Gombrich, Moment and Movement in Art.pdf

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Moment and Movement in Art

Author(s): E. H. GombrichSource: Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 27 (1964), pp. 293-306Published by: The Warburg InstituteStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/750521

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ByE. H. GombrichWhile the problemof spaceand its representationn art hasoccupiedtheattentionof art historians o an almostexaggerateddegree, the corre-spondingproblem of time and the representationof movementhas beenstrangelyneglected. There are of coursesomerelevantobservationscatteredthrougholltthe literature,lbut no systematictreatment has ever been at-tempted. It is not the purposeof the presentpaperto supply thiswant: onlyto indicate how this neglect may have arisen and where we may have torevise our preconceptionsf we are to approachthe problemafresh. For itmay be arguedthat it was the way in which the problemof the passageoftime in paintingwas traditionallyposed that doomed the answers o relativesterility. This traditionreachesbackat least to the earlyeighteenthcentury,moreprecisely o LordShaftesbury'slassic ormlllation n the Characteristics.2ChapterI of A notion f theHistorical raught, r flablaturef the rudgmentfHerculespenswith the statement hat 'thisFable or Historymaybe variouslyrepresented, ccording o the Orderof Time'

Either in the instant when the two GoddessesVIRTUE and PLEASURE)accostHERCULES; Or when they are enter'd on their Dispute; Or whentheir Dispute is already far advanc'd, and VIRTUE seems to gain herCause.In thefirst nstanceHercllleswouldhave to be shownsurprised t the appear-ance of the twoGoddesses; n thesecondhe wouldhave to be shown nterestedand in doubt,and in the thirdwe wouldwitnesshow he 'agonizes,and withall his Strengthof Reasonendeavourso overcomehimself'. It is thisAristo-telianturning-point hat is recommended o the painter,thoughShaftesburyalso discusses he fourthpossibilityof representing the Date or Period . . .when Hercules s intirely won by Virtue'. He rejects t on the grounds ofdramaticinefficacyand for the additionalreason that in such a picture'PLEASURE . . . mustnecessarilyappeardispleas'd,or out of humour: a Cir-cumstancewhichwoll'dno way suteher Character.'

'Tis evident, that everyMaster n Painting,whenhe has madechoiceof the determinateDate or Point of Time, according o hich he wou'drepresenthis History, is afterwardsdebar'd the taking advantagefromanyotherActionthan what is immediatelypresent,andbelonging o thatsingleInstanthe describes.For if he passes hepresentonly fora moment,he may as well pass it for many years. And by this reckoninghe maywith as good right repeat the same Figureseveral times over . . .

1 Cf. E. Panofsky'seviewof HannsKauS- hunlegende',OudHolland,7I,I956; R. Arn-mann, AlbrechtDurer's rythmischeSunst in heim,Art and VisualPerception,956, chapterjrahrbuchur Sunstwissenschaft,926. M. J. VIII, and my Art andmUsiOn,I960, indexs.v.Friedlaender,VonSunst undSennerschaft,Ox- 'movement'.ford and Zurich, I946, pp. 60-66; H. A. 2 Anthonyl Earl of Shaftesbury,Charac-Groenewegen-Frankfort, ArrestandMovement, teristicksof Men, Manners, Opinions, 7Cimes,I95I; H. van de Waal, Traditieen bezielung, I7I4. For the commission nd its result seeRotterdam, I946 and 'De Staalmeesters n F. Haskell,PatronsandPainters, 963, p.I98.293

MOMENTAND MOVEMENTIN ART


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294 E. H. GOMBRICHThereremainsno otherway by whichwe can possiblygive a hint ofany thingfuture,or call to mind any thingpast, than by settingin viewsuchPassages r Eventsashaveactuallysubsisted, r according o Naturemightwell subsist,or happentogether n oneand he amenstant.

Thisabsolutenecessity,however,need not prevent hepainter romrepre-sentingmovementor changesuchas the turning-point f the dramaShaftes-buryhad recommendedor the choiceof Hercllles.For'theArtisthaspowerto leave still in his Subjectthe Tractsor Footstepsof its Predecessor . . asfor instance,when the plain Tracksof Tearsnew fallen . . . remainstill ina PersonnewlytransportedwithJoy.... By the samemeans,whichareem-ploy'dto call to mindthePast,we mayanticipate heFuture . .' In our case,forinstance, he artistcouldshowHerculesn doubtandyet indicatethathisdecisionwas to be in favourof Virtue:ThisTransition,whichseemsat firstso mysterious Performance,will

be easilycomprehended,f one considers,That the Body, which movesmuchslowerthan the Mind, is easilyout-strip'dby this latter; and thatthe Mind on a suddenturningitselfsome new way, the nearersituatedandmoresprightlypartsof the Body(suchas the Eyesand Musclesaboutthe Mouth and Forehead)takingthe alarm,and movingin an instant,may leave the heavierand moredistantpartsto adjustthemselves,andchangetheirAttitudesomemomentsafter. This differentOperationmaybe distinguish'd y the namesof Anticipationnd Repeal.Shaftesbury dmitsthat this rigorous tandardof instantaneous ctionisoftensinnedagainst. He referswith amusementand contemptto the usual

