Hand 1932

Lodewijk Schelfhout made this print of a hand, whereabouts unknown, sometime in his career. The way the lines gather and disperse across the hand gives it this incredible sense of volume. Look at how the light seems to catch on the knuckles, and how the shading suggests the soft fleshy parts. It reminds me of a drawing practice, that exploration of tone and texture with simple marks and lines. What strikes me most is that single floating thumb, set slightly apart. It's so elegantly drawn, and catches the light. The thumb, set against the shading of the palm gives the piece so much depth. You can see the rest of the hand sinking back into the page, while the thumb seems to almost pop out towards us. There's something very contemporary about this work, reminiscent of artists like Jasper Johns who explore mundane objects in their work. Like Johns, Schelfhout invites us to reconsider the everyday, finding beauty and intrigue in the simplest of subjects.