Pont du demi-sommeil/Bridge of drowsiness 1937

Editor: Here we have Jacqueline Lamba's "Pont du demi-sommeil," or "Bridge of drowsiness", a photograph in the collection of the Harvard Art Museums. I find its stark composition, with roses in various states of enclosure, strangely unsettling. What strikes you about this work? Curator: It’s interesting that you find it unsettling. Looking at it through a historical lens, I'm struck by Lamba's engagement with the surrealist movement's fascination with the everyday. How does she transform a simple still life into something more… symbolic? Editor: Perhaps the roses, both protected and exposed, speak to the precarity of beauty itself in a changing world? Curator: Exactly! And consider the title. “Bridge of Drowsiness” suggests a liminal space, a state between wakefulness and sleep. How might this photograph engage with the social and political climate of its time? Editor: I hadn't considered that. Now I see it as a commentary on vulnerability within societal structures. Thanks! Curator: Precisely. It's amazing how much a seemingly simple image can reveal.