Contrapposto

Contrapposto is an analytical sculptural technique in which the artists illustrates the natural counterbalance of the body through the bending of the hips in one direction and the legs in another direction. The terms was first coined during the Italian Renaissance, meaning counterpoise.

The first civilization to use contrapposto were the ancient Greeks. Greek life-sized sculpture began in the Archaic period with statues of standing youths, kore (pl. korai) being female figures and kouros (pl. kouroi) male. These artworks were based on the ancient Egyptian model: very rigid and formal, with movement expressed only through one foot being placed slightly in front of the other. The first Greek statue to exhibit contrapposto is the famed Kritios Boy. Contrapposto soon became a defining element of Greek sculptural technique, culminating in the Canon of the Doryphorus ("spear-bearer"), which adopted extremely dynamic and sophisticated contrapposto.

One of the major achievements of the Italian Renaissance was the re-discovery of contrapposto.

Famous sculptures incorporating contrapposto include Michelangelo's David.

The term should not be confused with the very similar musical term contrapunto.

See also