The Nude: History and Theory

This paper assignment requires you to closely examine and discuss the Archaic Greek
Kouros (Youth), ca. 590-580 BC, in Gallery 154 in the Classical Antiquities galleries on the first
floor of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Before writing your paper you should do at least
enough research so that you know the essential facts about the work. You can find information
regarding the Kouros in Marilyn Stokstad’s Art History and in Kenneth Clark’s The Nude. You
should then address questions such as the following:
1. How is the Kouros similar and how is it different from Egyptian sculptures such as
Menkaure and a Queen, 2490-2472 BC?
2. Why is the figure nude?
3. How is your experience of the work affected by elements such as its scale, the marble
medium, and the quality of the carving? What is the sculpture’s psychological impact?
4. What changes take place as the freestanding nude male figure in Greek art evolves from
the Kouros to works such as Polykleitos’s Spear Bearer? Nearby the Kouros is a Roman
copy of Polykleitos’s Diadoumenos.
5. Why might some modern artists and critics prefer the Kouros to later, more naturalistic
works such as those by Polykleitos or Praxiteles?
Your paper should convince me that you have actually seen the work at the Metropolitan
Museum of Art and have not based your ideas on reproductions. If you draw on scholarly
sources, make sure that they are properly cited and footnoted (see Definition of Plagiarism
and Guidelines for Citations on the back of this sheet). Organize your thoughts and support
generalizations with specific observations. Proofread for errors of spelling, unclear
organization, wrong choice of words, mistakes in subject-verb agreement and run-on or
incomplete sentences. Papers must be typed and double-spaced. The suggested length is 2-3
pages.
P.S I have the book The Nude, I can take photos of relevant pages if needed, please let me know if you need it. Thank you!