Letter "Q" Possibly 1953

Curator: Standing before us is "Letter 'Q'", a woodcut print possibly created in 1953 by Ru van Rossem. What strikes you about it? Editor: It's arresting. Stark, almost severe in its contrasts, but there's a musicality implied too. It’s very dynamic; not at all what you expect when you see it reduced to just lines. Curator: Absolutely. That interplay between severity and implied melody is intriguing. Look closely—van Rossem uses stark lines to render a cello, fragmented and reassembled into an abstract composition. Editor: And figures, too! Faint, stylized figures playing other instruments are hinted at in the background. There is also a disembodied hand holding the cello. The linework creates the mood as much as the image does. Curator: Exactly. Those background figures add layers of context, suggesting performance and participation, placing the artwork within a social setting, where music is collaboratively produced. The symbolic language here draws heavily on geometric forms that resonate across cultures, almost like a visual Esperanto, pointing to broader movements of post-war abstract art. Editor: Given the cultural moment, the early 1950s, does the starkness also reflect the socio-political climate of the Cold War era, a time of division and uncertainty, even in supposedly neutral spaces of artistic expression? Curator: That's a vital question. I believe abstraction was sometimes employed as a way of speaking about societal unease indirectly, without risking censorship. What does the initial ‘Q’ perhaps conceal? A question, perhaps? Editor: Intriguing idea. I can't shake the feeling that Van Rossem cleverly encodes something within this ostensibly simple composition, an understated rebellion, that history has made the image an enigma for us. Curator: Or maybe a visual riddle where form embodies music and evokes universal human experience, transcending temporal limitations? Editor: That, too, holds a powerful resonance. This woodcut, stark as it seems on first glance, conceals an entire concert.