Below is an excerpt taken from a much larger text. It certainly goes to the subject of composition. I've had these same thoughts but have never been able to find a proper term, which the Viscount identifies as "arrested action."
It's one of those things that can be refuted by any number of beautiful examples, but still I think it's noteworthy.
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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF ARTS
TWENTY-THIRD ORDINARY MEETING
WEDNESDAY, 20TH MAY, 1936
Chairman: THE RIGHT HON. VISCOUNT ULLSWATER, P.C., G.C.B.,
One of the conditions which I think also necessary in a portrait is that there should not be arrested action. There should be repose. After all, the picture will probably be looked at for many years. Generations to come will look at it, and arrested action always leads the spectators to a sense of fidget and uncertainty as to when the action is going to be completed. A man who is just raising a glass to his lips, for example, is annoying, and fidgets. I begin to think, how long will it be before he drinks that cup of tea or glass of wine?
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These thoughts are cousin to the thinking that a person should not show a broad toothy grin. What are they amused by? What joke was told stage left which brings the sitter to this state of excitement? And on and on. These questions, having been brought to the viewers attention, could be considered a distraction from the essence of the individual being portrayed.
Once again, many examples could be brought to bear which refute this line of thinking, but it never hurts to have them in your note bag.
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Mike McCarty
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