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 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/P02910
The Artist’s Hand III 1979 Henry Moore OM, CH 1898-1986 Presented by the Henry Moore Foundation 1986 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/P02909
The Artist’s Hand I 1979 Henry Moore OM, CH 1898-1986 Presented by the Henry Moore Foundation 1986 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/P02907
The Artist’s Hand V 1979 Henry Moore OM, CH 1898-1986 Presented by the Henry Moore Foundation 1986 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/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 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/P02643
Hands of Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin III 1978 Henry Moore OM, CH 1898-1986 Presented by the Henry Moore Foundation 1982 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/P02644
Hands of Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin V 1978 Henry Moore OM, CH 1898-1986 Presented by the Henry Moore Foundation 1982 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/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)
In the late 1940s, several prominent artists of the New York School– including Robert Rauschenberg, Ad Reinhardt, Mark Rothko and Frank Stella–were intently studying the color black. That work, interrelated but not collaborative, resulted in 20 years of black: textured black, striped black, blue-black, brown-black, black-black, blackish, and blackity-black-black paintings. With a Google image search, …
Welcome to Day 2 of the 30SAL Challenge! To learn more about the 30SAL Challenge, click here. Today’s 30SAL Challenge is a creative idea from Seattle Artist League instructor Charity Baker. First, tone a piece of paper as dark as you can with soft willow charcoal. You might find that paper with some tooth or …
Today my art buddy Lendy and I took some photos to practice for our “Draw like Diebenkorn” workshop this weekend. We set up some still lifes, and I took some selfies. I don’t have a camera with a tripod in my apartment so I used my laptop’s Photo Booth feature. For anyone who has used …
Yesterday I posted my sketches; some fun ideas we are exploring in “Abstracting the Image” on Thursdays. Each week we’re taking a masterwork and exploring it with approaches inspired by contemporary abstract painters. The purpose of this exercise is to be able to lean on, and learn from the composition of the masterwork, while exploring …
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)
Related Classes
Figure Drawing 1 & 2 starts 9/13
Expressive Portraits starts 9/18
Head & Hands starts 9/25
Beginning Figure Drawing starts 9/30
Woodblock Portraits starts 10/19
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