Breathing with David — Florence Marceau-Lafleur

After the lesson, the model was invited to look at her portrait. She was asked whether she could recognise herself, but the question interested her little, as the artists had attempted to draw what she looked like, not what she did (and, sitting on this chair, she had looked at the drawing room, not at herself).

Looking at their portraits, what bothered the artists was "something about the mouth which did not seem quite right.” The model was rather puzzled by the artificially delicate nose - a nose one could not breathe through - for, although she had not looked at herself, she had not doubt that she had breathed her surroundings.

“Perhaps more attention should be given to this part of the face,” she thought, “perhaps the liveliness of a body that sits still is too gentle to be perceived. Art students should dwell on the nose, very heavily - we should perhaps go back to these casts of the Nose of David, and further: these noses should make a sound - they should become flutes, or clay whistles: one should be wary of the presence of their interior.”

Édouard Lantéri, Modelling, A Guide for Teachers and Students, book, 1904

Sketchbook, fineliner on paper, 2020

Neusfluit (sketch for a breathing apparatus), mechanical pencil, fineliner and choarcoal on paper, 2020

Supernumerary Nose 1, air-drying clay and egg, 2021

Breathing with David, performance without public, 2020

Studio situation with scattered senses, stereoscope (detail), 2021