representationsf Diana andActaeon, n whichthe goddess s seenthrowingwater at Actaeonwhose hornsare alreadygrowingalthoughhe is not yetwet.It wasShaftesbury'sormulation, o doubt,which nfluencedJamesHarrisin hisDiscoursenMusic,PaintingndPoetry,3herethe distinctions firstmadewith all desirableclaritybetweenthe variousmediaof art, musicbeingcon-cernedwith motion and sound, painting with shapes and colours. Everypictureis thus 'of necessitya punctumemporisr instant'. But thoughHarriscallsa painting'but a Pointor Instant',he addsthat 'in a Storywell knownthe Spectator'sMemorywill supply the previousand the subsequent . .[This]cannotbe donewheresuchKnowledges wanting'. In facthe wonderswhetherany historicalncident n a paintingwouldbe intelligible supposinghistory o have beensilentand to havegivenno additional nformation'.All theseideasweretakenup by Lessingand woveninto the fabricof hisLaocoon, hich systematicallydistinguishes etweenthe artsof time and theartsof space. 'Paintingcan . . . only representa singlemomentof an actionand musttherefore electthe mostpregnantmomentwhichbestallowsus toinferwhat has gone beforeand what follows.'4Lessing,as I have tried toargueelsewhere,5did not write the Laocoonfor the sakeof this well-estab-3James Harris, fhreefreatises, 744. Mind), Proceedingsf theBritishAcademy,liii,4 Loc.cit.,XVI. I957.5 Cf. my 'Lessing' (Lecture on a Master


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MOMENT AND MOVEMENT IN ART 295lished distinction. What provokedhim was the idea that poetryor dramashouldever conform o the limitationsof therrisualrts. I7orhese imitations,he thought,followedprecisely romthe restriction o one singlemoment. Ifthereis to be one momentthat will be transfixedand preserved or eternityit clearlymust not be an ugly moment. The famousdisquisitionabout thereasonswhy the marble Laocoonmust not shout while \ergil can let hisLaocoongroanand bellowis deducedfrom this a prioriprinciple.

The artistcan never use more of ever-changing eality than one singlemomentof time and, if he is a painter,he can look at this momentonlyfromone singleaspect. Butsincetheir worksexistnot only to be seenbutalsoto be contemplated, ontemplated t lengthandrepeatedly,t is clearthat this singlemomentand singleaspectmust be the mostfruitfulof allthat can be chosen. Only that one is fruitfulhoweverthat givesfreereinto the imagination.The morewe see, the morewe mustbelieveourselvesto be seeing. There is no momenthowestern the whole sequenceof anemotionwhichenjoys hisadvantage ess thanits climax. Beyond t thereis nothingand thusto showthe eye the extreme,means to clip the wingsof the imagination.... Thus when Laocoonsighs the imaginationcanhearhim shout,but when he shoutsour mind can neitherrise to greaterintensitynor descendto a lower step without picturinghim in a moretolerableand therefore essinteresting tate.6Unconvincingas this casuistrymay be, it was meant as a concession oWinckelmannwho had neverfailedto denouncethe arch-corrupter ernini,in whoseworks uch as the David r the AnimaDannataheclimaxofmovementand passionsindeedpresentedo theeye. Aslongas theartsof timeremained

free to depict these extremes,Lessingwas quite ready to concedethat thevisllalartsshouldconcentrateon the momentsof stillness nstead.Theseparticlllar onclusionswere mplicitlychallengedby theRomantics,7but as far as I know the underlyingdistinctionbetweenthe art of time andof space,of succession nd simultaneity, emainedunquestionedn aesthetics.Thus the artist was drivenin the interestof truth to concentratemore andmore on the taskof giving, in Constable'swords,'One briefmomentcaughtfromfleetingtime a lastingand soberexistence'. Thesewords were writtenin I832.8A few yearslaterphotographywas invented. But the earlyphoto-graphwith its long exposure ime svasnot yet a threatto the artistwho sethimself he aim ofcatching imeon thewing. WhenRuskinwrotehischapterin Modernainters,OfTruthofWater'to exaltthefidelityof Turner's ender-ings over the earlierconventionsof Van der Velde or Canaletto,he regretsthat he 'cannotcatch a wave, nor Daguerreotypet, and so thereis no com-ing to pure demonstration'.9However,he was clearlyconvincedthat theDaguerreotypewouldproveTurnerright if it ever couldcatcha wave.And yet when the cameradid finallycatchup, it appeared o demonstrate6 Loc. cit., III. 8J. Constable,Various ubjects f Landscape,7 Cf., e.g., FriedrichSchlegel'sdefence of I832. On Constable ndphotographyeethethe subject of martyrdoms in paintings, note by R. Beckett, infra,p. 342.GemaeldebeschreibungenusParis unddenJ%ieder- 9 Loc.cit., sectionv, chapter .Ianden,I. J%achtragI 804) .


