Young Man Stone Statue Analysis

The Heard Museum received a statue of a young man in a kneeling pose, made of the volcanic rock andesite as a donation from a patron. The art style is from Olmec culture, which is classified as part of the Early Preclassic period in Mesoamerican history. The Olmec people lived in the modern-day states of Veracruz and Tabasco on the Golf Coast of Mexico between 1500B.C.E and 400B.C.E. The young man stone statue found on El Azuzul in Veracruz, and is commonly known as part of a set of statues called “Twins”. This statue is representive of artistic technique and cultural belief during that period. San Lorenzo’s stone sculptors sculpted this statue with water, sand, and grass. The young man stone statue commissioned by Olmec elite has religious role “priest” or “mediator” for reenactments of mythological events.
The statue measures 39.37 inches wide by 33.87 inches length by 47.25 inches height and has a 45-degree angle between arm and torso. The color of the statue is actually grey and but the stone looks brownish. On the statue may be stains that come …show more content…
There is no other sculptural figure with a cylinder headdress that has a ball attached; however, the stone relief Chalcatzingo Monument 2 (fig. 2) has the figure wearing a cylindrical headdress with the ball. The scene is about four figures practicing rituals carved out in stone relief and the second person from the left wears a similar headdress as seen in the young man stone statue. Also by comparing stone relief Chalcatzingo Monument 2 and the young man stone statue (fig.1) we can notice that maybe the stone statue (fig.1) had something attached to the ball. Because the young man stone statue’s headdress has a damage indent on the middle part of the ball and on stone relief plant grew from the ball of headdress. This evidence shows how the young man stone statue headdress falls under priest or mediator