Contrapposto is an Italian word describing a posing technique for models that dates to the beginnings of figure studies in art. Probably the most famous piece of art you could think of that uses this pose would be the sculpture "David" by Michelangelo, said to be completed in 1504 AD. The nude figure, and the contrapposto pose, of course, date back much further...all the way to the Greek sculptor, Polyclitus in the 5th century BCE, who has been said by the Romans, to have been "the very inventor of art itself."
I love the pose, as do many, just because the slight "S-Curve" it creates with the torso makes such a wonderful line.
In the sculptures from the classical age, they used a maple leaf to cover the naughty bits...in this two-dimensional media age, I used lighting.....interesting parallel, maybe.
This is probably not the strongest of the torso studies I have done thus far in this series, but I think it is one of the more interesting for me. It embodies so much and walks so many lines.
This pose could also be interpreted as a typical one that a photographer might use to accentuate the female body in such a way which perpetrates what has been coined, "The Male Gaze." It's a term from the feminist movement that suggests images of women, especially nudes, are degrading to women because they objectify them, displaying women in a way that is appealing only to men.
You could say that, but then again, you could use a term like "contrapposto" which implies strength, confidence and heroism. I guess it depends on one's perspective on art and history and gender....and on what argument they are trying to support.
I love the pose, as do many, just because the slight "S-Curve" it creates with the torso makes such a wonderful line.
In the sculptures from the classical age, they used a maple leaf to cover the naughty bits...in this two-dimensional media age, I used lighting.....interesting parallel, maybe.
This is probably not the strongest of the torso studies I have done thus far in this series, but I think it is one of the more interesting for me. It embodies so much and walks so many lines.
This pose could also be interpreted as a typical one that a photographer might use to accentuate the female body in such a way which perpetrates what has been coined, "The Male Gaze." It's a term from the feminist movement that suggests images of women, especially nudes, are degrading to women because they objectify them, displaying women in a way that is appealing only to men.
You could say that, but then again, you could use a term like "contrapposto" which implies strength, confidence and heroism. I guess it depends on one's perspective on art and history and gender....and on what argument they are trying to support.
This all gets back to something I have mentioned more than once through this blog. It is about refining vision. Figure studies are a fairly new thing for me as an artist and I have only been thinking about them seriously for the last couple of years. I am still in the process of establishing my aesthetic, or my creative vision, when it comes to the figure.
As far as the technical:
More of the same really: One dynalite was used at camera right, high up in an 18-in diffused beauty dish, about 3-feet from the model. The model was about 5-feet from the black background, and surrounded by negative fill cards. The film used was Fuji Acros 100 in a Mamiya RZ 67 with a 180mm lens....maybe 1/250/sec at f/8. The latent image faced normal development, and was digitized through the "Tom Nutter Method," which is basically laying the negative on a lightbox and doing a hand-held copy with a digital camera...in this case, a Canon 20D...which no I longer own...very unscientific, I am afraid.
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