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296 E.H. GOMBRICHthe nferiority ven of the mostsensitiveeye. The notoriousssueoverwhichthebattlebrokewastherendering f thegallopinghorse.l ThephotographerMuybridge,n I877, wentto greattrouble o solvethe problemofwhatreallygoeson in this rapidmovement. He lined up twelvecamerasalong a race-coursen Californian sucha waythatthepassinghorsewouldbreaka threadstretched cross ts path and thus releasethe shutter. The dazzlingsun ofCalifornia lloweda briefexposure,and in I878 Muybridgecouldstartletheworldof artand of sciencewithhisdemonstrationhatpainterscollldnot see.In particular he flyinggallop, so frequent n the renderingof horseraces,wasclaimedto be quite at variancewith the facts. The reactionof paintersandcriticswas ambivalent. Somesaid that it was the instantaneousphoto-graph hat lookedunrealand that the experimenthad provedthe superiorityof art. They pointedto the strangely rozeneffectof instantaneousphoto-graphs.It is hardforus to recapture he puzzledcuriositywhichtheseoncecaused. We see so manypicturesof footballmatchesand athleticeventsinourpapers hatwe havecometo takethesechaoticconfigurationsorgranted.Only once in a while does an action photographreallypuzzle us with animpressionf Lmpossible ovements.On the wholeit is farfromtruethatallsnapshotsookfrozen o us. No wonderartistswantedto acceptthe challengeof the cameraand triedto learnfromit, thusendorsing he traditionalviewthat the truthful magecan or shouldonly renderwhat we actuallymanageto see in a moment.llA5ow here certainlyis a sense in which the instantaneousphotographrepresentshe truthof that moment.Put a successionof snapshots akenatquick ntervalsnto a revolvingdrumso thateachis visiblethrougha slotforabout one-sixteenthof a second and we see the originalevent in motion.Thanksto thisconvenient llustrationwe can in fact pose Shaftesbury's ro-blemin a verysimpleway. Supposea newscamerahadfilmed heJudgementof Hercules. Whichof the frameswouldbe suitablefor publicationas a stillfromthe film? The answer s thatnonemightdo. The so-called stills'whichwe see displayedoutsidecinemasand in bookson the artof the filmarenot,as a rule, simply isolated framesfrom the moving picture enlargedandmounted. They arespeciallymadeandveryoftenspeciallyposedon the set,aftera sceneis taken. That thrillingscenewherethe heroembraceshis girlwhilehe keepsthe viliaincoveredwith a revolvermayconsistof manyyardsof filmcontaining wenty-fourramespersecondof running ime,butnot oneof them may be reallysuitablefor enlargementand display. Legsfly up inthe air, fingersare spreadout in an llngainlyway and an unintelligibleeercomesoverthe hero's ace. Farbetterto posethe scenecarefullyand photo-graph t asa readableentitywhichfulfilsShaftesbury'sndLessing'sdemandsfor anticipationand repeal, though the posedstills partlyrefutethe theorythat a real ?unstum temSt7oriswill easilycombineall the necessary ues in onesimultaneousassembly.I do not want to overstate he forceof this particularrefutation.There

10BeaumontNewhall, 'Photographyand ancien t moderne,925.thedevelopment fkineticvisualization',his 11 amindebted o Mr.AaronScharfwhojrournal,VII, I944, pp. 40-45. See also S. is preparing bookon thisproblem.Reinach, Le repre'sentationu Galopdans l'art


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MOMENTAND MOVEMENTN ART 297are stillswhich are takenfromthe film framesand are perfectly egible,justas thereare instantaneousphotographswhich do give us the perfect llusionof a coherentaction. Conceivably he struggleof a man and his two sonswithmonstrouserpentsmightpassthrough he configuration f the Laocoon.Butcouldanyoneerrer nowthis forcertain? Do we not beg the most mpor-tant questionwhen we askwhat 'reallyhappens'at any point of time? Wetherewithassumethat what Harriscalled a punctumtemporisreallyexists,or,moreradically,that what we really perceive s the infinitesequenceof suchstaticpoints n time. Once thisis concededthe rest follows,at leastwith thedemand for mimesis. Static signs, the argumentruns, can only representstatic moments,never movementswhich happen in time. Philosophers refamiliarwith thisproblemunderthe nameof Zeno'sparadox, he demonstra-tion that Achillescould nevercatch up with a tortoiseand no arrowcoulderrermove.l2 As soon as we assume hat there is a fractionof time in whichthereis no movement,movementas suchbecomes nexplicable.

Logicallythe idea that thereis a 'moment'whichhas no movementandcan be seized andfixed in thisstaticformby the artist,or forthat matter,bythe camera,certainly eadsto Zeno'sparadox. Evenan instantaneous hoto-graphrecords he tracesof movement,a sequenceof events,however brief.But the idea of the punctum temporis s not only an absurdity ogically,it is aworse absurditypsychologically.For we are not camerasbut ratherslowregisteringnstrumentswhich cannot take in much at a time. Twenty-foursuccessive tillsin a secondare sufficient o give us the illusion of movementin the cinema. We can see them only in motion,not as stills. Somewherealong this orderof magnitude,a fifteenthor a tenth of a second,lies whatwe experienceas a moment,somethingwe can just seize in its flight. Com-paredwith the speed of a computerwe areindeed slowin the uptake.The televisionscreen is an even more impressivedemonstration f thisslownessof ourperceptionand the durationof whatwe considera 'moment'.Whenwe watchthe programmewe are, in fact,watchinga tinyspot of lighttraversinghe screenfromside to side 405 timesin one-fifthof a second at aspeedof about7,ooomilesan hour.This spot of lighttracesoutthe rectangulararea on which thepicture s seen. The camerascans heobjectwith thisbeamwhich varies in intensityas it strikesbrighteror darkerobjects, and thesefluctuationsare translated nto electricalimpulses and re-translatednto atravellingscanning beam in the televisionset. At each moment of time,therefore,whatwe reallysee (if thatexpression ad any meaning)would onlybe one luminousdot.l3It could noteven be calleda brighterorless brightdot,sincethese notions ntroducewhat has gone beforeand what comesafter. Itwould be a meaninglessdot. Actuallyif we want to pursuethis thoughttoits logicalconclusion hepunctum emporiscould not even show us a meaninglessdot, for lighthas a frequency.It is an event in time,as is sound not to speakof the events n the nervous ystemthat transformts impactinto a sensation.Theseconsiderationsmayallowus to focusmoresharply he philosophicalproblemthat underliesthe traditionaldistinctionbetweenthe arts of timeand the arts of space. As a process n time televisioncertainlypresents he

