[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.
Body measurements of drafted and demobilized American soldiers were commissioned by the Office of the Surgeon General and documented by Charles Davenport and Albert G.
[4] Henry Fairfield Osborn, co-founder of the Galton Society, delivered a speech alongside the exhibition that included the "Average Young American Male" statue, in which he encouraged the men in the room to realize that they were "engaged in a serious struggle to maintain our historic republican institutions through barring the entrance of those who are unfit to share the duties and responsibilities of our well-founded government.
"[4] In her analytical essay "The American Adonis," Mary Coffey wrote that the contrast between the healthy, idealized body of the composite Harvard athlete and the pudgy stomach and flaccid muscles of the average young American male provided a persuasive visual representation of the eugenic notion that the national white body was degenerating as a result of ill-advised race mixing with inferior European stocks.
Journalists criticized his pudgy stomach, slouching posture, heavy hips, and undefined muscles and interpreted the statue as a symbol of American degeneracy.
[1] The concept of composite statuary was also criticized by reviewers who denounced Davenport's statue as bearing no resemblance to life and a piece that does not deserve artistic merit.
Because it was created using statistics, many art critics argued that the statue was not a true portrait of the average American and denounced it as a purely imaginary figure.
Jewell referred to a conflict between the “Masterpiece” and the “Modeled Chart.” He wrote that since the Average American Male statue was created on the basis of data, or “two-dimensional charts,” collected from 100,000 “doughboys,” he cannot be considered a work of art.
“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.” Taylor & Francis, Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, 10 Feb. 2017, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10304312.2016.1275126?journalCode=ccon20.