Ingres: Erotic Drawings

Guégan presents a little-known segment of Ingres's ouvre, a set of drawings that had lain quietly in storage at the museum at Montauban for over a century. Then, in 1967, Cabanis presented these works, generating some amount of sensationalism and backlash. Sensation came from the sensuality of the works themselves, often inviting reinterpretation of Ingres's paintings, including Venus Anadyomene, the odalisques, and others. Backlash came from the established scholars to whom erotism could only be crudity - and their beloved Ingres could never be crude. As one might expect, both sides (Guégan included) appear to have exaggerated their cases. The sensuality has always been there, including sapphic caresses in Ingres's famous Turkish Bath. A photo of a lost painting shows Madame Ingres nude, leaving the viewer certain that Ingres appreciated her beauty in all ways, not just esthetic. The turmoil surrounds sketches that had rarely if ever been shown, largely drawings after older engravings. Every artist of the time copied older works. In Ingres's case, that included works depicting embraces ranging up to the most intimate. Today's viewer might not understand where the shock value came from. These works don't appear to represent a major theme of Ingres's career, and do present one aspect of the human condition of which he was student. I see these drawings as an expected part of his total work. He often presented the human animal's physical beauty; at least hints of sexuality should not and probably can not be avoided in them. This book presents a few of Ingres's lesser-known drawings, for which I'm grateful. The book's real value, however, may lie in presenting the teacup-sized tempest around those drawings. -- wiredweird