<I>Hands of Inge</I>
date: label: Date
content: ca. 1962
name: label: Directed by
content: John W. Fletcher Jr., American
label: Edited by
content: Tee Beveridge, American, 1923 - 1993
label: Subject of
content: Inge Hardison, American, 1914 - 2016
label: Composed by
content: Mal Waldron, American, 1925 - 2002
label: Composed by
content: Ron Carter, American, born 1937
label: Composed by
content: Eric Dolphy, American, 1928 - 1964
label: Narrated by
content: Ossie Davis, American, 1917 - 2005
label: Owned by
content: Pearl Bowser, American, 1931 - 2023
notes: label: Caption
content: This 16mm black and white film is a short film exploring the work and methodology of acclaimed African American sculptor Inge Hardison. The film, made relatively early in her career, details her working processes with clay, bronze, and wire. The camera largely focuses on her hands, although there are also some shots that include her full body and the model, a young girl, Hardison's daughter, Yolande. The jazz music soundtrack features Mal Waldron, Eric Dolphy, Ron Carter, and Toni Ross. Hortense Beveridge edited the film. There is some voiceover narration by Ossie Davis.
label: Description
content: 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.
label: Description
content: 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.
label: Description
content: 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.
label: Description
content: 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.
place: label: Place filmed
content: Manhattan, New York City, New York County, New York, United States, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Actors
label: Topic
content: Art
label: Topic
content: Film
label: Topic
content: Jazz (Music)
label: Topic
content: Process films
label: Topic
content: Women
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Collection title
content: Pearl Bowser Collection
label: Classification
content: Time-based Media - Moving Images
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Pearl Bowser
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2012.79.1.9
objectType: label: Type
content: sound films
label: Type
content: black-and-white films (visual works)
label: Type
content: work prints (motion pictures)
label: Type
content: short subjects
label: Type
content: 16mm (photographic film size)
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: No known copyright restrictions
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: acetate film and metal
label: Dimensions
content: Duration: 10 min.