Where in the World is Jean-Jacques Lequeu?

Wednesday, September 2, 2020, 3 PM

Tickets: Free; limited availability, advance registration is required.
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Meredith Martin
Lequeu’s donation of more than 800 architectural drawings, letters, manuscripts and physiognomic studies to the Royal Library in Paris created a paper legacy that has confounded scholars ever since. Historians and curators have attempted to link his enigmatic oeuvre to the work of such Enlightenment visionaries as Étienne-Louis Boullée and Claude-Nicolas Ledoux, as well as to the writings of rebellious libertines like the Marquis de Sade. In one infamous account, Lequeu was even outed as the semi-fictional brainchild of the twentieth-century artist Marcel Duchamp. In this lecture Meredith Martin, Associate Professor at New York University, will explore various ways that Lequeu’s corpus has been interpreted and has proven to be fruitful for scholars and architects over the past two centuries.

Please note that the program will take place online. After registering, participants will receive a confirmation email with instructions on how to participate using Zoom. We ask that you download the app in advance for the best user experience.

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.

Please call (212) 685-0008 ext. 560 or e-mail tickets@themorgan.org for information.