Contrapposto

The disposition of the human figure in which one part is turned in opposition to another, creating a counterpositioning of the body about its central axis.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Contrapposto

in the fine arts, a device used in the representation of a figure, in which one part of the body is posed in opposition to another. For example, the upper part of the body is turned, but the lower part is in a frontal position. Contrapposto animates the rhythm of the figure, conveying a sense of movement or tension. It emphasizes the three-dimensionality of the figure without disturbing the equilibrium of form.

References in periodicals archive

Neither Brutal tried in a tongue-tie for the first time or Contrapposto have a pedigree that screams Group 1 winner, so it's RAHEEN HOUSE who has the edge.

VALUE SCOPE; House to build on success

All eyes are likely to be on Contrapposto as he tackes the EBF Stallions Oath Maiden Stakes at Nottingham.

Taneen sets the standard

II servizio di Dio e di Maria e contrapposto al servizio cavalleresco che il poeta offre alla sua signora, che e in realta una forma di schiavitu.

ALCUNE NOTE SUL SIMBOLISMO TIPOLOGICO MARIANO NEGLI INNI MEDIEVALI

Il Giuliani cambio addirittura gli otto mesi in dieci anni, ritenendo che tanto dovesse durare, secondo Dante, la puerizia, per contrapposto al senio" in Bruno Nardi, "L'arco della vita (Nota illustrativa al <<Convivio>>)" in Bruno Nardi, "L'arco della vita (Nota illustrativa al <<Convivio>>)" 129 (n.

The poet's inner child: early childhood and spiritual growth in Dante's Commedia

Gentileschi's study and subsequent rejection of Veronese's composition indicates her lack of satisfaction with the more complex istoria in favor of "composing a concentrated dramatic Contrapposto ..." with a focus on the king and queen (76).

Artemisia Gentileschi: The Language of Painting

(2) Generally hailed as the first monumental female nude in western art, the Knidia stands in contrapposto, with her head turned to the left.

Other "ways of seeing": female viewers of the Knidian Aphrodite

She uses appoggiatura, a musical figure in which a discordant grace note leans into a dominant note of resolution and simultaneously leans her body into the pain of a "broken Hallelujah." While doing so, she adopts the oppositional and asymmetrical posture of contrapposto (Jaeger 8), a standing "counter-pose" where the body shifts weight from one foot to the other and slightly twists the upper torso.

Engendering charisma: k.d. lang and the comic frame