Marble statue of a kouros (youth)

One foot advances, but the body remains squarely arranged. The arms stay close to the sides, and the head faces forward. This formal stance gave an early Greek sculptor a clear framework for carving a human figure in marble. A kouros is a statue of a youth. This one marked the grave of a young Athenian aristocrat around 590–580 BCE. The figure presents an ideal young body rather than enough individual features to identify a particular person. Its frontal pose draws on Egyptian sculpture, which Greek makers adapted for their own purposes. Look at the repeated patterns in the hair and the way geometric shapes organize the chest, abdomen and knees. The carving makes parts of the body easy to distinguish. Across the abdomen and knees, carved lines divide the muscles into repeated shapes. One foot is forward, but the hips and shoulders still face straight ahead. The statue holds that pose instead of shifting its weight into a walk.