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In Praise of Hands

By Henri Focilon, Victoria Charles

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Length1h 22m

About this audiobook

To speak about art is to evoke the hand of the creator who produced the work. It is to confer to its gestures the importance of thoughts and to explore their point of convergence on the canvas or the stone. With this text, Henri Focillon delivers one of the most beautiful odes to the hand and, simultaneously, to the talent of artists, studying Hokusai, Cézanne, and even Rodin. What do artists such as Rembrandt, David, Gauguin, and Hokusai have in common? A virtuosity of the hand, replies Henri Focillon. The viewer often forgets that behind the works, it is first and foremost a hand and its fingers which guide the paintbrush, the pen, or the stylus. Focillon’s text recalls the importance of this part of the body, in which the artist’s talent comes to life. Within his text, he grants the hand the recognition that it deserves.

Identity Exploration Poetic Psychological Nature & Wilderness

Audiobook details

GenreOther

Length1 hr 22 mins

Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices

FormateBook with Audio

LanguageEnglish

1Introduction

63Hokusai, Self-Portrait of Hokusai at Eighty-Three, 1842

2Leonardo da Vinci, St John the Baptist (detail), c. 1513-1516.

64William Holman Hunt, Rienzi Vowing to Obtain Justice for the Death of His Young Brother, Slain in a Skirmish Between the Colonna and the Orsini, 1849

3List of Artists

65Sir John Everett Millais, Ophelia, 1851-1852

4Anonymous, A Crowd of Hands, c. 9000-7000 BCE

66Sir John Everett Millais, The Order of Release 1746, 1852-1853

5Anonymous, Greek Painting Depicting a Couple, 480 BCE

67Jean Bein (after Raphael), Various studies for the figure of Bramante in the “Disputation of the Holy Sacrament”, 1855

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6Euaion Painter (attributed to), Banquet Scene: Man Reclining on a Bench and Youth Playing the Aulos, c. 460 BCE

68Francesco Hayez, The Kiss, 1859

7Myron, Discobolus the Discus Thrower, c. 450 BCE

69Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Study for “The Turkish Bath”, c. 1862

8Hagesandros, Athenedoros, and Polydoros (copy after), Laocoön and His Sons, c. 150 BCE

70Edgar Degas, Young Spartans Exercising, c. 1860

9Heliodorus of Rhodes (copy after), Pan Teaching Daphnis to Play the Flute, 1st century BCE

71Édouard Manet, Olympia, 1863

10Praxiteles (copy after), Aphrodite, known as “Venus of Arles”, end of 1st century BCE

72Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, Autumn, 1864

11Anonymous, Venus and Cupid, 1st-2nd century CE

73Edgar Degas, Study for the “War Scene in the Middle Ages”, c. 1865

12Anonymous, The Baptism of Christ, c. 520

74Dante Gabriel Rossetti, The Beloved (The Bride), 1865-1866

13Anonymous, Leo VI Prostrate Before Christ in Majesty, 9th-10th century

75Gustave Courbet, Woman with a Parrot, 1866

14Anonymous, Arm Reliquary of St Lawrence, c. 1175

76Mary Cassatt, Two Women Throwing Flowers During Carnival, 1872

15Anonymous, Arm Reliquary of St Luke of Toulouse, c. 1337-1338

77Thomas Couture, The Thorny Path, 1873

16Anonymous, The “Cosmic Buddha” Vairocana, Tibet, 14th century

78Édouard Manet, In the Conservatory, 1878-1879

17Jan van Eyck, The Arnolfini Portrait, 1434

79Edgar Degas, The Morning Bath, 1879-1883

18Piero del Pollaiuolo, Apollo and Daphne, probably 1470-1480

80William-Adolphe Bouguereau, A Young Girl Defending Herself against Eros, c. 1880

19Sandro Botticelli, Primavera, c. 1482

81Vincent van Gogh, Three Hands, Two with Knives, 1884-1885

20Sandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus, c. 1484

82Vincent van Gogh, Two Hands, 1884-1885

21Giovanni Santi, Christ Supported by Two Angels, vers 1490

83Auguste Rodin, Large Hand of a Pianist, 1885

22Leonardo da Vinci, A Study of a Woman’s Hands, c. 1490

84Auguste Rodin, Large Clenched Left Hand, c. 1885

23Albrecht Dürer, Study of Three Hands, 1493-1494

85Camille Claudel, The Hand, c. 1885

24Leonardo da Vinci, The Hands of St John in “The Last Supper”, c. 1495

86Paul Cézanne, The Bather, 1885

25Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa (La Gioconda), c. 1503-1506

