A pair of hands press against–what? The body of another person? Or a field of energy that bends and springs with the pressure applied to it? This is Robert’s first woodcut. He was advised in his materials by fellow artist Glenn MacKinnon, a specialist in wood block printing, who shared a studio space. The radiating lines indicate a point of contact where the doctor’s hands are pressing, but they also create a sunburst effect as though a magical energy transfers from human contact that is healing in its effect. The image has been adopted as the logo of the Robert Pope Foundation.

In an earlier image, Abdominal Examination, a doctor touches a patient, searching for lumps and sensitive areas. The doctor is fully dressed and standing; the patient is undressed and lying prone. Both are seen from a distance through the doorway of a room in a clinic. The image comes near the start of the Illness & Healing series, in the diagnosis section. It is a realistic image. Healing Hands is not a realistic image. Furthermore, the meaning of the hands have changed. They are not trying to find a problem, rather the hands provide comfort and a promise of rejuvenation and recovery. There may be more magic than science at work here. The hands are not necessarily those of a doctor.

In Robert’s earlier pictures that featured energy fields, a pattern of lines surrounds full-grown animals like a womb. In more abstract images, Robert arranged patterns of lines like a mandala of circling rays. Psychologist Carl Jung believed such mandalas, found in religious art the world over, were symbols of  a reconnection with one’s inner self through growth and contact with the world. What is different about Healing Hands, from Robert’s earlier energy-field pictures, is the interaction of the hands with the surrounding field. The hands suggest human agency, the ability to reach out and influence the lives of others.