Jean-Jacques Lequeu does in fact hide behind the most enigmatic and controversial smile in the history of art, writes Philippe Duboy in a book that is one of the most tantalizing examples of architectural investigation ever produced. It is an extraordinary compilation - part speculative biography, part meticulous research, with hundreds of intriguing drawings, many in color - that unravels the mystery of this eighteenth-century maverick artist whose drawings have established him variously as a visionary architect associated ...
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Jean-Jacques Lequeu does in fact hide behind the most enigmatic and controversial smile in the history of art, writes Philippe Duboy in a book that is one of the most tantalizing examples of architectural investigation ever produced. It is an extraordinary compilation - part speculative biography, part meticulous research, with hundreds of intriguing drawings, many in color - that unravels the mystery of this eighteenth-century maverick artist whose drawings have established him variously as a visionary architect associated with Boullee and Ledoux, forerunner of surrealism, and inventor of bad taste. Lequeu's architectural drawings from the legendary portfolios Architecture civile and Nouvelle methode are presented here in their entirety, along with his Lewd Figures, perhaps the oddest feature of the whole collection. The drawings are accompanied by long captions, misspelt and ungrammatical, but written in a flawless bureaucratic hand. The artist's marginalia provide insights into his visions, which seem dominated by an obsession with petrified forms and a recurring preoccupation with sex. Interleaved with the drawings are curious autobiographical papers. And it is here that Duboy's investigation of Lequeu begins to reveal strange clues. He discovers that Lequeu was not an architect at all but a government bureaucrat, a draftsman who ended up living in a brothel. Between the brothel and the obscure office from which he was eventually fired, he produced his encyclopedia of the universe - bizarre portraits of nuns baring their breasts and other lewd figures, and architectural fantasies of vast imaginary cities. Duboy takes his study further, into the realm of Charles Fourier andhis brother-in-law Anthelme Brillat-Savarin and from there to the world of the dadaists, surrealists, and futurists, particularly the circles of Marcel Duchamp and Le Corbusier. He suggests that Duchamp and Raymond Rousell tampered with the Lequeu drawings to concoct a character and oeuvre even more puzzling. There are glimpses of Duchamp's convolutions of mind that will stir a reassessment of his work. Duchamp emerges here, for the first time, as an intrepid and unwavering despiser of Le Corbusier. Twentieth-century reputations are as much at stake in this study as those of the eighteenth-century artist, notes Robin Middleton. Philippe Duboy is Professor of the History of Cities, Paris-Belleville School of Architecture.
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Add this copy of Lequeu: an Architectural Enigma to cart. $111.36, fair condition, Sold by Goodwill Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Hillsboro, OR, UNITED STATES, published 1986 by Thames & Hudson Ltd.
Add this copy of Lequeu: an Architectural Enigma to cart. $302.00, very good condition, Sold by Design Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from New York, NY, UNITED STATES, published 1987 by The MIT Press.
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Seller's Description:
Very Good in Very Good jacket. This is a very good hardcover copy in a very good dust jacket with almost no wear. Completely clean inside and out. Stated first edition. Jean-Jacques Lequeu was certainly one of the most enigmatic of the 18th Century French Architects, because he was never a practicing architect. He mainly produced unusual drawings which were published as the 'Architecture Civile' and the 'Nouvelle Methode'. For the most part Lequeu's drawings were not seen in his day. In fact he gave his collection of drawings to the Bibliotheque Nationale and then vanished sometime in the 1820's. The Bibliotheque promptly locked them away out of view. Illustrated in color and black & white. 13" high X 10" wide, 367 pages. Large heavy book, foreign shipping will be extra. This book will be securely wrapped and packed in a sturdy box and shipped with tracking.
Add this copy of Lequeu: an Architectural Enigma to cart. $807.00, like new condition, Sold by Sequitur Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Boonsboro, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1986 by Thames and Hudson Ltd.
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Seller's Description:
Like New. Dust jacket in protective mylar cover. Hardcover and dust jacket. Good binding and cover. Clean, unmarked pages. 367 p. : 420 illustrations.; 33 cm. This is an oversized or heavy book, which requires additional postage for international delivery outside the US.
Add this copy of Lequeu. an Architectural Enigma to cart. $307.00, like new condition, Sold by PASCALE'S BOOKS rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NORTH READING, MA, UNITED STATES, published 1987 by MIT Press:.
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Seller's Description:
Fine in Fine jacket. Folio-over 12"-15" tall. 367 pages, illustrated in color and b&w. "Lequeu' architectural drawings from the legendary portfolios Architecture Civile and Nouvelle Methude are presented here in their entirety, along with his "Lewd Figures, " perhaps the oddest feature of the whole collection." FINE HARDCOVER, FINE DUST JACKET.
Add this copy of Lequeu an Architectural Enigma to cart. $432.00, very good condition, Sold by Last Exit Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Charlottesville, VA, UNITED STATES, published 1986 by The MIT Press.
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Seller's Description:
Very Good in Very Good dust jacket. Hardcover. 4to. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. 1986. 367 pgs. Illustrated with 348 annotated plates. First Edition/First Printing. DJ has light shelf-wear present to the DJ extremities. Bound in cloth boards with titles present to the spine and front board. Boards have light shelf-wear present to the extremities. No ownership marks present. Text is clean and free of marks. Binding tight and solid. "Jean-Jacques Lequeu does in fact hide behind the most enigmatic and controversial smile in the history of art, " writes Philippe Duboy in a book that is one of the most tantalizing examples of architectural investigation ever produced. It is an extraordinary compilation-part speculative biography, part meticulous research, with hundreds of intriguing drawings, many in color-that unravels the mystery of this eighteenth-century maverick artist whose drawings have established him variously as a visionary architect associated with Boullée and Ledoux, forerunner of surrealism, and inventor of bad taste. E-167; 4to 11"-13" tall; 367 pages.
Add this copy of Lequeu: an Architectural Enigma to cart. $254.54, good condition, Sold by Friends of the Phoenix Library rated 3.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Phoenix, AZ, UNITED STATES, published 1986 by The MIT Press.
