Pouting Man

Jennifer Tonkovich: Welcome to Jean-Jacques Lequeu: Visionary Architect. Drawings from the Bibliothèque nationale de France. This is Jennifer Tonkovich, the Eugene and Clare Thaw Curator of Drawings and Prints here at The Morgan Library & Museum. Lequeu left us a paper legacy of more than 800 drawings, and among them are several sheets in which he used himself as the model. These self-portraits feed our curiosity about the individual behind this large and strange group of works. These drawings not only capture the artist's appearance, but also alert us to how he wanted to be seen. An informal profile portrait shows us a smiling Lequeu. In fact, he would've had to work with a friend in order to trace his profile. He heartily approved of this particular portrait, noting that it was a good likeness. In a more formal self-portrait, he poses as an architect from Rouen who wants to be seen and remembered as an educated professional, well-groomed, reflective, and surrounded by his work. Less straightforward is the striking series of physiognomic studies in which he depicts himself with exaggerated facial expressions. These works invite us to imagine him sitting in his modest apartment, looking at himself in a mirror, pulling faces and trying to capture them on the page. He preens, he pouts, he makes vulgar gestures, he's bare-chested or in tattered clothes. These solo performances raise compelling questions. Who was his imagined audience? Is Lequeu, who wrote several plays, acting for us? Are these meant to be amusing? What do we make about the poignant air of self-pity that arises from the mockery? We know Lequeu thought about the intimate nature of portraiture and how a likeness could also serve as an object of desire. In his writings, he wondered what would've happened "if I had been favored enough by nature, or rather happy enough, for a woman to desire the imitation of my features?"