Shadows of a Hand was the first museum exhibition in the United States devoted to the drawings of Victor Hugo. The exhibition featured over one hundred works from the collections of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France; Maison de Victor Hugo in Paris; Musée Victor Hugo de Villequier; Musée du Louvre; Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon; The Art Institute of Chicago; and private collections.
The works were selected by Ann Philbin and guest curator Florian Rodari.