87William-Adolphe Bouguereau, The First Mourning, 1888

26Raphael, The Three Graces, c. 1504

88Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Young Woman Bathing, 1888

27Albrecht Dürer, Jesus Among the Doctors, 1506

89Georges Mouton, Untitled, 1890

28Albrecht Dürer, Two Pairs of Hands Holding Books, 1506

90Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Woman Combing her Hair, 1891

29Albrecht Dürer, Praying Hands (detail from Heller Altar), 1508

91Paul Gauguin, Parau na te Varua ino (Words of the Devil), 1892

30Michelangelo, The Creation of Adam (Sixth Ceiling Panel), 1508-1512

92Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1893

31Raphael, Madonna of Loreto, 1509-1510

93Eugène Grasset, Salon des Cent, 1894

32Titian, The Temptation of Christ, c. 1516-1525

94Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Confetti, 1894

33Leonardo da Vinci (copy after), The Pointing Hand of the Angel in “The Virgin of the Rocks”, c. 1517-1520

95Edvard Munch, Ashes, 1894

34Raphael, La Fornarina, c. 1520

96Edvard Munch, Self-Portrait with Cigarette, 1895

35Titian, Man with a Glove, c. 1520

97François-Rupert Carabin, Group of Four Naked and Seated Women, between 1895 and 1910

36Hans Holbein the Younger, Erasmus, c. 1523

98Ferdinand Hodler, Day, 1899

37Titian, Penitent Magdalene, 1533

99Paul Gauguin, Woman with a Fan, 1902

38Caravaggio, The Chess Players, c. 1562

100Gustav Klimt, The Beethoven Frieze (left panel), 1901-1902

39El Greco, A Boy Blowing on an Ember to Light a Candle, 1570-1572

101Félix Édouard Vallotton, The Five Painters: Bonnard, Vuillard, Roussel, Cottet, and Vallotton, 1902-1903

40Caravaggio, The Cardsharps, c. 1595

102Jules Pascin, Young Girl with a Blue Ribbon, c. 1904

41Caravaggio, Deposition from the Cross, c. 1600-1604

103Franz von Stuck, Fighting for a Woman, 1905

42Caravaggio, The Tooth Puller, 1608-1610

104André Derain, Woman in a Chemise or Dancer, 1906

43Peter Paul Rubens, Rubens and Isabella Brant in the Honeysuckle Bower, c. 1609

105Egon Schiele, Portrait of Arthur Roessler, 1910

44Peter Paul Rubens, Jupiter and Callisto, 1613

106Attila Sassy, Untitled, 1910

45Rembrandt, The Raising of Lazarus, c. 1630-1632

107Giovanni Zuid, The Seated Nude

46Rembrandt, The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp, 1632

108Arnoldo Bonzagni, Untitled, 1910

47Rembrandt, Sacrifice of Isaac (detail), 1635

109Egon Schiele, Nude (Self-Portrait), 1910

48Anonymous, Infant Buddha, China, Ming Dynasty, 17th century

110Max Beckmann, Self-Portrait, 1915

49Anonymous, Baths and Dressing No. 10, 18th century

111Egon Schiele, Reclining Woman with Green Stockings, 1917

50Jean-Honoré Fragonard, A Philosopher Reading, c. 1764

112Amedeo Modigliani, Seated Nude with Necklace, 1917

51Jean-Honoré Fragonard, The Bolt, 1777

113Amedeo Modigliani, Venus (Standing Nude), 1917

52Jacques - Louis David, The Death of Socrates, 1787

114Alphonse Mucha, Hearst’s International, Cover for January 1922, 1921

53Antonio Canova, Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss, 1787-1793

115Ernst Hildebrandt, Homoerotic drawing, before 1924

54William Blake, Plague, 1794

116Anonymous, Untitled, 1930

55William Blake, The Red Limb’d Angel, 1794

117Studio Biederer, Ostra edition, No. B301, c. 1935

56William Blake, The Ancient of Days, 1794

118Michel Fingesten, Untitled, 1938

57Jean-Baptiste Greuze, The Dead Bird, 1800

119Anonymous, Pendant Representing a (Male) Hand Clutching a Phallus

58William Blake, The Lord Answering Job out of the Whirlwind, 1805-1810

120Veretta Cobler, Untitled

59Achille Devéria, Untitled, c. 1830

121Veretta Cobler, Untitled

60Achille Devéria, Untitled, c. 1830

122Veretta Cobler, Untitled

61Achille Devéria, Untitled, c. 1830

123Veretta Cobler, Untitled

62Anonymous, Necklace, forepart, after 1838

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