12 My attentionwas drawn o this con- 13 DonaldG. FinkandDavidM. Lutyens,nectionbyDr. WilliamBartleyII. ThePhysics f Television,96I.20


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298 E. . GOMBRICHtravelsf a meaninglesslickeringdot, and the extension n spaceof thisdotturnsut to be an illusion, oundedon thesluggishnessf ourperception.Yetits thissluggishnesshatovercomeshelimitationoftime,thepunctumemporis,andreatesa meaningfulpattern throughthe miracle of persistenceandmemory.It was no lessa thinker han St. Augustinewho pondered his miracle nonef the mostfamousmeditationsof his Confessions.l4amous,but stillnotsufficientlyo. Forif Shaftesbury nd Lessinghad profited romthe lessonofSt. ugustine'sntrospectionsheycouldnothavecreated hatfataldichotomybetweenpaceand timein artwhichhastangledthe discussion versince.What puzzles St. Augustineis preciselythe elusivenessof the presentmomentlankedas it is by futuretime that is not yet, and past time that isnoonger. Howcanwe speakof the lengthof time,howcanwe evenmeasuretime ince what we measureis either not yet or no longer in existence?Its Zeno'sparadox roma new angle. Forwe do speakof long times,saysSt.Augustine,we alsospeak n poeticsof long

and shortsyllables,and every-oneknowswhat we mean when we say that a long syllablein a poem isdoublehe length of a shortone. Arldyet I can only call the syllablelongaftert has ended.when it no longeris:

Whatis it thereforehatI measure?Where s thatshortsyllablebywhichI measure?Where s that longonewhichI measure?Bothhavesounded,haveflownandgone, they arenow no more:andyet I measure hem. . .it is not thesesounds,which are no longer,which I measure,but some-thingthat is in my memorythat remains astened here. It is in thee mymindthatI measuremytimes. Pleasedonotinterruptme now,that is donot interuptthineownselfwith the tumultsof thineownimpressions. nthee,I say,it is, thatI measure hetimes. The impression,whichtransientthingscausein thee and whichremainseven when they have gone, thatis it whichbeingstillpresentI measure.l5Andas with the past,so with the future. 'Whocan denythat thingsto comearenot yet? Yet alreadythere is in the mind an expectationof things tocome.'6And then comesthe famous ntrospective ccountof what happens n hismindwhen he recitesa psalm.

BeforeI beginmy expectationaloneextends tselfover the whole,but sosoon as I shallhave once begun,how

muchso everof it I shall take offinto the past overso muchmy memoryalsoreaches,thus the life of thisactionof mineis extendedbothways: into my memory,sofarasconcernsthe partI have repeatedalready,andinto my expectation oo, in respectofwhat I am aboutto repeat.l7When ProfessorHearnshawgave the presidentialaddressat the BritishPsychologicalSocietyin Igs6l8 he made this passagethe starting-pointor

14 BookXI, IO-3I. 16 XI, 28.15 Ibid.,XI, 27; the translationollowsthe 17 XI, 28@one by WilliamWatts ( 63 ) used in Loeb 18 Bulletin f theBritishPsychologicalociety,ClassicalLibrary, 9 I 2. 30 September 956.


