Sanjiban's Correspondence with The Mother

23 January 1934

O my Mother,

How to do sketches like walking, running, etc.? In the present sketch I tried to show the movement of walking but it has not come. If the arm had leaned more towards the front, it would have shown the movement?

The movement is all right and would have been expressive except for the foot which is not in the walking posture.

When you want to express a movement, you must ask your model to do the movement and stop him in the midst of it just at the most expressive moment. If the position taken cannot be kept very long, look at it very carefully in order to remember and make a rapid rough sketch of the most important points: the movement of an arm or leg, the position of the feet, etc.

In the present case, make Z walk across your room and stop him in the middle of the movement which he must keep very exactly. You will see that the foot must be bent, it is the only way of showing the action of walking.

23 January 1934