The Finger

(Paperback)

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In this collision between art and science, history and pop culture, acclaimed art historian Angus Trumble examines the finger from every possible angle. His inquiries into its representation in art take us from Buddhist statues in Kyoto to the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, from cave art to Picasso's Guernica, from Van Dyck's and Rubens's winning ways with gloves to the longstanding French taste for tapering digits. But Trumble also asks intriguing questions about the finger in general: how do fingers work, and why do most of us have five on each hand Why do we bite our nails This witty, odd, and fascinating book is filled with diverse anecdotes about cow-milking, the fingerprint of a grave robber in King Tut's tomb, and a woman in Trumble's local bank whose immensely long, coiled fingernails do not prevent her from signing a check. Side by side with historical discussions of rings and gloves and nail varnish are meditations on the finger's essential role in writing, speech, sports, crime, law, sex, and, of course, the eponymous show of contempt.

Author Bio

Angus Trumble was born and raised in Melbourne, Australia, and is the youngest of four brothers. Formerly Curator of European Art at the Art Gallery of South Australia in Adelaide, and was Senior Curator of Paintings and Sculpture at the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, Connecticut. Angus took up his appointment as Director of the National Portrait Gallery of Australia in February 2014.