Handschoen van grijs, beige zeemleer c. 1900 - 1915

These gloves in grey, beige leather, are held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, and made by an anonymous hand. I love imagining the human touch that shaped these gloves, the soft, subtle shifts in tone. I think about how the maker took this pliable material and stitched it into something that fits a human form. The texture looks buttery smooth, it makes me wonder what it felt like to wear them. I can imagine the subtle movements, the flex of the fingers, the sensation of the leather against skin. And I wonder, whose hands were these? They remind me of the work of other artists who have explored the human form, like Eva Hesse. Hesse used latex and fiberglass to create forms that are both sensual and strange, and these gloves give me the same feeling, that artists are in an ongoing exchange. They both show the tension between the handmade and the mass-produced. They capture the imperfections and irregularities that make art so powerful.