Initial H c. 16th century

Curator: This is an anonymous print simply titled "Initial H" held in the Harvard Art Museums. It feels very unsettling to me, almost grotesque. Editor: Indeed. The imagery within the letterform, the faces and foliage, are quite jarring when one considers the function of an initial. The paper and the line work speak to a process that's quite old. Curator: Look at how the faces morph into plant forms. And is that a devilish figure at the bottom? This letter is heavy with symbolic dread! Editor: Perhaps this was designed for a specific context, maybe a religious text dealing with hell or sin? I wonder about the wood block; the labor involved in carving all these intricate details must have been considerable. Curator: It makes me wonder if it was reused for different texts, or if the imagery was specific to a single work. These faces seem to be looking at me with disdain. I feel quite uneasy. Editor: Interesting, to me, it's the tension between craft, labor, and the cultural weight of the letter that resonates. The letter "H" made strange. Curator: And I think that is exactly what I will take with me, how something mundane can, with imagery, be made so haunting.