being devoid of dramatic interest, by the succession of movements being
too rapid for us to realise each completely, and too fatiguing, even if
realisable. Now if a way could be found of conveying to us the
realisation of movement without the confusion and the fatigue of the
actuality, we should be getting out of the wrestlers more than they
themselves can give us--the heightening of vitality which comes to us
whenever we keenly realise life, such as the actuality itself would give
us, _plus_ the greater effectiveness of the heightening brought about by
the clearer, intenser, and less fatiguing realisation. This is precisely
what the artist who succeeds in representing movement achieves: making
us realise it as we never can actually, he gives us a heightened sense
of capacity, and whatever is in the actuality enjoyable, he allows us to
enjoy at our leisure. In words already familiar to us, he _extracts the
significance of movements_, just as, in rendering tactile values, the
artist extracts the corporeal significance of objects. His task is,
however, far more difficult, although less indispensable:--it is not
enough that he should extract the values of what at any given moment is
an actuality, as is an object, but what at no moment really is--namely
movement. He can accomplish his task in only one way, and that is by so
rendering the one particular movement that we shall be able to realise
all other movements that the same figure may make. "He is grappling with
his enemy now," I say of my wrestler. "What a pleasure to be able to
realise in my own muscles, on my own chest, with my own arms and legs,
the life that is in him as he is making his supreme effort! What a
pleasure, as I look away from the representation, to realise in the same
manner, how after the contest his muscles will relax, and rest trickle
like a refreshing stream through his nerves!" All this I shall be made
to enjoy by the artist who, in representing any one movement, can give
me the logical sequence of visible strain and pressure in the parts and
muscles.