The Poems of Pierre de Ronsard 1934

Editor: This is Othon Friesz's "The Poems of Pierre de Ronsard," currently at the Harvard Art Museums. It has a dreamlike quality. What do you think Friesz wanted to convey? Curator: Well, Friesz, working in the early 20th century, was deeply embedded in a Parisian art scene grappling with modernism while referencing the classical. Given the title, how might Ronsard's poetry inform our understanding of the imagery? Editor: Ronsard wrote a lot about nature and love. I guess that fits with the idyllic landscape and the figures in it. Curator: Exactly. The print becomes not just an illustration, but an engagement with the politics of representing pastoral ideals in a rapidly changing world. It invites us to consider what values were being preserved or even reinvented. Editor: That gives me a lot to think about. Thanks!