Drawing Hands

{{short description|Lithograph by Dutch artist M. C. Escher}}

{{Infobox artwork

| title = Drawing Hands

| wikidata = Q2390890

| image = DrawingHands.jpg

| alt = Scan of Drawing Hands lithograph

| caption = Scanned from The Magic of M. C. Escher

| artist = M. C. Escher

| year = {{start date|1948}}

| medium = Lithograph

| height_metric = 28.2

| width_metric = 33.2

| metric_unit = cm

| imperial_unit = in

| preceded_by = Up and Down (1947)

| followed_by = Dewdrop (1948)

| website = {{URL|https://mcescher.com/gallery/back-in-holland/#iLightbox%5Bgallery_image_1%5D/32|Official website}}

}}

Drawing Hands is a lithograph by the Dutch artist M. C. Escher first printed in January 1948. It depicts a sheet of paper, out of which two hands rise, in the paradoxical act of drawing one another into existence. This is one of the most obvious examples of Escher's common use of paradox.

It is referenced in the book Gödel, Escher, Bach, by Douglas Hofstadter, who calls it an example of a strange loop. It is used in Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs by Harold Abelson and Gerald Jay Sussman as an allegory for the eval and apply functions of programming language interpreters in computer science, which feed each other.

Drawing Hands has been referenced and copied many times by artists in different ways. In tech culture, robot hands draw or build each other,{{Cite AV media|author=hygglobert|date=21 June 2011|title=Escher Robot Hands|type=Digital illustration|url=http://www.freakingnews.com/Escher-Robot-Hands-Pics-97368.asp|department=Escher Remastered|website=FreakingNews|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180528165712/http://www.freakingnews.com/Escher-Robot-Hands-Pics-97368.asp|archive-date=28 May 2018|url-status=dead|access-date=28 May 2018}} or a human hand and robot hand draw each other.{{Cite AV media|last=Rockhill|first=W. Morgan|date=|title=Digital Photographic recreation of M. C. Escher drawing, robotic hands|type=Photograph|url=http://www.morganrockhill.com/Concept/ConceptM03.html|department=Concept Photography|publisher=Morgan Rockhill PhotoDigital|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180528165556/http://www.morganrockhill.com/Concept/ConceptM03.html|archive-date=28 May 2018|url-status=dead|access-date=28 May 2018}}{{Cite AV media|last=Willis|first=Shane|date=12 October 2007|title=Hand Fixing Hand|type=Photograph|url=http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=6522423&size=lg|website=Photo.net|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161114054611/http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=6522423&size=lg|archive-date=14 November 2016|url-status=dead|access-date=28 May 2018}}{{pb}}{{Cite web|url=https://geekologie.com/2012/11/hand-fixing-hand-a-futuristic-take-on-mc.php|title='Hand Fixing Hand', A Futuristic Take On M.C. Escher's Iconic 'Drawing Hands'|author=|date=1 November 2012|website=Geekologie|publisher=Anticlown Media|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180528171810/https://geekologie.com/2012/11/hand-fixing-hand-a-futuristic-take-on-mc.php|archive-date=28 May 2018|url-status=live|access-date=28 May 2018}}