While looking through John Heartfield’s work, the picture that caught my attention the most was the picture of the hand with the title “The Hand has Five Fingers.” Heartfield’s work is mostly to raise criticism of the Weimar Republic and their doings, as well as to protest what was going on in Germany. When I look at this picture, I notice that it’s a hand, like anyone would have, with five, normal fingers. But the thing that grabs my attention the most is the pose that the hand is in, which reminds me of claws that an evil person or animal would have. I think that in this piece, Heartfield is comparing the regime to a crazed animal out for the kill, figuratively and literally.
The title of the piece is thought provoking as well because it’s so simple, of course a hand has five fingers. However, when I really thought about what this title could mean, I looked deeper into it. Most people have five fingers on one hand, and perhaps this picture could mean that the evil the hand in the picture conveys is or could be in anyone. I think this title could also mean that evil looks like a normal human (with correct anatomy), but acts (by holding it’s hand, and it’s mind) in a nonhuman manner – with the intention to hurt others.
Overall, Heartfield’s work was interesting. He was over-the-top but also subtle. His pieces are thought and emotion provoking and discussion worthy.
That's a very interesting analysis of this picture. The hand is very disturbing and aggressive looking. The simplicity of the picture is great, it's not overcrowded which makes the message very clear. It's dirty, aggressive looking and it feels like it's about to grab you; all those things add up to a very powerful image.
ReplyDeleteI like your connection to the fact that we all are capable of evil in some way or another. It's true that evil doesn't look any different from everyone else.