Talk:Kouros

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[edit] Opinionated para

I removed this to here:

Most kouroi were commissioned by aristocrats as offerings to temples, or by the families of aristocrats to place over their graves. Marble sculpture was very expensive and only the wealthiest could afford to pay sculptors to create these works. Kouroi are therefore, a representation of the wealth and power of the Greek aristocratic class, and as this class lost its power in the sixth century, so the kouros went out of fashion both politically and artistically.

What struck me about it is its failure to conform to the mainstream analysis of the sculpture. Sculpted figures did not disappear from Greek art. They evolved from archaic ones into naturalistic ones. Otherwise they continued to find the same uses and the same market. The second thing that struck me was the juvenile economic analysis, which proposes that the disappearance of the archaic kouroi was linked to some sort of disappearance of the aristocracy. Well for one thing with the growth of democracy the expense of most monumental sculpture was assumed by the state, so it did not have to disappear. For another, there was no disappearance of any aristocracy. It continued to play a leading role in the democracy. And why the 6th, why not the 5th? So, it appears to me the analysis is not a professional one and moreover does not summarize commonly held or well-known views. I think it crosses over the line into into an original essay - these are not views held in the field but are personal views nor are they a summary of anything. Sorry.Dave (talk) 07:50, 10 February 2008 (UTC)