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| Sam Contis Blue Thumb 2015 inkjet print Whitney Museum of American Art, New York |
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| Ron Mueck Test Cast of Palm and Fingers ca. 2006 polyester resin and fiberglass National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa |
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| Martin Puryear Untitled ca. 2002 wood Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC |
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| John Coplans Self Portrait (Interlocking Fingers no. 18) 2000 gelatin silver print Whitney Museum of American Art, New York |
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| Barbara Kruger Thinking of You 1999-2000 screenprint on vinyl Whitney Museum of American Art, New York |
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| Marilyn Minter Hands Folding 1989 screenprint on aluminum Art Institute of Chicago |
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| Francesco Clemente Francesco Clemente: India 1987 offset print (dust jacket for printed book) Walker Art Center, Minneapolis |
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| Tom Wesselmann Smoker 1976 screenprint Whitney Museum of American Art, New York |
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| Bill Brandt Baie des Anges, France 1959 gelatin silver print National Gallery of Australia, Canberra |
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| Clara Sipprell Hands of Ina Claire ca. 1940-50 gelatin silver print Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas |
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| Ansel Adams The Hands of Annette Rosenshine, San Francisco ca. 1932 gelatin silver print Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC |
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| Oskar Nerlinger Hand with Cigarette ca. 1930 gelatin silver print (photogram) Art Institute of Chicago |
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| Clarence Kennedy Hands from a Relief of the Pietà by Desiderio da Settignano ca. 1929 gelatin silver print Art Institute of Chicago |
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| Adolphe Bilordeaux Main drapée (study of a plaster cast) 1864 albumen print Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
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| Oscar Gustave Rejlander Study of Hands ca. 1850-60 albumen silver print National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa |
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| Odoardo Fialetti Drawing Book: plate 17, Hands 1608 etching Kupferstichkabinett, Hamburger Kunsthalle |
A Work of Fiction
As I turned over the last page, after many nights, a wave of sorrow enveloped me. Where had they all gone, these people who had seemed so real? To distract myself, I walked out into the night; instinctively, I lit a cigarette. In the dark, the cigarette glowed, like a fire lit by a survivor. But who would see this light, this small dot among the infinite stars? I stood awhile in the dark, the cigarette glowing and growing small, each breath patiently destroying me. How small it was, how brief. Brief, brief, but inside me now, which the stars could never be.
– Louise Glück (2014)