Pietà 1920

Curator: This is Luis Jou’s "Pietà", from 1920, housed here at the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: It's a powerful image. The stark black and white, the angular lines...it evokes a real sense of suffering. Curator: Indeed. Consider how the artist uses the woodcut technique to emphasize the emotional weight. The density of the lines, creating a sort of visual texture...it's a tactile representation of grief. Editor: And the composition – framing Mary and Jesus with angels and mourners. Who were the intended consumers and how might this have been circulated? Was this for private devotion, public display, or both? Curator: Precisely! Jou's "Pietà" highlights how materials and process contribute to the reading of the artwork and its place in the religious and visual culture of the time. Editor: Agreed. It invites us to contemplate not just the scene, but the very circumstances of its creation and reception.