Hand

Hand at the Smithsonian American Art Museum presents an individual known within their community by a name that was meaningful and complete on its own terms, and Sharp preserved it with the same seriousness he brought to all his titular identifications. Each name he recorded belonged to a full person within a community, and his respect for this naming system distinguished his documentation practice from the objectifying approaches common in the period. The Smithsonian's collection of Sharp's work is the most complete available to scholars, providing the essential context for understanding the documentary and artistic dimensions of his practice.

Sharp renders this individual portrait with his characteristic warm, direct handling, building form through broad tonal passages and allowing individual features to emerge through selective precision. The face is modelled with attention to the play of light across its planes.