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MOMENT AND MOVEMENT IN ART 299the discussionof what is technically known as 'temporal ntegration',thebundling together n one extendedstretchof time of memoriesand expecta-tions. Even in his own field he noticed a scarcityof literatureon this all-pervasiveproblem,particularly n comparisonwith the 'extraordinary omi-nance of special concepts, notably in Gestalt psychology'.His explanationapplieswith equal force to our ownfield of study: 'Temporal ntegration utsacrossfaculty boundaries. It impliesperceptionof the present, memoryofthe past, and expectationof the future stimuluspatterns, tracesand sym-bolic processes integrated nto a common organization.' It is the kind ofcomplex problemthat research hies away from.Not that the last hundredyearshave not yieldedinsightswhichallow usto pose St. Augustine'sproblemwith moreprecision, houghscarcelywith thesame beauty. We know for instance that wherehe speaksof memorzrhatretains he present n the mind,we can and mustdistinguishbetweenat leastthree types of such retention. The first is that persistenceof a senseimpres-sion that is so relevant to television. This is, partlyat least, a physiologicalprocesswhich makes the impression f light and sound persist or a momentwhen the actualstimulus s over. But apart fromthis, there is anotherkindof persistence r reverberationhatis variouslyknownas 'immediatememory'or 'primaryretention'.l9 It is in an elusive concept, but one easilyopen tointrospection. It happens that somebodysays a few words which we fail totake in. But as we cast our mindback we find that the sound is still there, afew seconds ater, and we can find out what the words meant. This kind ofimmediatememory s a trace that disappears erwruickly, but it is vital forour real understanding f St. Augustine'sproblemof what we measurewhenwe measurethe lengths of syllables n a poem or of tones in a melodyjustheard. These syllablesor tonesare still really there n a ratherdifferent ensefromwhich thingspast are still storedsomewhere n our mind. IndeedHebb,in his book on the Organizationf Behavior,20ostulatestwo distinct kindsof memory. He would like to believe in some kind of reverberation f thestimuluswhich carries he memoryuntil a morepermanent race is formed.Be that as it may, it really is evidentthat our impressions emainavailablefor a brief span of time, the time that is knownas the memorzrpan or thespeciouspresent. Psychological xperimentswith the memorizing f nonsensesyllablesor digitsshow that subjectscan hold a limited number over a fewsecondsafterwhich they vanish and are replacedby fresh incoming mpres-sions. There is a fascinatingpaper by G. A. Miller called 'The MagicalNumber Sevenplus and minus2'21 n which he puts forward he hypothesisthat seven acquired ts statuspreciselyas the largestnumberof itemswe cangenerallyhold at once. What matters o us in these experiments nd specula-tions is that theycorrode he sharpa prioridistinctionbetweenthe perceptionof time and of space. Successivempressions o in fact persist ogethernd are

19The ThirdAnnualReport f theCenteror 20 D. O. Hebb, TheOrganizationf Behavior,Cognitivetudies tHarvard,963, p. I42, con- I949, pp. 6I, 62.tains a preliminary account of a study of this 21 Cf. D. C. Beardslee and W. Wertheimer,phenomenon under the graphic name of the Readingsn Perception,958.'echo box'.


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MOMENT AND MOVEMENT IN ART 30Itationsare confirmed r refutedby the next sound. Lashleygives two amusingexamplesfor this influenceof context on meaning: 'The mill-wrighton myright thinks it right that some con^7entionalite should symbolizethe rightof every man to write as he pleases.' Here it is mainly the precedingwordswhich influenceour pigeonholing. But in his other instance the retroactiveprocesscomes into its own: 'Rapid righting with his uninjuredhand savedfrom loss the contents of the capsized canoe.' The associationswhich givean unexpected meaning to the sound 'righting', as Lashley says, are notactivated for at least three to five secondsafter hearing the word. But as arule the word is still present or this revision.Psychologicaltime is clearly something much more complicated andmysterious han the sheer successionof events. But if music or poetry arenot so exclusivelyarts of successionas Shaftesburzr, arrisand Lessingheld,painting or sculpture are not as clearly arts of arrested movement. For,phenomenologically, hat moment does not exist for the painter any morethan it exists for the musician. If in hearingwe assembleour impression nsome kind of short-term torage,beforewe confine them to memorzr roper,we do and have to do the same thing in seeing. Visual perception tself is aprocess n time, and not a verzr ast processat that. Measurements ave beenmade about the amount of information he eye can take in at a glance andattempts have been made, especially by the late Prof. Quastler, to giveprecision o these two concepts. His conclllsionwas that we generallyvastlyoverratethe amount of informationwe process. 'What we actually see is averzr ough pictllrewith a few spots n clear detail. What we feel we see is alarge picture which is everywhereas clear in detail as the one favourite poton which we concentrateour attention. Roughly speaking he area of clearperception ncludes less than one per cent of the total visual field.'23 Wemight add that the existenceof the macula,the blind spot, was only discoveredrelatively ate. Why? Becausewe can scan our surroundingsor informationand retain the result of previousscannings ogetherwith the anticipations ffilture impressionswhich can become critically important n confirmingorrevisinga percept.In that sense t is surely rue to say that we neversee what the instantaneousphotographreveals, for we gather up successions f movements,and neversee static configurationsas such. And as with reality, so with its repre-sentation. The reading of a picture again happens n time, in fact it needsa verwrong time. There are examples n psychologicaliteratureof the weirddescriptionsgiven by people of identical paintings flashed on to a screenfor as long as two seconds.24 t takes more time to sort a paintingout. We doit, it seems, more or less as we read a page, by scanning it with our eyes.Photographs f eye movements uggest hat the way the eye probesand gropesfor meaningdiffersvastly from the idea of the criticswho write on the artist'leading the eye' here or there.25 Not that these aesthetic experiencesneed

23Henry Quastler, 'Studies of Human 29 S.; M. D. Vernon,AFurtherStudyofVisualChannel Capacity',Control ystemsLaboratory Perception, 952, AppendixB.Report,Number R.-7I, P. 33 of the report 25J. J. Gibson,The Perception f the Visual(circulated n stencilled orm). World,I950, P. I55.24F. C. Bartlett,Remembertng,932, PP.


