Sketch of Left Hand (Early Photographs & Sketches)
Date1901
Mediumink sketch
ClassificationsMcBey
Dimensions12.4 x 19.5cm
AcquisitionPresented in 1988 by Mrs Marguerite McBey.
LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub
Object numberABDAG008301.88
About MeThis ink sketch depicts James McBey's left hand and has been post-dated in pencil as "1901?" by either the artist or his wife. This date certainly seems credible when the sketch is compared with others from around this time (e.g. ABDAG008301.84, ABDAG008301.85 and ABDAG008301.86). Like the others this sketch is unquestionably prodigious but also shows signs of immaturity and inexperience; for example, the proportions seem unintentionally distorted and the thumb a little disjointed from the rest of the hand. But whilst the knuckle of his middle finger might also seem to be disproportionately large, this is no artistic exaggeration: McBey retained into his banking days the childhood habit of biting the skin off his knuckles. When the artist began to work as a relief teller at the bank and noticed that members of the public were paying attention to his unsightly knuckles, he decided to give up his habit at once. For this he made use of the chemical accessories of another recent habit, etching, a process which he describes in his autobiography, 'The Early Life of James McBey':
"I bent my fingers, and inverted them both for a half inch or so into the nitric acid in the etching bath, holding them until the mordant has bitten well in. The flesh became a bright yellow, then a dull yellow, then formed itself into hard bosses which after three weeks detached themselves in the form of hollow caps, leaving underneath clean soft flesh. The three weeks during which the bitter taste of the nitric impregnated my skin had prevented me from biting them, had cured me completely."
