The architecture of humanism; a study in the history of taste

222 THE ARCHITECTURE OF HUMANISM

another volume. But the main divisions of the

subject—space,

mass, line

and

coherence,with their

moreobviousapplications—mayherebesingledout.

/

The principleisperhapsmostclearlytoberecog-

nised in line\Lines ofonesort or anotheralways

formalargepartof

what

is

visually

presented

tous

inarchitecture. Nowinmostcases,whenwebring

ourattention tobearononeoftheselines,its'

whole

extent isnot seen with absolute

simultaneity

;

we

'

follow' it with our eye. The mind passes suc-

cessively over points in space, and that

gives us

movement. But when we have

got movement we

have

gotexpression. For our own movements are

the simplest, the most instinctive, and

the most

universalformsofexpression

thatweknow./ldenti-

fied

with ourselves,'movement has meaning;

and

line,throughmovement,becomes

agesture,anexpres-

siveact\ Thus,

forexample,the curvesofavolute

are

recognisedasboldorweak,tense

orlax,powerful,

fiowng,andsoforth. Itis

bysuch termsasthese,

in fact, that we

praise or condemn

them. But we

must

recognise them as having

these qualities by

unconsciousanalogy

with ourownmovements,

since

itisonlyinourown

bodiesthat

weknowtherelation

of

theline—ormovement

—tothefeelingit

denotes.

Movement is

most obviously

communicated by

curvedlines
;

butitisconveyed

alsoby

lineswhich