| The Average Young American Male | |
|---|---|
| Artist | Jane Davenport Harris |
| Completion date | 1921 |
| Medium | Plaster |
| Location | American Museum of Natural History (originally) Harvard Medical School Countway Library (currently) |
The Average Young American Male, also known as the Average American Man and the American Adonis, was a 22-inch plaster statue sculpted in 1921 by Jane Davenport Harris as a composite model for the eugenics movement in the United States.[1] The statue was exhibited at the Second and Third International Congresses of Eugenics in 1921 and 1932, respectively, as a visual representation of that which eugenicists considered to be the degeneration of the white race.[2][3] While the statue received mixed responses from contemporary critics, it inspired the creation of additional composite statues as propaganda for the eugenics movement throughout the mid-twentieth century.[1]
- ^ a b Callen, Anthea (2017-07-05). "Art, Sex and Eugenics ": Corpus Delecti. Routledge. ISBN 9781351575416.
- ^ "The second International Exhibition of Eugenics held September 22 to October 22, 1921, in connection with the Second International Congress of Eugenics in the American Museum of Natural History, New York". Wellcome Library. Retrieved 2019-11-16.
- ^ Stephens, Elizabeth; Cryle, Peter (2018-12-07), "Eugenics and the normal body: the role of visual images and intelligence testing in framing the treatment of people with disabilities in the early twentieth century", Normality and Disability, Routledge, pp. 29–40, doi:10.4324/9780203731741-3, ISBN 9780203731741