Illustration LXIII c. 15th century

Editor: This is Illustration LXIII, an anonymous work from the Harvard Art Museums. The stark black and white lines give it a sense of urgency. What do you see in this piece regarding its materiality? Curator: I see an early print, likely a woodcut. The roughness of the lines speaks to the process, to labor. This wasn't about individual virtuosity, but about the mass production of images for a wider audience. Editor: Mass production even back then? Curator: Exactly! Consider how the act of carving these images would democratize the content by making it more available and affordable. This impacts how we view the work, not as a precious object, but a functional one. Editor: That makes you wonder about the role of the artist, and the people who consumed this image. Curator: Precisely.