7. Hands

I’m drawn to hands and what they share with the world…  with a profession…  with a lover…  Hands can be hard and calloused or soft and manicured.  They can look young, old or weathered.  They can be tightfisted or open to receive.  Hands help to lift up people when they are down.  They nourish and bathe the body when it needs care and help the blind to see.  Hands speak for those who can’t find the right words to say.  They share emotion through touch.  Hands represent strength, weakness, beauty, love, tenderness and compassion.  For me, sometimes, hands can reveal more about a person than their eyes.  I believe hands also tell the world who a person really is.  Today, as I walk through the Musee Rodin in Paris, I see many exquisite works of art created by Monsieur Rodin.  Many of them focus on hands.  I take my time to study each piece and allow my eyes to be filled with the details of his work, his color choices and the materials he used to sculpt.  I’m curious about his inspirations and passions that led him to craft such beauty.  I see the romance, the power, and the years of dedication he had for his craft.  I haven’t read a book about his life, and I don’t know anything about what he was like as a person.  I’m not one who needs to know the backstory of an artist before viewing their work.  I like their art to speak for them, and I suppose that would be true for any type of artist whether a sculptor, painter, writer or photographer.  It’s like the advice Peter, the photographer on the bridge, shared with me in Prague, “A photograph is not about a place, it’s about the photographer.”  I didn’t feel that until my journey to Prague, and now I’m feeling it even more here in Paris as I get up close and personal with so much art.  It’s funny that I’ve appreciated art my entire life, but now I’m actually feeling and understanding what Peter said to me.  I finally get it.  It makes me smile to know that I’m developing a much deeper appreciation for artists, their processes, and the things they create with their hands from visions they have in their minds.  Whether it be the precise and delicate brush strokes of Chagall or Monet, who are two of my favorite painters, or these impressive sculptures in front of me, their significance and place in art history is undeniable.  The art in the Paris museums is unequivocally magnificent, and it was gifted to the world by the artists who used their hands to help us see their vision.