The guest book of George Wittenborn (1905-74), the great New York art-book dealer, is a unique album that played host between 1944 and 1974 to the most celebrated artists hands. It can be no more coincidence that Wittenborn, who was also active as publisher, in 1948 brought out the first English translation of Henri Focillons famous essay in Praise of Hands, and it was certainly his aim to publish the guest book as tribute to the modern artist, and to bear witness to a time when these was still some validity to the notion of an artistic community.
In autumn 2007 Wittenborns book of hands will be published with an introduction addressing his role in the art world, the essay by Henri Focillon and facsimilies of all the hands. The project to extend this impressive original collection to include the hands of contemporary artists is not just a bright idea but more an obligation. The project and the extended version together will contain more than 190 drawings, prints and collages of hands by famous artists, including contributions by M. Abramovic, R. Arad, R. Artschwager, M. Dumas, H. Opdebeeck, M. Paladino, M. Pistolletto, E. Lipski, R. Long, P. Rogiers, R. Scholte, T. Schutte, K. Vanmechelen, A. Wauman and E. Wurm.
Expo 'The Hands of Art' and the genius book that will be published at the opening, are as important for the world of art as the hand- and feet prints of Grauman's Chinese Theatre are for Hollywood.The collection will also be shown at Marta Herford, Germany (more details will follow later).
Fore more information check:
www.artistshandsproject.be
www.smak.be
