26 



HORSES AND MOVEMENT 



appearances as simply as he does the difference of form 

 in a muscle at rest or in action, will necessarily 



introduce them into his 

 work, either so subtly 

 as to pass unperceived 

 by most people, or so 

 frankly as to shock 

 and distract some spec- 

 tators. And however 

 much he may use the 

 posing model in order 

 to acquire knowledge of 

 form and construction, 

 he will never substitute 

 its shapes for those 

 he had observed in 

 motion. Sometimes one 

 sees a figure which is 

 meant to express move- 

 ment drawn with all 

 its muscles tense. The 

 model, not the artist 

 let us hope, no doubt 

 thought he was showing the beauty of his limbs, and 

 did not appreciate that to make the muscles on 



opposite sides pull against each other is to prevent 

 all movement, and is only used in life when we want 

 to hold a limb absolutely rigid. 



To return to the question of loss of definition and 

 apparent deformation of shape, it is interesting to notice 

 how it can make for beauty. In a scientific cinemato- 

 graph there was shown upon the screen a bullet in the 

 act of striking an egg-shell dancing on a jet of water. 

 To make it visible the speed of nature's movements was 

 reduced so that the little black bullet crawled quietly 

 across the screen to where the egg-shell lifted slowly up 

 and down upon the weary column of water. It was very 

 curious to see it deliberately push the egg-shell over and 

 by so doing disturb the water- jet, which had to make 

 two or three laboured efforts to recover itself. But 

 from our point of view the interesting effect was the 

 appearance of the drops of water. They were not the 

 gay sparkling jewels we all admire. They were repulsive 

 protoplasmic viscous-looking things, slowly changing 

 from one ugly shape to another as they sank through 

 the air. Is not the visual world then partly dependent 

 for its beauty on its speed ? Are not the drops of water 

 rather like discords in music, pleasant to look upon, as 

 the others are to hear, when passing at their proper pace ? 



Since art is art and not nature, is there not a certain 



