Our Lady of Lourdes 1920

Editor: This is Eric Gill's wood engraving, "Our Lady of Lourdes." It's striking, isn't it? All those sharp lines, the stark black and white... What symbols do you see at play here? Curator: The serpent, crushed underfoot, is a powerful echo of Genesis, of course. Mary as the New Eve, undoing the original sin. And those radiating lines – are they light, grace, power emanating from her? Gill is very deliberate in his use of iconic visual language. Editor: So, it's about layering those historical and religious symbols. Is the simplicity of the image part of that? Curator: Precisely! Stripped down to its essentials, the image allows those core symbols to resonate more deeply in our cultural memory. Think of how the halo works, too – a visual shorthand instantly recognizable. Editor: It's amazing how much meaning he packed into such a simple form. Curator: Indeed. Gill understood the enduring power of images to convey complex ideas and emotions across time.