Contrapposto
A standing pose in which the body's weight is carried primarily on one leg, causing the pelvis and shoulders to tilt in responsive opposition.
Composition
Affêt
The spelling appears to point to French affété: affected, mannered, or over-refined.
Allegory
A method of representation in which figures, attributes, actions, or objects embody an abstract idea, moral quality, institution, place, or event.
Antique Method
A traditional artistic approach rooted in the study of Greek and Roman sculpture and the proportional, anatomical, and compositional principles derived from it.
Arabesque
A flowing ornamental arrangement built from curves, counter-curves, scrolls, foliage, tendrils, and sometimes figures or animals.
Armature
An internal supporting framework used to carry clay, wax, plaster, or other modeling materials while a sculpture is being developed.
Armature of the Rectangle
A compositional system that studies the structural geometry latent within a rectangle—its diagonals, reciprocals, subdivisions, and proportional relationships.
Arrangement
The deliberate ordering of forms, masses, and figures within a composition to achieve unity and expressive coherence.
Art Deco
The inter-war style of geometric, stylized sculptural decoration exemplified by the 1925 Paris Exposition and the great architectural carving programs of the 1930s.
Bacchanal
A Dionysian scene of ecstatic revelry — sculpture's classic vehicle for extreme pathos and figures in violent motion.