Sketchbooks, a “founding passage” to the work of Jean Lecoultre
Musée Jenisch
From June 18 to September 26, the Cabinet des estampes in Vevey, hosted by the Musée Jenisch, invites you to discover the exhibition “Jean Lecoultre. L’Œil à vif”.
In this exhibition, you can see three sketchbooks from our collection. BCUL’s Manuscript Department acquired the artist’s archives in 2019, thanks to the support of theAssociation des amis de la BCU Lausanne.
We attended a discussion between Jean Lecoultre and his friend, writer and columnist Christophe Gallaz, both of whom focused on the value of archives and the changes in technique adopted by the visual artist throughout his career. Here are some elements of their exchange, reported by Christophe Gallaz:
The starting point is a shared understanding of the “draft” that often precedes the finished work. The creator then seeks his path towards it, while exploring himself by refining his inner visions and his means of depicting them.
Thus, the sketchbooks now preserved by the BCUL radiate with avenues that are still open, despite their more than fifty years of age – and whose accomplished, more assertive work is less promising.
And there’s another reason to be delighted: the public and specialists who can consult this type of document at an institution like BCUL are able to approach art and artists more closely than they would at a conventional exhibition.
In the case of Jean Lecoultre, for example, his sketchbooks all predate 2010. And why? Because the artist, having reached what we might call his “prime working age”, no longer feels the need to indulge in the slightest preparatory draft. Driven by intuition and know-how honed by experience, he shapes the definitive canvas or drawing from the outset.
This is how, thanks to the Jean Lecoultre Fund, everyone can invite themselves into his studio – and into the times of his work and his life.
The Jean Lecoultre collection can be consulted by appointment in the Unithèque consultation room. Take a look at theinventory before ordering the pieces you’re interested in, and don’t miss the exhibition at Jenisch!
