Dessin érotique 

Curator: Before us we have "Dessin érotique", which translates to erotic drawing, by Jean Cocteau. Executed in pen and ink, it presents a singular male figure. My immediate sense is one of fragmented classicism; a very free and gestural re-imagining of antique sculpture. Editor: Fragmented is the right word. The body's hairy aspects--the head, the underarm, the groin--are rendered with more density than the contours, giving the figure a strangely piecemeal quality. It feels less like a celebration of form and more like an examination of it. What about the erotic charge implied in the title, what is he trying to evoke by its direct claim? Curator: For Cocteau, line itself carries significant meaning and almost serves as a personal form of inscription, but its also a direct reflection of post World War Two climate and its need for release from a societal vice. The thin ink lines feel almost nervously drawn and quick which gives it immediacy but also speaks to accessibility and the inexpensive quality associated with its materials of making. Consider the history of art being redefined by these raw forms. The eroticism then could be its very refusal to partake in grandeur that eroticises in a different way. Editor: That reading makes perfect sense given Cocteau’s fascination with myth and re-envisioning traditional themes through a distinctly modern lens, but he does love his iconography of the queer body, but it extends to exploring the emotional states of masculinity. His use of classical forms, particularly the male nude, becomes a site for expressing vulnerability. And of course there's the symbolism of the cloak. Perhaps its meant to be interpreted as something more directly phallic? Curator: Good eye. It is so much about context and time, though; what the audience brings to it in addition to what Cocteau sought to express with such an available process. What's available at hand. Editor: Well, it's always interesting to think about how our personal context shapes what we see. This brief encounter with Cocteau certainly reveals how the same image can trigger totally distinct sets of ideas. Curator: Yes, and even a simple medium like ink can yield complexities!