Artist's study of hands

Hands, among the most expressive parts of the human body, often pose a challenge for artists who seek to render them naturalistically. Otto Schmidt’s studio made and sold thousands of photographs to artists who used them as reference imagery for their work. This image and similar anatomical photographs were accessible figure studies and an alternative to live models. This photograph is remarkable among Schmidt’s work for its elegant simplicity. The tip of the model’s index finger rests at the very edge of the frame, as the empty hands unfurl against a soft-focus, abstract plane.