Chapter 3 | CONTRAPOST
The most famous posture of human figures in art is the contraposto, which can be seen beautifully in the statue of the goddess Aphrodite (or Venus) from 360 BC.
What is the basis of the contraposto that makes it look so natural and relaxed?
In contraposto, the line of the hips is opposite (contra) to that of the shoulders. The two stick figures below clearly illustrate this. In contraposto, the body weight rests on one leg (the standing leg). The foot of the standing leg is always directly under the head. The other leg (the pivot leg) is relaxed, often slightly bent. It is very easy to stand in such a position yourself.
Exercise: Try drawing a human figure in a contraposto. Always feel free to add things as this young student has done..
Contraposto as a natural basic pose was invented in ancient Greece. Archaic statues in which figures stood rigidly for worship no longer suited the exciting stories in which the Olympian gods moved and behaved like superhumans. A first step towards a change in the depiction of the human figure was the image below. He literally takes a step forward, creating a sense of movement/action. But of course, it’s still far from a relaxed contraposto.
