Érik Desmazières has been described as a "contemporary printmaker of breathtaking virtuosity" (The Independent, London, Dec. 1993), and "arguably the finest French printmaker of his generation" (Robert Flynn Johnson, Curator, Achenbach Foundation for the Graphic Arts), rendering with masterly draughtsmanship subjects ranging from workshop interiors to fantasies in the tradition of Bosch and Goya.
1948 - Born in Rabat, Morocco.
1971 - Graduate of the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris.
1971 - 1973 - Studied printmaking at the Cours du Soir de la Ville de Paris under Jean Delpech.
1978 - Awarded the prestigious grand prix des Arts de la Ville de Paris.
2006 - Elected president of la Société des Peintres-Graveurs français.
2008 - Elected member of l’Académie des Beaux-Arts.
2016 - Président pro temps de l’Académie des Beaux-Arts.
2020 - Named Director of the Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris.
Lives and works in Paris.
Selected Individual Museum Exhibitions
2004 - Rembrandt House Museum, Amsterdam: Graphic Work
2006-07 - Musée Carnavalet, Paris: Paris à grands traits
2007 - Musée Jenisch, Vevey (Switz.): Lieux imaginaires
2008-09 - Fondation Il Bisonte, Florence: l'Ordine del sogno
Museo della Grafica, Pisa: l'Ordine del sogno
2009 - Telfair Museum, Savannah: Constructs and inventions
2009-10 - Musée des Beaux-Arts, Montreal: Le Monde fantastique
2012 - Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris: Au Coeur de la bibliothèque
2014 - Musée de l'Hospice Comtesse, Lille: Des Mondes gravées
2015 - Graphische Sammlung ETH, Zürich: Réflexions sur l'espace et le temps
Individual gallery exhibitions number more than 100 in Europe, Japan, and the United States.
Selected Public Collections
Achenbach Foundation, San Francisco
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris
British Museum, London
Brooklyn Museum, New York
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Montréal
Musée Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam
Musée Jenisch, Cabinet des estampes, Vevey
Museum of Art, Cleveland
Museum of Art, Philadelphia
Nelson Atkins Museum, Kansas City
New York Public Library, New York
Princeton University Library, Princeton
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Fitch-Febvrel Gallery has published Desmazières' award-winning catalogue raisonné, of which four volumes cover the four decades from 1972 through 2011.
See December 1983 ArtNews Review
See December 18, 1998 New York Times Review
See December 14, 2001 New York Times Review
See February 2002 NYArts Review
See September 2008 Arts & Antiques PDF
See March 2017Connaissance Des Arts PDF
See works by Desmazières
See a list of all Gallery Artists