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302 E. H. GOMBRICHbe entirelyspurious or fictitious. They may bepostfactum reconstructionsfacilitatedby retroactive evision. The most extremeand therefore he mostinstructivecase of such retroactionon past sensationsconcernsthe 'eideticfaculty'.26Eideticchildrenare able to inspecta picture or a few secondsandthen to visualize t as on a screeneven though it has beenwithdrawn. Theycan for instance subsequently ead an inscriptionover a door or count thechickens n the yard even though they had not done so duringthe exposureof the picture. But it has been shown that their memorzrs not simply aphotographicreproduction. Many pictures portrayingaction result in animage where the action is carriedto completion. 'In imaging a picturecon-taining a donkeystandingsome distance rom a manger,the donkey crossedover to the manger,moved ts ears,bent its neck, and beganto eat. Suggestionsfrom the experimenterhat the donkeywas hungrysometimes erved o set inmotion a seriesof changes hat surprised he imaging children hemselves. Itwas as if they were not now looking at a static picture but at a living scene,for, as soon as the suggestionwas given, the donkeywould spontaneously aceover to the manger.' (AfterH. Kluver, I926.)We have here an almostpathologicalmagnification f whatgoes on in allof us when we look at a picture. We build it up in time and hold the bitsand pieceswe scan in readiness ill they fall into place as an imaginableobjector event, and it is this totality we perceive and check againstthe picture nfront of us. Both in hearing a melody and in seeing a representationwhatBartlett called the 'effort after meaning' leads to a scanningbackwardandforward n time and in space, the assignmentof what might be called theappropriate erial orderswhich alone give coherence o tlle image.In other words, the impression f movement, ike the illusionof space, isthe result of a complex processwhich is best describedby the familiartermof readingan image. It cannotbe the purposeof the presentpaper to explorethis processafresh.27But one principle hat applies to the readingof spatialrelationshipson a flat canvas can easily be shown to apply no less to thereconstruction f temporal relationships. It may be called the principle ofthe primacyof meaning. We cannot udge the distanceof an object n spacebefore we have identified t and estimated ts size. We cannotestimate thepassageof time in a picturewithollt interpreting he eventrepresented.It isfor this reasonperhaps hat representationalrt alwaysbeginswith the indica-tion of meaningsrather than with the renderingof nature and that it cannever move far from that anchoragewithout abandoningboth space andtime. What else is the so-called conceptual mage', the primitivepictographof the child or the untutored, han the assertion f this primacy? A letter sentby the chieftainof an AmericanIndian tribe to the Presidentof the UnitedStates llustrates his principle (P1.2gb).28 He is seen extending he hand ofpeace to the man in the White House. The indicationsof othercreatures ndhuts signifythat membersof his totem and other tribesare nowready to li^7ein housesand give up the life of nomads. Strictlyspeaking, hen, there is nomoment of time representedhere-as little indeed as there is a real space in

26 For the following ee Ian M. L. Hunter, 28W. Wundt, Volkerpsychologie,. I, I9II,Memory, actsandFallacies,957, pp. I48-9. p. 247.27 Cf. my Artand llusion, assim.


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29

b American Indian picture-letter. From W. WundtVolkerpsychologie,, i, p. 247 (p. 302)a- Raisingof Lazarus. Mosaic. Ravenna,S. Apollinare Nuovo (/7. 303)

d Scene from LosOlvidados. ew York, Museumof Modern Art, Film Library (p. 303)

c-Sebastiano del Piombo) Raising of Lazarus. e Death of Orpheus. From Ovid)AIetamorphosesLondon)National Gallery (p. 303) Lyons) 507n fol. I52 (p 303)


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__

a ==:=X: = - b _ = _a G;otto, Presentationf the Virgin. Padua, Arena Chapel (p. 303)b-Ghirlandajo, Presentationf the Virgin. Florence, S. Maria Novella (p. 304)_

c-Titian, PresentationJ the Firgin. Venice, Accademia (p. 304) d-Tintoretto, Presentadell'Orto (p. 304)


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MOMENT AND MOVEMENT IN ART 3o3which the surrenderakesplace. Andyet it is the gestureof the extendedhandwhichties the individualpictographsogether nto one coherentmessageandmeaning. This meaningcouldbe re-enactedn a realceremonyor representedin a realisticpicture,butin everycase t wouldhaveto centreonthe chieftain'sgestureor its symbolicequivalentwhich alone could convey to us that firsttherewaswar and now thereis peace.The narrativeart of all periodshasmadeuse of suchsymbolicgestures oconveythe meaningof an event. Takethe illustrationn S. ApollinareNuovoin Ravennaof the raisingof Lazarusreducedto its essentialelements thefigureof Christ, he mummy n the tomb,andthegestureofpowerthateffectsthe change(P1.2ga). But is it differentwitha moreambitious endering, uchas Sebastiano's tagingof the sameevent? (P1. xgc). Is it not all assembledroundthe gesturethat makesthe meaningcohere?In a sensethisappears o confirmShaftesbury'sndLessing'sdeathat thesuccessfulllustrationof a narrativewill alwayssuggestand facilitaterepealand anticipation,the scanningbackwardand forward n time that comesfromthe understanding f an action. But we can alsosee moreclearlywhyShaftesburywas mistakenwhen he wrote that 'evew painterwhen he hasmadehis choiceof the determinateDate or Pointon Time . . . is afterwardsdebar'dtakingadvantagefrom any other action than what is immediatelypresentand belonging o that singleinstanthe describes.For if he passes hepresentonlyfora moment,he may aswell pass t formany years.' Thereis arealdifferencebetweeneventsassembledn one memory panandsubordinateto one centralperceptiblemeaningand eventsseparatedby yearsor evenbyhours.Just asmusicunfolds n phrases, o actionunfolds n phases,and it istheseunitswhich are somehow he experiencedmoments n time, while theinstantofwhich the theoreticianspeak,the momentwhentimestandsstill, isan illicit extrapolation, espite hespeciousplausibilitywhichthe snapshothasgivento thisold idea.If we ask ourselveswhat quality a snapshotmust possess o convey theimpression f life and movementwe will find,not unexpectedly, hat thiswillagaindependon the easewithwhichwe can takein the meaningthat allowsus to supplement he pastand arriveat an anticipationof the future. It mustbe the same with stills from films. A scene such as the extractfrom LosOlvidados29P1.xgd) is only too clear becausewe understand he logic of thesituation,the threateningpostureof the boys and the protectivegestureofthe victim. It is well-known hat this configurationhas been often repeatedin art in the contextof battle-scenes ndsucheventsas the killingof Orpheus(P1.xge). Did the producerof the Mexicanfilmderivethisformula rom theclassicalPatlzosformelhichso interestedWarburg?30Hardly. Thereare fewotherways in which this meaningcouldbe conveyedwith suchease.It wouldbe interesting ometimes o askoneselfwhat objectivetimespanis gatheredtogether n this way by the meaningconveyed. Take the icono-graphyof the Presentation f the Virgin: Giottoshowsus St. Anne actuallyleading the Virgin up the step directly into the care of the High Priest(P1.30a). The importof the actionis emphasizedby that dramaticdevice

