Design: Hands, from Encyclopédie 1762 - 1777

Editor: This is "Design: Hands, from Encyclopédie" by Benoit Louis Prevost, created between 1762 and 1777. It's an etching, a print on paper, of different hand positions. It has the feel of a manual for artists, showing how hands look in various gestures, almost like a scientific study. What strikes you most about this piece? Curator: It's more than just a study, wouldn't you say? These hands, rendered with such delicate detail, they speak volumes! Look at the way light dances across the knuckles, the subtle suggestion of tendons beneath the skin. For me, it evokes the intimacy of touch, the eloquence of gesture – it’s less about anatomy and more about human connection, distilled through the artistry of depiction, almost like trying to find emotions through hands only. Editor: So, you see emotion rather than just instruction? The Enlightenment was all about reason and knowledge... Curator: Indeed! And the "Encyclopédie," where this was published, aimed to categorize all human knowledge. But look closer. These hands aren’t just presented as disembodied objects of study. They're imbued with a life of their own. To me, they hint at the artists own study and interpretation through observation and reproduction. Editor: Interesting. So, it’s not just objective documentation, but subjective interpretation creeping in? Curator: Exactly! Even in the age of reason, art retained its power to express, to evoke, to connect. The hands, perhaps, reaching out through time to remind us of that ever present human element, in an attempt to archive the entire scope of life at the time! It almost feels to me like a philosophical investigation. Editor: I never thought of it that way. It’s made me see the image in a new light. Curator: Isn't that the best part of art, though? Its capacity to keep teaching, to keep us questioning! Now, I am inspired to revisit and revise what the enlightenment really stands for!