Complex and simple movement coursework guide

Student Resource

Complex and simple movement coursework guide

Simple movement is complex to put down on paper or canvas. Explore how artists have been intrigued by human movement and by the speed and excitement of the movement of machines. Some artists have even gone on to make their own moving machines.

Human movements
Moving Machines
Further resources

Human movements

Artists have thought of many ways to represent the movement of the body. High speed photography gave us our first chance to freeze frame movements, and led to more and more realistic depictions of frozen movements. But how can you capture the sense - how it feels to be moving?

Umberto Boccioni
*Unique Forms of Continuity in Space* (1913, cast 1972)
Tate

William Turnbull
*Marching Figures* (1953)
Tate
© William Turnbull. All Rights Reserved, DACS 2025

Duncan Grant
*Bathing* (1911)
Tate
© Tate

Dame Elisabeth Frink
*Horse and Rider* (1970)
Tate
© Frink Estate

Paul Neagu
*Jump* (1977)
Tate
© Estate of Paul Neagu

Ralph Brown
*Swimming* (1959–60)
Tate
© Ralph Brown

Oliffe Richmond
*Dance* (1966)
Tate
© reserved

George Jones
*[title not known]* ()
Tate

Errol Sawyer
*Untitled* (1997)
Tate
© Errol Sawyer

Zsuzsi Roboz
*Dancing Figure* (1976)
Tate
© Zsuzsi Roboz

Louise Nevelson
*Dancing Figure* (��.1953–5)
Tate
© ARS, NY and DACS, London 2025

William Blake
*Oberon, Titania and Puck with Fairies Dancing* (c.1786)
Tate

Donald Locke
*Untitled* (1993)
Presented by the Tate Americas Foundation, courtesy of Timothy Griffith 2024
© Estate of Donald Locke

Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson
*Dance Hall Scene* (��.1913–14)
Tate

Edgar Degas
*Horse Clearing an Obstacle* (��.1887–8)
Tate

How far can you simplify a form and still see the moving figure?

David Bomberg
*The Mud Bath* (1914)
Tate
© Tate

Stephen Buckley
*Java* (1980)
Tate
© Stephen Buckley

Keith Vaughan
*Bather: August 4th 1961* (1961)
Tate
© The estate of Keith Vaughan

Moving Machines

The Industrial Revolution gave European artists a new subject. Speed, explosions and travel all became important for artists trying to make sense of the changing world.

Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson
*Bursting Shell* (1915)
Tate

Joseph Mallord William Turner
*Snow Storm - Steam-Boat off a Harbour’s Mouth* (exhibited 1842)
Tate

Gino Severini
*Suburban Train Arriving in Paris* (1915)
Tate
© ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2025

After Joseph Mallord William Turner
*Rain, Steam, and Speed, engraved by R. Brandard* (published 1859–61)
Tate

Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson
*The Arrival* (c.1913)
Tate

Gerardo Dottori
*Explosion of Red on Green* (1910)
Tate
© The Estate of Gerardo Dottori

Giacomo Balla
*Abstract Speed - The Car has Passed* (1913)
Tate
© DACS, 2025

Can you capture a mechanical movement in photography? Rachel Whiteread photographed the demolition of high rise flats in 1990s London. Do they feel static or in movement?

Some artists take movement into the artwork itself

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