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Orlacs Hände

Name: Orlacs Hände
Brand: The Picture Palace
SKU: PA-00682

Unknown, 1924

The Picture PalacePA-00682Tear sheet

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No print size passed the check for this piece: at 8 x 10 in, Wrong shape: a 13% crop. We would rather show it than sell a soft print.

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The 1924 poster for Robert Wiene's Orlacs Hände (The Hands of Orlac). Wiene, returning to Expressionist dread after Caligari, made a fever-dream of guilt, grafted flesh and hands that seem to act alone. Notice how the composition drives everything toward the hands themselves. Guilt lodged in the flesh.

Maker: Unknown
Date: 1924
Medium of the original: Poster
Original held by: Wikimedia Commons
Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Rights: Cleared for print
Catalogue number: PA-00682

Before a size goes on sale, the file is measured against it: pixels per inch at that size, how much of the picture a crop would lose, tone and sharpness. A size that fails is not offered, so there is nothing to choose wrong.

How the print check works

Sizes withheld
Size	Why
8 x 10 in	Wrong shape: a 13% crop
8 x 12 in	141 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
11 x 14 in	Wrong shape: a 12% crop
12 x 16 in	98 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
12 x 18 in	94 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
16 x 20 in	Wrong shape: a 13% crop
16 x 24 in	70 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
18 x 24 in	65 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
20 x 30 in	56 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
24 x 30 in	Wrong shape: a 13% crop
24 x 36 in	47 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
30 x 40 in	39 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
36 x 48 in	32 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
40 x 60 in	28 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged