Standing in contrapposto, Praxiteles’s Aphrodite notices a stranger intruding on her bath. (Men, on the other hand, had already been unclothed in sculptures for over 300 years.)įor this pioneering subject matter, Praxiteles needed to invent a new pose-along with a narrative to justify his figure’s unprecedented nudity. Praxiteles’s Aphrodite of Knidos (4th century B.C.) is considered to be the first monumental sculpture of a naked woman in Western art. Accordingly, the raised right arms of Augustus, Napoleon, Washington, and Mao link their power to the heavens and pay homage to the great leaders of the past. In early marriage portraits, men stood to the right of their wives to signal their elevated status in the union. For example, paintings of the Last Judgement will feature the blessed rising to heaven on Christ’s right side, while the damned fall on his left. Gilbert Stuart did the same when capturing George Washington (1796), and most depictions of Chairman Mao feature this gesture as well.īut why do these leaders raise their right arms (rather than the left)? In Western art traditions, the right side of the body is symbolically linked to righteousness and divinity. Bernard (1801), he lifted the French leader’s right arm to echo that of the iconic Augustus.
When the Neoclassical master Jacques-Louis David painted Napoleon at the Great St. The ancient Roman sculpture Augustus of Primaporta (1st century A.D.) remains the most famous example of the adlocutio-though many artists have continued to employ this pose since. In art history, this commanding stance is reserved mostly for leaders, especially those addressing their troops during battle. If you stand in contrapposto, lift your right arm, and raise your index finger, you’ve made it into the adlocutio (or orator’s) pose.
The result? An awkward, constricting limp-far from the effortlessness the Greeks intended. To prove this, the conceptual artist Bruce Nauman tried to remain in this historical pose while moving through a narrow passageway in his 60-minute video performance Walk with Contrapposto (1968). Once you know the pose, you’ll spot it everywhere, from Renaissance masterpieces like Michelangelo’s David to the contemporary photographer Genevieve Gaignard’s Compton Contrapposto (2016).īut while contrapposto might look natural, it surely doesn’t feel natural. The torso, shoulders, and head tilt away from the straightened leg, activating the body in a dynamic twist.Ĭontrapposto could fool viewers into thinking that a hunk of marble or a stretch of canvas was a living, breathing human being-and this sense of effortless naturalism captivated the Greeks. They lean all of their body weight on one leg (sometimes called the “engaged” leg), while their other, more relaxed leg bends at the knee. Figures in contrapposto appear to be caught in the middle of taking a step. While the composite pose portrayed eternal stillness, the Greek-invented contrapposto (or counterpose) captured the body in motion. Designed to convey this sense of eternal life, the composite pose presents figures as unwavering, motionless, and altogether timeless.
The ancient Egyptians believed that souls needed earthly homes, such as sculpted sarcophagi or painted portraits, to survive after death. Go ahead and try it-you’ll find that this is one of the simplest poses to copy on paper, even though it’s among the hardest to recreate with your body.īut these contortions also had spiritual implications. Noses and feet are easier to draw from the side, while eyes and shoulders are easier to draw straight-on. Why contort the body this way? One reason is practical. And even though the figure’s face looks out to the side, its single, almond-shaped eye stares directly at the viewer. In this composite pose, used in reliefs, stelae, and wall paintings, the torso faces forward, while the head, hips, and legs are shown completely in profile. The ancient Egyptians represented the body in an impossible twist, combining multiple perspectives into a single stance.
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