Contents
Acknowledgments
One: The History of the Hand
The History of the Hand
The Prehistory of the Hand
The Hand Thinks
The Hand Defined: 1
The Hand Defined: 2
The Hand Defined: 3
Chirologia, or the Natural Language of the Hand
Of an Alphabet of Steppes
By the Eighteenth Century
A History of the Hand
The Hand as Historical
A History of the Hand
Two: Positions of the Hand
Grasp
Fan
Grip
Hold
Sigh
Juggle
Traveling
Glove
The Mechanics of the Hand
Three: Professions of the Hand
Case Histories: Physical Aphasia
The Hand as Lamp
The Hand as Anchor
The Hand that Caresses
The Hand as Origami
The Hand as 19th-Century Harbor
The Theater of the Hand
The Hand as Ideogram
The Hand as Window
The Hand as Mansion
The Hand as Sun God
The Hand Polishes
Expression
The Hand as Staircase
The Hand as Nest
The Hand as Mango
Four: Representations of the Hand
The Hands’ Testament
The Hands Testify
The Hand Painted In
The Hand Sculpted
The Hand Etched in Glass
The Hand Sketched
The Hand Photographed
The Hand in Fresco
Five: The Anatomy of the Hand
Intro to the Palmar View
The Palmar View
The Palmar View, Continued
Palmar 3
Fingers 1
Fingers 2
Fingers: Alignment
Alignment, Continued
Fingertips
The Hand: Lower View: Oblique
The Bevel Itself
Knuckles
The Thumb: Based On
The Intern's Problem
The Thumb, In Sum
The Hand: Branching Out
The Hand: Back View, Fingers Arches
The Hand: Other Arches
The Fist
The Anatomy of Trees
The Mechanics of the Hand
Six: American Sign Language
Signs
The Manual Alphabet
Understanding the Past, Present, and Future
Pronouns
Thinking and Feeling
Flood
Garden
Rain
Ghost (Holy)
Deer
Evening
To Form the Simple Past
The Present Perfect: To Have
Sun
Animal
Seven: Shadow Puppets
The First Movies
Birds
Birds
Birds
Advances in the Form
Eight: A Manual of Gesture: Public Speaking for the Gentleman (1879)
Right Hand Descending Oblique Prone
Right Hand Horizontal Front Prone
Right Hand Ascending Lateral Supine
Right Hand Ascending Oblique Vertical
Both Hands Descending Lateral Prone
Nine: Paintings of Possible Hands
Wilton Diptych, 1395
Fra Angelico, Cell 7, San Marco, 1438-43
Dominique Ingres, Venus at Paphos, 1852–53
Auguste Rodin, Cathedral, 1908
Marc Chagall, Self-Portrait with Seven Fingers, 1912
Marcel Duchamp, Portrait of Doctor Raymond Dumouchel, 1910
Rembrandt van Rijn, The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicholaes Tulp, detail, 1632
Norman Bluhm and Frank O’Hara, Hand, 1960
Sean Scully, Landline Sand, 1999