Isenheim altarpiece, Matthias Grunewald, 1515Icons is a print with several small plates that allude to wounds and cutting rituals: medieval surgic practices like bloodletting and Caesarean section meet Christian iconography of Eve's birth and Christ's wound. There is an allusion to the symbolism of the wound as menstruating vagina.
The small etchings acquire the weight of an object and religious icon quality, because of the presence of the embossing of the plate, document of an inscription, and the composition and contents' allusion to Christian iconography. The order and spacing of the plates alludes to altarpieces and organisation of images inside the church. The use of medieval imagery, and especially with the vertical plates, reminds me of tarot cards.
Ghent altarpiece (opened and closed), Van Eyck, 1432
