Hands of Inge: Museum Object and Cultural History
Hands of Inge: Date: ca. 1962. Directed by: John W. Fletcher Jr., American. Edited by: Tee Beveridge, American, 1923 - 1993.
The object in the museum catalogue
A short film with the title Hands of Inge. There is a release print (2012.79.1.9.1a) and a work print (2012.79.1.9.2a) of the film, both of which are on 16mm black-and-white acetate stock with sound.
The film opens with close-ups of Hardison's hands as she displays some tools, cuts a piece of metal, and begins the process of making clay for sculpture. The next scene shows her hands working with metal wire and wood and using wire cutters as she twists the metal around another object. At this point in the film, the narration by Ossie Davis begins. He introduces Hardison and then the camera shot pulls back to show her working on a sculpture on a waist-high table. All the materials from the previous scene appear to have been used in the sculpture she is working on. The camera shot returns to a close-up of her hands as she molds the clay around the wire. As she continues to work, the clay is molded into the shape of a human head, and Davis reveals that she is creating a bust of Martin Luther King, Jr.
The next scenes show some of her other sculpture, including one of Father John Coleman of Brooklyn, Nellie Carrington from the book Smokey Town Road written by Hardison, Elaine Atwell, and her niece Minnie Hardison. The montage of her works ends with a small full nude sculpture. The next scene shows a close-up of hands working on a sculpture of her daughter. Then the footage shows her daughter and compares her to the sculpture with sporadic narration by Davis. He then explains how she is preparing the sculpture to be made into bronze. The next scene shows her hands using pliers to work with wire. The final design shown is a man made of wire in a running position. The film ends with a montage of her hands with and without tools.
An original metal film canister (2012.79.1.9.1c) also accompanies the films. One half of the canister has a pre-printed Chamba Educational Film Services mail label addressed to Hortense Beveridge, while the other half has a handwritten label from Hortense Beveridge.
Materials, dates and provenance
- Date: ca. 1962
- Directed by: John W. Fletcher Jr., American
- Edited by: Tee Beveridge, American, 1923 - 1993
- Subject of: Inge Hardison, American, 1914 - 2016
- Composed by: Mal Waldron, American, 1925 - 2002
- Composed by: Ron Carter, American, born 1937
- Composed by: Eric Dolphy, American, 1928 - 1964
- Narrated by: Ossie Davis, American, 1917 - 2005
- Owned by: Pearl Bowser, American, 1931 - 2023
- Type: sound films
- Type: black-and-white films (visual works)
- Type: work prints (motion pictures)
- Type: short subjects
- Type: 16mm (photographic film size)
- Medium: acetate film and metal
- Dimensions: Duration: 10 min.
- Place filmed: Manhattan, New York City, New York County, New York, United States, North and Central America
- Topic: African American
- Topic: Actors
- Topic: Art
- Topic: Film
- Topic: Jazz (Music)
- Topic: Process films
- Topic: Women
- Object number: 2012.79.1.9
- Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Pearl Bowser
- Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture
Sources and reuse
Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: No known copyright restrictions Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
Sources
More in Movies
Keep reading
