Drawings of Hands: Charles White

I’ve been talking about how to use hands as expressive elements within a drawing. I love this idea so much, both for technical practice and for powerful personal expression, 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 3 of…. several.

The face is expressive in this portrait of a preacher by Charles White (1952), but look how, similar to the drawings by Kathe Kollwitz, in this drawing the hands have been made large, crossing over each other in an imposing dynamic gesture, speaking simultaneously to a general people and directly halting us. Similar to the drawings by Henry Moore, The metaphorical weight of the subject has been intensified by the visual weight of the drawing. Notice how the dark volume and mass makes the arms and the composition appear physically heavy. If the same portrait was drawn with outlines, the metaphor of weight would not come through. Look how even though the figure is dark, it has been drawn to appear clean, structural, and controlled. See that soft dark mark that takes us from the shoulder, up and around the head to give it context and an aura, and then connect us back again with the hand? We’re not invited to leave this judgement. In a seemingly simple drawing, all the elements are working in unison to inform us of a full and powerful narrative.

1952

The Great Smog of London, or Great Smog of 1952, was a severe air-pollution event that affected the British capital of London. A period of unusually cold weather and windless conditions collected airborne pollutants—mostly arising from the use of coal—to form a thick layer of smog over the city. It lasted from December 5 to December 9 1952 and then dispersed quickly when the weather changed.

The smog caused major disruption by reducing visibility and even penetrating indoor areas. Government medical reports in the following weeks, however, estimated that up until 8 December, 4,000-6,000 people died as a direct result of the smog and 100,000 more were made ill by the smog’s effects on the human respiratory tract. (Source: Wikipedia)

The 1951 Black Lives Matter Campaign in America: In 1951, the Civil Rights Congress (affiliated with the Communist Party) engaged in a campaign to hold the United States accountable for genocide against African Americans. The Civil Rights Congress offered 152 incidences as evidence in support of this claim. These killings of unarmed Black men and women by police and by lynch mobs took place between 1945 and 1951. (Source: UW)

1952 in America: Despite the war in Korea Americans considered themselves to be prospering with average worker earning $3,400 per year, a college teacher could expect to earn $5,100 per year. Three out of 5 families owned a car, 2 out of 3 families now had a telephone, 1 in 3 homes had a television. The average woman in America would be married by 20 years of age looking forward to raising a family but few continued with a career after children were born. Fast Food restaurants were growing in popularity, but the scourge of Polio hit many thousands of families (50,000 estimated ) . The worlds first passenger jet is produced in UK signaling the start of faster and cheaper air travel. (Source: The People History)

Related Classes

Expressive Portraits starts 9/18

Head & Hands starts 9/25

Beginning Figure Drawing starts 9/30

Woodblock Portraits starts 10/19