Study of Hands 1909

Edwin Howland Blashfield made this study of hands on a sheet of paper, and you can almost see him there in the studio, squinting, charcoal in hand. What do hands mean to you? For me, they're all about touch and gesture. Blashfield seems to capture hands in thought, each one carefully rendered, as if he's trying to understand how they grasp, hold, and express. I imagine him studying his own hand, turning it this way and that, figuring out the angles and shadows. The marks build up slowly, as though he's thinking through the hand, letting the image emerge little by little. This reminds me of drawings by Seurat; drawings by so many artists! It's like these hands are reaching out, not just to us, but to all the other hands that have been drawn, painted, and sculpted throughout history. Painting is like one big conversation.