Scene I c. 15th century

Editor: Here we have "Scene I," by an anonymous artist. It looks like a woodcut. There’s so much detail achieved with simple lines! I wonder about the labor involved in creating this. What stands out to you? Curator: Well, let's consider the process. This woodcut, given its probable era, would have involved significant hand labor. The tools, the carving, even the paper's production, speak to a specific means of production. How does this materiality inform your understanding of the scene depicted? Editor: That's interesting. I hadn't considered the paper itself. Thinking about the physical effort makes the image more powerful somehow, like a collective effort. Curator: Precisely! It challenges this idea of the solitary artistic genius, focusing our attention on the hands and processes that brought this image into being, and how those processes might have shaped the final image.