The exact details of how the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Kouros was discovered or unearthed is not explicitly documented, but it is reported that the museum purchased the statue through the Fletcher Fund. Issac Dudley Fletcher was a businessman, industrialist, philanthropist, and museum benefactor who donated two million dollars worth of artifacts after he died in 1917, his name was used in acquisition of items in the following years. While the purchase was made through Fletcher's name, it was purchased from Jacob Hirsch on October 6, 1931. According to the MET's bulletin in 1932, the statue was found in Attica, but no other information is known about its ownership between its creation and Jacob Hirsch's sale.
The Metropolitan's Kouros is a life-size nude depiction of a youth male, said to have been used as a funerary marker for the child of an aristocratic family. The statue depicts a strong sense of transcendence of time, connecting linages of family through thousands of years. While the statue has been previously restored, the longevity of the work serves well for its purpose as a tombstone. The kouros was made to last longer than any individual, with generations of people relating back to humanity in a timeless sense. The statue itself depicts Geometric characters seen through each facial feature to each section of body all relating to simplistic geometric shapes. It stands in a symmetrical and balanced manner, with a small sense of movement with the small stride of the left leg.
The kouros stands in a timeline between the Ancient Egyptians and Classical period of Ancient Greece. It's dependent on Ancient Egypt for influence and as a source for knowledge, following by being the stepping stone for Classical characteristics and the introduction of the contrapposto. It's inclusion in the Metropolitan Museum of Art allows it to connect to categories of the world that would be impossible if seen in Greece, but the process of acquiring the work is not fully detailed leaving room for viewers to not be comfortable viewing the work. With more research and documentation accessible to the public, the MET should feel proud to house the kouros.
The Metropolitan's Kouros is a life-size nude depiction of a youth male, said to have been used as a funerary marker for the child of an aristocratic family. The statue depicts a strong sense of transcendence of time, connecting linages of family through thousands of years. While the statue has been previously restored, the longevity of the work serves well for its purpose as a tombstone. The kouros was made to last longer than any individual, with generations of people relating back to humanity in a timeless sense. The statue itself depicts Geometric characters seen through each facial feature to each section of body all relating to simplistic geometric shapes. It stands in a symmetrical and balanced manner, with a small sense of movement with the small stride of the left leg.
The kouros stands in a timeline between the Ancient Egyptians and Classical period of Ancient Greece. It's dependent on Ancient Egypt for influence and as a source for knowledge, following by being the stepping stone for Classical characteristics and the introduction of the contrapposto. It's inclusion in the Metropolitan Museum of Art allows it to connect to categories of the world that would be impossible if seen in Greece, but the process of acquiring the work is not fully detailed leaving room for viewers to not be comfortable viewing the work. With more research and documentation accessible to the public, the MET should feel proud to house the kouros.
References
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1932. "The Archaic Greek Statue." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 27(10): pp. 217–23, figs. 1–4.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. “Marble Statue of a Kouros (Youth).” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2019, www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/253370. Accessed 8 Dec. 2023.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1932. "The Archaic Greek Statue." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 27(10): pp. 217–23, figs. 1–4.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. “Marble Statue of a Kouros (Youth).” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2019, www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/253370. Accessed 8 Dec. 2023.