Fight with your friends and flex like a hero in this month’s Instagram challenge
Great way to spend the day @thegetty #musepose pic.twitter.com/5t390v3dZ9
— K Schwartz (@thosewhocan) February 21, 2015
For the third monthly installment of our #MusePose Instagram challenge, we’re raising the bar. You might have mastered the royal turnout of Louis XIV, or upped the modest sexiness of an undressing Venus, but can you also cause a scene or impersonate an over-life-size hero?
Bring it! We’re loving your creative energy AND physical strength. Keep sharing your #MusePose pics with @TheGetty and @GettyVilla on Instagram. We’ll be reposting our faves (after asking permission, of course).
Find the painting in the East Pavilion, Gallery E202
Friendly Fighting at the Getty Center
The Musicians’ Brawl is exactly what is sounds like. In this 17th-century French painting, street musicians use their instruments as weapons in a vicious yet humorous fight. A lemon squeeze to the eye seems like a pretty low blow, but carrying a knife around is also shady. What might have led all these musicians to fight? We can only guess. But you can reenact with your siblings, frenemies, or even random strangers!
#MusePose Tip: Think about expression! Everybody’s face should be about the same level, so big reactions are key. Look at the empty-eyed smile of the rubbernecking musician on the right, and of course wince as if the acid of lemon is exploding in your eye (no lemons needed).
At the Getty Villa find the Lansdowne Herakles in Gallery 108
A Most Heroic Nonchalance at the Getty Villa
The Lansdowne Herakles stands in contrapposto (Italian for “counter pose”), a relaxed standing pose popular in classical statuary for lending dynamism and movement to the human figure. Here, Herakles (aka Hercules) relaxes after killing the ferocious Nemean Lion, the first of his heroic Twelve Labors that eventually earned him a seat among the gods on Mount Olympus. Dating to around A.D. 125, this Roman marble statue may have been based on an earlier 4th century B.C. bronze statue from the school of Polykleitos, who extolled mathematical principles for determining the physical proportions of the ideal male nude.
#MusePose Tip: To pose like the Lansdowne Herakles, shift your weight to your right hip, letting your left knee bend slightly. Gaze nonchalantly ever-so-slightly to your left, letting your eyes and mouth relax. In lieu of a lion skin, let a jacket or sweater dangle from your right hand. Pantomime holding a wooden club over your left shoulder. Muscle flexing optional!
____
Huge thanks to those who shared your #MusePose pics with us this last month. Here are a couple of our faves.
Thursday at @thegetty #musepose with my sister! pic.twitter.com/fJ4TRvUStN
— Gretchen Brugman (@TahoeGreta) February 26, 2015
#musepose @thegetty pic.twitter.com/jhZtNZsJfR
— Karen Prater (@karenprater) February 20, 2015
@thegetty #musepose pic.twitter.com/lQaebXJt4h
— gerard as rapunzel (@FeelBearMedia) February 27, 2015