Archaic sculptures

What is a Kouros (plural: Kouroi)?

A standing, nude male youth figure, often used as a grave marker or offering.

What is a Kore (plural: Korai)?

A standing, clothed female figure.

What is the "Archaic smile"?

A subtle, unnatural smile found on faces during this period, indicating a transition towards more lifelike expression, peaking around 550–530 B.C.E.

What are the primary characteristics of Kouroi?

Rigid, frontal posture, one foot forward, arms at sides with clenched fists, long hair, and stylized muscularity.

What was the main material for these sculptures?

Marble, although they were originally painted in bright colors.

Early Archaic dates

640-600 BCE

Mid Archaic dates

600-540 BCE

Late Archaic dates

540-470 BCE

Early Archaic Characteristics (Kouroi)

• Very rigid

• Triangular torso/eyes

• Flat face

• Hair in stiff geometric braids

• Muscles are Chiseled on

  • defined through patterns

• Emphasis on patterning and symmetry

Mid Archaic Characteristics (Kouroi)

• More anatomical detail

• Archaic smile appears

• Muscles more defined

• Eyes are not triangles

• More naturalistic

• Still has the rigid beaded hair

Late Archaic Characteristics (Kouroi)

• More naturalistic

• Softer/real looking muscles

  • no longer chiseled on/just a line

• Better proportions

• No more long hair

Early Archaic (Kore)

• Rigid, block-like

• Fully clothed (Minimal Drapery)

• Braided hair (looks Egyptian)

• Archaic smile

Middle Archaic (Kore)

• More relaxed pose

• More elaborate hair

• Gentle rounded forms

• Drapery more natural folds

  • Often wears peplos

Late Archaic (Kore)

• strong Archaic smile

• Peplos Kore: heavy woolen doric peplos with simple folds

• Antenor Kore: thin Ionian chiton with elaborate catenary

• drapery becomes more elaborate

East Aegean Characteristics

• Kore stand w/legs pressed together tightly

  • Right arm by side with epiblema

• Bodies appear slender and elongated

• Drapery extremely complex

• Ionian Korai Typically wear: chiton, himation

• Decorative, elegant.

• Ornamental sculpture

Attic (Athens) Characteristics

• Naturalistic anatomy

• Patterned Curls

• Drapery:

  • Early: peplos

  • Ionian Chiton + Himation

Peloponnesian/Doric Mainland Style Characteristics

• Very strong emphasis on musculature

• Heavy, powerful bodies

• Broad shoulders

• Thick legs

• Less elaborate folds

• Powerful

Cycladic Island (Naxos/Paros) Characteristics

• Very geometric

• Drapery as flat patterns

• Very patterned and geometric

What Kouros is this?

New York Kouros

Attic. The earliest major kouros; highly schematic and formulaic.

What Kouros is this?

Sounion Kourous

580 BCE. Island of Poseidon. Naxos. Early Archaic

What Kouros is this?

Isches’ Kourous from Samos. Early Archaic.

What Kouros is this?

Anavyssos Kouros.

c. 530 BCE. Mid Archaic.

Attic. Notably more naturalistic musculature.

What Kouros is this?

Rampin Horseman. Athenian Acropolis. Late Archaic

What Kore is this?

Kore dedicated by

Nikandre to Artemis on

Delos.

Early Archaic.

What Kore is this?

Samos Kore.

What Kore is this?

Peplos kore from the Athenian Acropolis. Attic.

Late Archaic.

Daedalic

(c. 650–600 BCE) represents the early Orientalizing period, characterized by strict, rigid, and frontal figures, often produced in Crete.

Ionic

(mid-6th century BCE) represents the subsequent Archaic period, originating in Ionia (Asia Minor), and is characterized by greater elegance, fluidity, and attention to drapery and form. East Greece.

Attic Sculpture bodily differences (Kore)

• grasp their garments with their left hands, thus creating a parabola of folds in thin chitons that consequently adhere tightly to the lower body”

• right arms extended forward, they appear to make or receive an offering (they sometimes carry objects in their upraised hands, such as fruits, flowers, and small animals).”

• Longer faces, less malleable features, smaller mouths, rounded bulbous eyes, sharply defined eyebrows.

Samos Sculpture bodily differences (Kore)

• “kore stands with her legs pressed together tightly, and her right arm is by her side”

• “right hand grasps the epiblema worn over the back of her himation, under which she wears a chiton cinched at the waist”

• closed tapering cylinder

• “small, elongated eyes, thin-lipped, wide mouths, and delicately articulated eyebrows”

Chiton

• “ a light, cotton, pleated garment that adheres to, and reveals, the form beneath”

Peplos

Commonly worn by Attic Sculptures. tunic.