Yesterday’s post featuring drawings by Kathe Kollwitz introduced the idea of hands as expressive elements within a drawing. I was so excited about the idea of hands doing the talking for a face in a drawing that I made a class to study expressive hands and heads, and I started collecting examples. Some I collected because I appreciated the rendering. Some I collected because the artist surpassed drawing and the art reads as pure expression. I collected so many I’m sending them in installments. This is Part 2 of…. several.
Today is a repost of hands drawn by sculptor Henry Moore. I value drawings by sculptors because they have something in them that’s not commonly found in drawings by artists with a 2D focus. Notice how in these studies of his own hands, Moore doesn’t solely use line to describe visual experiences like light and shadow, he also uses line to describe sculptural experiences like volume, mass, weight, texture, and contour. See how the flesh looks soft, squishy or plump or saggy, while the fingernails or areas where bone is just under the surface looks more rigid. These drawings are physical.
The Artist’s Hand IV 1979 Henry Moore OM, CH 1898-1986 Presented by the Henry Moore Foundation 1986 https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/moore-the-artists-hand-iv-p02910
The Artist’s Hand III 1979 Henry Moore OM, CH 1898-1986 Presented by the Henry Moore Foundation 1986 https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/moore-the-artists-hand-iii-p02909
The Artist’s Hand I 1979 Henry Moore OM, CH 1898-1986 Presented by the Henry Moore Foundation 1986 https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/moore-the-artists-hand-i-p02907
The Artist’s Hand V 1979 Henry Moore OM, CH 1898-1986 Presented by the Henry Moore Foundation 1986 https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/moore-the-artists-hand-v-p02911
Moore drew hands to describe the aged body. He made a series of drawings of his own hands when he was eighty-one and suffering from ill-health, and he did more of Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin’s gnarled joints. ‘Hands can convey so much’ he said, ‘they can beg or refuse, take or give, be open or clenched, show content or anxiety. They can be young or old, beautiful or deformed’.
Hands of Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin II 1978 Henry Moore OM, CH 1898-1986 Presented by the Henry Moore Foundation 1982 https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/moore-hands-of-dorothy-crowfoot-hodgkin-ii-p02643
Hands of Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin III 1978 Henry Moore OM, CH 1898-1986 Presented by the Henry Moore Foundation 1982 https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/moore-hands-of-dorothy-crowfoot-hodgkin-iii-p02644
Hands of Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin V 1978 Henry Moore OM, CH 1898-1986 Presented by the Henry Moore Foundation 1982 https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/moore-hands-of-dorothy-crowfoot-hodgkin-v-p02646
“Moore believed his prints were part of a larger history of sculpture and painting, in which artists have shown feelings through their portrayal of hands.” (Source: Tate. Previously posted on V. Notes August 26, 2016)
[image_with_animation image_url=”8555″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Yesterday I talked about Joseph Cornell, and how he didn’t consider himself an artist, but felt he was a collector, and a maker of things. I like to think sometimes I make things. Contrary to my website, I avoid calling myself an artist. Doing so can be validating, but …
[image_with_animation image_url=”8262″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] I asked Paul D. McKee who some inspirational painters were for his upcoming Unconventional Painting workshop. He sent me this: Robert Rauschenberg David Wojnarowicz Anselm Kiefer Lawrence Carroll I knew the first three names (V-Notes on the way), and thank you to Suzanne Walker for repeatedly saying the name “Wojnarowicz” in …
[image_with_animation image_url=”7035″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] I prefer a perfect sheet of Rives BFK, baptized in a bath of holy water and dabbed by angels wings, printed with hesitant optimism and an aneurysm when an imperfection emerges, but William Kentridge, he throws it down. That man can work the paper. Torn pieces, inked, and carefully …
Take a class with SAL – anywhere! Preparing for my Unconventional Portraits class, I found this post on WideWalls: a top 10 list of the most influential living – or barely dead – famous portrait artists. You don’t have to like them, but you should know about them. I’m posting my personal thoughts about each …
Drawing Hands: Henry Moore
Yesterday’s post featuring drawings by Kathe Kollwitz introduced the idea of hands as expressive elements within a drawing. I was so excited about the idea of hands doing the talking for a face in a drawing that I made a class to study expressive hands and heads, and I started collecting examples. Some I collected because I appreciated the rendering. Some I collected because the artist surpassed drawing and the art reads as pure expression. I collected so many I’m sending them in installments. This is Part 2 of…. several.
Today is a repost of hands drawn by sculptor Henry Moore. I value drawings by sculptors because they have something in them that’s not commonly found in drawings by artists with a 2D focus. Notice how in these studies of his own hands, Moore doesn’t solely use line to describe visual experiences like light and shadow, he also uses line to describe sculptural experiences like volume, mass, weight, texture, and contour. See how the flesh looks soft, squishy or plump or saggy, while the fingernails or areas where bone is just under the surface looks more rigid. These drawings are physical.
Moore drew hands to describe the aged body. He made a series of drawings of his own hands when he was eighty-one and suffering from ill-health, and he did more of Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin’s gnarled joints. ‘Hands can convey so much’ he said, ‘they can beg or refuse, take or give, be open or clenched, show content or anxiety. They can be young or old, beautiful or deformed’.
“Moore believed his prints were part of a larger history of sculpture and painting, in which artists have shown feelings through their portrayal of hands.” (Source: Tate. Previously posted on V. Notes August 26, 2016)
Ruthie teaches art classes at Seattle Artist League. Click here to sign up for drawing, painting, pottery, and more!
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