S-curve (art)
In the visual arts, an S-curve is an S-shaped curve that serves a wide variety of compositional purposes. The term is usually applied to the standing human figure bending first one way and then back the other. It may also be applied more generally, for example in landscape painting and photography.
Human figure
In
The Indian tribhanga ("three bend") pose is similar, but generally more pronounced, often with the neck also curved to one side. This goes back to at least 100 BC.[2] The S-curve was revived in Gothic art from the 14th century onwards, especially in sculptures of the Madonna.[3] Gothic figures in ivory, typically of the Madonna, had already acquired a "Gothic sway" to one side to fit into the curved tusk, and curving the head or upper body back the other gave a more satisfactory result.
The figura serpentinata is a variant or development of the pose. The term is usually applied only to art from the Renaissance onwards, and Donatello is often regarded as its inventor.[4] While in all these periods the S-curve originated in sculpture, it was also used in two-dimensional figures in various other media.
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Madonna and Child, German, 14th-century
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Saint Barbara, German (?), 1490
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Abduction of a Sabine Woman, 1579–1583. Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence
Landscape
An S-curve can help guide the viewer's eye through the image to the main subject at the end of the curve, but can also serve as a subject in and of itself.[5] It has been variously described as dynamic,[6] feminine,[6] restful,[5] and hypnotic.[5] The S-curve is particularly prominent in a vertical composition, where it may be stacked to form a double S-curve for maximum effect.[6]
References
- ISBN 0521657385, 9780521657389, google books; "Art Of Ancient Greece, Brief History (1050- 50 b.C.), Georgia Kokkorou- Aleyra
- ISBN 0500201463
- ISBN 1583416102, 9781583416105, google books
- ^ The Metropolitan Museum of Art (2007). "Donatello (ca. 1386–1466)". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved November 20, 2007.
- ^ ISBN 9781781451083.
- ^ ISBN 9781608958474.