which is highly represented in this figure.

Even though both the Kritios boy and Kroisos were made in two different periods they have a lot of similarities and difference. The first difference is that Kritios Boy is smaller than the Kroisos from Anavysos, Greece. This can be important when you look at each figure in person. A small figure might not have the impact that a larger figure might have. Both sculpture represent an idealized but realistic from of beauty, with it smooth muscular body and symmetrical form. Most of the characteristic of the archaic period seems to disappear from the Kritios boy. In both sculpture you get the sense that the Greek artist demonstrations the knowledge and understanding of the human anatomy. The Kroisos musculature feature is more defined than the Kritios boy, especially in his leg. This might me because the Kroisos was made as a grave marking for a boy that when to war and he wanted to show the manliness and strong of the war hero. You can see the. The Kritios boy is depicted in a still formation, as if he is moving, whereas, the Kroisos is standing still without expression. The Kritios boy eyes are hollowed while the Kroisos figure eyes seems to be close or it was painted with the same color as the body. Both figure are asymmetrical, which is different from the stick figure, motion less symmetrical arts from the early archaic period.