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Jean-Jacques Lequeu: Visionary Architect. Drawings from the Bibliothèque nationale de France

January 31 through September 13, 2020

Six months before he died in poverty and obscurity, architect and draftsman Jean‐Jacques Lequeu (1757–1826) donated one more than 800 drawings, one of the most singular and fascinating graphic oeuvres of his time, to the French Royal Library. They remained there, in the institution that would become the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF). The Morgan Library & Museum is proud to be the first institution in New York City to present a selection of these works. Some sixty of these works, the best of Lequeu’s several hundred drawings, are now on view in Jean‐Jacques Lequeu: Visionary Architect, the first museum retrospective to bring significant public and scholarly attention to one of the most imaginative architects of the Enlightenment.

Lequeu’s meticulous drawings in pen and wash include highly detailed renderings of buildings and imaginary monuments populating invented landscapes. His mission was to see and describe everything systematically—from the animal to the organic, from erotic fantasy to his own visage. Solitary and obsessive, he created the fantastic worlds shown in his drawings without ever leaving his studio, and enriched them with characters and stories drawn from his library.

Explore the exhibition »

Jean-Jacques Lequeu: Visionary Architect is organized by the Morgan Library & Museum and the Bibiliothèque nationale de France with the cooperation of Paris Musées.

The exhibition was presented at the Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris, from 11 December 2018 to 31 March 2019. Exhibition curators were Corinne Le Bitouzé and Christophe Leribault and scientific collaborators were Laurent Baridon, Jean-Philippe Garric, and Martial Guédron. The curator of the exhibition at the Morgan is Jennifer Tonkovich, Eugene and Clare Thaw Curator of Drawings and Prints.

The exhibition is made possible by generous support from the Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation, an anonymous donor, the Alex Gordon Fund for Exhibitions, and Aso O. Tavitian, with assistance from Robert Dance and Hubert and Mireille Goldschmidt.

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Jean-Jacques Lequeu (1757–1826), The Great Yawner, n.d. Pen and black ink, brown wash, and red chalk. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des Estampes et de la photographie.

Selected Images

Jean-Jacques Lequeu (1757–1826) The Great Yawner, 1777-1824 Pen and black ink, brown and gray wash, red chalk. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Departement des Estampes et de la photographie.

Jean-Jacques Lequeu (1757–1826) He Sticks Out His Tongue, 1777-1824 Pen and black ink, brown wash Bibliothèque nationale de France, Departement des Estampes et de la photographie.

Jean-Jacques Lequeu (1757–1826)
Draftsman’s Tools, from Civil Architecture, 1782
Pen and black ink, brown and gray wash, watercolor.
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Departement des Estampes et de la photographie.

Jean-Jacques Lequeu (1757–1826)
Frontispiece to the New method applied to the elementary principles of drawing, tending to graphically prefect the outline of the human head by means of various geometrical figures, 1792.
Pen and black ink, gray wash.
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Departement des Estampes et de la photographie.

Jean-Jacques Lequeu (1757–1826)
Design for a Living Room at the hôtel de Montholon, 1786
Pen and black ink, gray wash, watercolor.
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Departement des Estampes et de la photographie.

Jean-Jacques Lequeu (1757–1826)
Tomb of Isocrates, Anthenian Oratzor 1789
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Departement des Estampes et de la photographie.

Jean-Jacques Lequeu (1757–1826)
Designs for a Temple of the Earth, from Civil Architecture, 1794.
Pen and black ink, brown and gray wash, watercolor.
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Departement des Estampes et de la photographie.

Jean-Jacques Lequeu (1757–1826)
Apotheosis of Trajan, 1793-1794
Pen and black ink, brown wash, watercolor.
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Departement des Estampes et de la photographie.

Jean-Jacques Lequeu (1757–1826)
The Bacchante
Pen and black ink, black and gray-brown wash.
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Departement des Estampes et de la photographie.

Jean-Jacques Lequeu (1757–1826)
He Is Free, 1798 or 1799
Pen and black ink, brown and red wash.
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Departement des Estampes et de la photographie.

Jean-Jacques Lequeu (1757–1826)
The White Savage
Pen and black ink, brown and gray wash.
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Departement des Estampes et de la photographie.

Jean-Jacques Lequeu (1757–1826)
Tavern and Hammock of Love, from Civil Architecture
Pen and black ink, gray and brown wash, watercolor
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Departement des Estampes et de la photographie.

Jean-Jacques Lequeu (1757–1826)
And We Shall be Mothers Because…!, 1793 or 1794
Pen and black ink, black and gray wash
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Departement des Estampes et de la photographie.

Jean-Jacques Lequeu (1757–1826)
Chinese Style Gardener’s House and a Terrace on the Banks of a River, from Civil Architecture
Pen and brown and black ink, brown and gray wash, watercolor
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Departement des Estampes et de la photographie.

Jean-Jacques Lequeu (1757–1826)
Indian Pagoda of Intelligence, from Civil Architecture
Pen and black ink, brown wash, watercolor
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Departement des Estampes et de la photographie.

Jean-Jacques Lequeu (1757–1826)
Design for a Theater Interior, from Civil Architecture
Pen, ink, wash, and watercolor
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Departement des Estampes et de la photographie.

Jean-Jacques Lequeu (1757–1826)
Geometric Map
Pen and black ink, watercolor.
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Departement des Estampes et de la photographie.

Jean-Jacques Lequeu (1757–1826)
Temple of Divination, from Civil Architecture
Pen and black ink, gray wash, watercolor
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Departement des Estampes et de la photographie.

Jean-Jacques Lequeu (1757–1826)
Underground of a Gothic House, from Civil Architecture
Pen and brown and black ink, brown and gray wash, watercolor.
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Departement des Estampes et de la photographie.

Gallery Images