29 S. Kracauer, TheLatureof Film, I96I, 30 A. Warburg, 'Durer und die italienischefig. 25. Antike' (I 905), Gesammeltechriften,i, I 932.


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E. H. GOMBRICHo4of bystanders ot lookingat the sceneitselfbut at each other,which extendsthe time span. They have seen what is happeningand are now exchangingglances or remarks.In Ghirlandajo P1.30b) the distancethe Virginhas totraverse rom her family to the waiting high priestis larger, and so is theassistant rowd. The spanincreases n Titian's composition,but the gesturesare the same (P1.30c). Tintoretto(P1.30d) changes he directionof the pathand the intensityof the reactionamong the beggarsand cripples,but he toorelieson the pointingaction and the High Priest'sgestureof welcome.It is customary o describe his lasttype of composition s lessstatic, morerestless,mouvementer bewegthan the earlierexampleswhich strikeus ascomparativelyalm, andpossiblyevenposedas in a 'still'. The violentmove-mentof someof the figuresandparticularlyheir nstability learlycontributesto this impression hat a moment has herebeen caught that could not havelastedmorethan a splitsecond. But we alsofeel that the compositiontself,the comparativecomplexityof the arrangementand the steep curve of thesteps,enhances hisreaction. After all we might easilydescribe he architec-ture itself in termslike 'dynamic', as if we experienced he forms to be inmotion. Though thesebelongto thecommonplaces f criticism, t is not quiteeasyfully to accountfor this terminology.Why is symmetryexperiencedasstatic,asymmetryas unstable; why is any lucid orderfelt to expressrepose,any confusionmovement?It is unlikely hat there is one causeunderlying hesereactionsor, indeed,that they are not at leastpartiallyconditionedby culturalconventions. Butone wouldguess that here, as so often, the metaphorswe use can guide us atleastsomeway. Balancedobjectscan remainstaticwhere lopsidedones willfallany moment,andso the tendency s to seekfor thereassuring alanceandto expect a rapid change where it is absent. It is curious how easily thisexperience s transferred, s if by analogy, to otherconfigurations.A leafletfor amateurphotographers31P1. 3Ia) rightlypoints out that a sailing-boatphotographed n the centre of an openingwill look becalmed, one shownoff-centrewill appear to move. Of course this applies with much greaterforceto sailing-boatshan, for instance, o trees,whichsuggests hateven heremeaning has a largeshare in the resultant mpression.Even so we seem to be presentedwith a strangeparadox the understand-ing of movementdepends on the clarity of meaning but the impressionofmovementcanbe enhancedby lack ofgeometrical larity. The most nterest-ing test casehere is an experimentmade by Donatello. The dancingputtiofhis Pratoplllpit (P1.3Id) aregay and sprightlyenough,but when the mastercame to develop the idea in the Cantoria (P1.3IC) he deliberatelyobscuredtheirdance by the daringdevice of placing it behind a row of columns. Formostobservers he effect of turbulentmovement s enhancedby this partialmasking. Could it be that anotheranalogycontributes o this effect? Thatthe difficultywe experience n followingand integrating he scenefuseswithmemoriesof the difficllltywe might experience n reality in sorting out thebodiesand limbs of a whirlingdance? In bothcases, afterall, the eye wouldsendback to the brainthe message hard to catch'and so the two might beinterchangeable.MaybeDonatelloconsciously runconsciouslyxploitedan

31 'Auf dasSehen kommtes an', issued or Ilfordby Ott & Co., Zofingen.


