x1968-107: The Serpent

In 1911, the French poet Guillaume Apollinaire published The Bestiary, or Procession of Orpheus, a collection of thirty poems illustrated with woodcuts by Raoul Dufy. The book's format and the decorative simplicity of its woodcut illustrations recall a medieval bestiary—a natural history of animals intended to provide moral and religious instruction. Dufy worked closely with Apollinaire to develop each woodcut image, some of which—including this image of a serpent—passed through several preliminary stages before the final versions were approved.