Pierre Desloges

Pierre Desloges
8 × 10 inches
Oil on canvas
February 2012
NFS

Description:
This painting portrays Pierre Desloges (1742–?), a pioneering Deaf author born in Le Grand-Pressigny in France’s Loire Valley. At the age of twenty-one, he moved to Paris, where he worked as a bookbinder and paperhanger.

This portrait is entirely from my imagination after reading The Deaf Experience by Harlan Lane. No known portrait of Pierre Desloges exists, and very little is known about his physical appearance. Historical accounts mention only that he kept his mouth closed, likely because he had lost all of his teeth after becoming Deaf from smallpox.

Desloges is recognized as the first Deaf person to publish a book. He wrote in defense of sign language in response to the views of Jacob Rodrigue Pereire Deschamps, who favored oral instruction over signed communication. Desloges argued that sign language is the natural language of Deaf people and described it as a “useful art.” His work stands as one of the earliest published affirmations of Deaf language, culture, and identity.

The year of Pierre Desloges’ death remains unknown.