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31

r

\b-Poggendorf illusion(P 35)

a-Setting and movement p. 304)

c Donatello, Cantoria (detail). Florence, Museo del Duomo(P 34) d Donatello, Pulpit. Prato,Cathedral p. 304)

e-Discobolos. Munich, Antiquarium.Frontview (fi. 305) f-Discobolos. Munich, Anti-quarium. Side view (p. 305)


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Picasso,XI, I 960, fig. I 98. CourtesyEditionsCahiersd'Art,Paris (p. 305)

q

c BridgetRiley, Fall, I963. London,Tate Gallery(p. 306)

32

h IJinn


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MOMENT AND MOVEMENT IN ART 3o5additionaleffect that arisesout of suchmasking the effect knownto psycho-logists as the Poggendorf llusion (P1. 3Ib). A line that appearsobliquely topass behind a band or rectanglefrequently ooks as if its continuationweredisplaced. And so the possibilityexiststhat the leg of the child really seemsto have moved while we scan the composition. There must be yet otherreasonswhileincompleteness an contribute o the impression f rapidmove-ment. The 'snapshot ffects'of Degassometimesgive the impression hat theartist was so intent on fixing a motifon the canvas that he had neithertimenor opportunityof seekingan advantageous iewpoint. The incompletenessbecomesan indicationof the painter'shurry,his ownpreoccupationwithtimewhich is contagious. We, too, speed up our scanning,and it can happeninthe process that the incompletenessof familiar forms actually arousesouranticipations n almost hallucinatorymanner precisely as the experimentswith eidetic childrendescribe t. It is again the effortafter meaningwhichleaps ahead of the actuallygiven and completes he shape as we tend to com-plete a sentenceormusicalphrase. Hence, perhaps, heincrease n the impres-sion of speed and movementwhich is felt by many observerswho compareafrontalphotographof the Discobolos P1.3Ie) with the less completeand lesslegible side view (P1.3If).If these deviceshint at the possibilities f narrowing he temporal panofthe momentrepresentedwhileenhancing he effect of movement, he victoryof the camera in all these methodswas bound to make the artist seek forfurther ieldsof experiments.The Futurists, f course,with all their glorifica-tion of speed and movement,followed the camerarather tamely in theirimitations of double exposures. Even Duchamp'sfamousJ%udeescendingStaircaseemainsa rathercerebralaffair. It needs a great artist to articulatethis elusive mpression f movement n imagesof a freshsignificance, nd hereas elsewhere t was Picassowho came up with the mostinterestingand mostvaried solutions. In Cubismhe played with the idea of variousaspectsof anidentical object, but this programme so far as it everwas a programme islittle more than a pretext to lead the effort after meaning a hectic chasethrough a labyrinthof ambiguous acets which both obscureand revealthestill life on the table, recalling he processof vision itself rather han the thingseen.But it is in some of his later paintings that Picassoseems to have beenmost successful n giving us a feeling of successivemages without sacrificingthe meaningoftheir common core.32 The SleeperurningP1.32a) is such anexample, but his greatesttriumphhere is, perhaps, he Girl eadingromtheearly I950'S (P1.32b). The strangeambigllity of beauty and plainness,ofserenity and clumsiness n these conflictingaspects has nothing directlytosuggesta succession f viewpoints n time, but preciselybecause hey arehereheld in provisional imultaneity hey presenta novel and convincingvictoryover that man-madespectre, hepunctumemporis.For whatever he validity of these individualdevicesand howeversubjec-tive the effect of movementone or the other mayproduce n someobservers,one thing is certain. If perceptionboth of the visibleworld and of imageswere not a process n time, and a rather slow and complex processat that,

32 C. Gottliebv 'Movement in Painting', Journal of Aesthetics ndArt Criticism, Vii, I958.


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3oD E. H. GOMBRICHstatic images could not arouse n us the memoriesand anticipations f move-ment. Ultimately his reactionmustbe rooted n the difficllltieswe experiencein holding all the elements n our mind while we scan the visual field. Henceeven abstractart can elude the static mpression t least n thoseextremecaseswhich exploit fatigue and after-images o produce a sensationof flickerandmake the striationsand patternsdance beforeour helplesseyes. An explana-tion of these phenomenaexperiencedbefore n the black and white paintingsby BridgetRiley33(P1.32c) is still being sought,34 ut even thefirstattemptsthrow a fascinating ight on the complexityof visual processes.Experimentssuch as these are wholesomeremindersof the inadequacy of those a prioridistinctions n aestheticswhich were the subjectof this paper.

33Cf. the catalogue of GalleryOne for Patterns', ;Nature,957, I80, 849-50, andSeptember 963, with four illustrations nd I958, I8I, 362-63; the same 'Interactivenotes by D. Sylvester nd A. Ehrenzweig. Processesn VisualPerception'n Sensory om-34Donald M. MacKay, 'Moving Visual munication,d. Walter A. Rosenblith, I96I;Images Produced by Regular Stationary (with more bibliography).;Note:Since this paperwent to press he Bulletin f theBritish sychologicalociety as publishedabstractsof two relevant experimental nvestigations:A. Crawford, Measurement f theDurationof a Moment n Visual Perception', VII/54, I964, and B. BabingtonSmith) Onthe Durationof the Momentof Perception', VII/55, I964.Note I, p. 293, should be supplementedby Etienne Souriau, 'Time in the plastic arts',Journal f AestheticsndArtCriticism,ii, I949, pp.294-307.

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Gombrich, Moment and Movement in Art.pdf