Connections/Hands

I'm Alice Schwarz, and I'm a museum educator here at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. My topic is hands.

I have a very clear memory, when I was a little girl of my father's rather large hand holding me as we walked here in the streets of New York and every once in a while he would

give me three tight squeezes, which means, "I love you," and that's something I do to my boys now.

This is the thing about hands, hands give away so much information. I personally am not a manicure-type gal.

I don't like fingernail polish, I don't spend time on my hands at all.

But I like to see somebody else's hands that are beautifully manicured. I love how elongated fingers can show off beautiful rings.

But at the same time I'm fascinated and really kind of turned on by rugged, dirty hands that show this is a person that works.

Thomas Eakins's The Writing Master, is a portrait actually of his father, who's writing, but to me it's all about the hands. The light falling on those hands

you can see the age spots, you can see a touch of arthritis around the knuckles. I just think it's a stunning portrait of an activity of hands.

There's a wonderful Grave stele of a little girl, and she's holding two doves, which I think are her pets. And if you look really closely

it looks like the little girl used to bite her nails, it has very, very short nails to it. It's just such a loving hold that she has on her pets.

The Fortune Teller is to me a symphony of hands. You've got two hands towards the middle ground that are in beautiful spotlight.

The hand open of the young dandy, and he is receiving a coin from the fortune teller, who's been completely distracting him

while her accomplices are picking his pocket and stealing his

jewelry in all of the shadows at the bottom.

Certain hand movements are universal. Socrates in prison has just announced that he's going to kill himself by drinking a cup of hemlock. His left hand pointing to the heavens, perhaps a reference of where he's headed, but to me it's an announcement of something that I need to say, I need to have your attention. And when you start to look at all of his

students, you have hands that are covering ears as if you just don't want to hear the truth. You have a hand that is outstretched, nearly touching the knee of Socrates.

Perhaps the most solemn is Plato. He has his two hands just gently placed, one on top of the other.

Down that little hallway in the distance you see one female, and that is Socrates' wife with simply the hand up, a gesture palm out almost like a wave goodbye.

I am a person that talks with my hands. And I think if you don't speak with your hands, you're missing out on something.

I actually was asked once to make a presentation while sitting on my hands, and I must say

I'm not sure anything I said made sense, to be perfectly honest.

I think almost like watching beautifully choreographed dance, to watch somebody use their hands is graceful and sort of

theater in its own right.