Kritios

Kritios (Greek: Κριτίας) was an ancient Greek sculptor active in Athens around the late 5th century BCE. He is viewed as a pivotal figure in the transition from the Archaic to the Early Classical style, and his name has become attached to a stylistic phase rather than to a securely documented biography. No contemporary inscriptions identify Kritios; his attribution rests on later literary references and modern stylistic analysis.

The best-known work associated with Kritios is the Kritios Boy, dated to roughly 480 BCE. This marble statue represents a standing youth with a naturalistic, relaxed pose. The figure appears to shift weight onto one leg, with the hips and shoulders slightly angled in opposite directions, a refined use of contrapposto that marks a departure from the rigid, frontal poses of earlier sculpture. The hair, calm facial expression, and overall proportion reflect a move toward greater realism and psychological presence. The Kritios Boy is widely regarded as an important early example of the transition from Archaic to Classical sculpture.

The attribution to Kritios is scholarly and not based on inscriptions. The artist’s name survives mainly through tradition and the later labeling of an early Classical tendency as the Kritios or Kritian style. Kritios is often cited as a founder of this early Classical approach, influencing contemporaries and successors who would develop the formal systematization of figure representation in sculpture.

The Kritios Boy was discovered on the Acropolis and is now housed in the Acropolis Museum in Athens.