The Human Touch

The Human Touch explores the profound impact of our most primal sense. Touch is our first sense, allowing us to create art, assert ownership, express love, and communicate faith, beliefs, and anger. It is how we leave our mark and establish our place in the world; touch is how we connect.

Drawing on artworks spanning four thousand years and stretching across the globe, this book offers new ways of looking at the fundamental role of touch in the human experience. Through a series of essays, the authors examine numerous facets of touch, including anatomy and skin, the relationship between the brain, hand, and creativity, as well as themes of touch, desire, possession, ideological touch, reverence, and iconoclasm.

Nearly two hundred lavish illustrations accompany the text, featuring drawings, paintings, prints, and sculptures by renowned artists such as Raphael, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Carracci, Hogarth, Turner, Rodin, Degas, and Kollwitz, alongside contemporary artists like Judy Chicago, Frank Auerbach, Richard Long, the Chapman Brothers, and Richard Rawlins.

The events of 2020 have heightened our awareness of the preciousness and dangers of touch, making this exploration of our most fundamental sense particularly timely.