Desmazières, Erik

1948 –
French

Erik Desmazières is widely considered to be the finest French print maker of his generation. Born in 1948 in Rabat, Morocco, to a diplomat father, he spent his childhood in Morocco, Portugal and France before studying political science and evening art courses in printmaking. Fortunately, the print making classes proved more appealing and he became a professional artist.

Desmazières’ style can be described as “Art Fantastique” – exquisitely rendered drawings of densely filled scenes with overtones of Piranese, Goya, Durer and Bosch. His prints and illustrated books are included in important museum and private collections in Europe and around the world, and he has been included in dozens of international museum exhibitions and retrospectives. He was elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts de l’Institut de France in 2009, made a Knight of the Légion d’honneur in 2016, and an Officer the Order of Arts and Letters also in 2016.  Since 2020 he has been Director of the Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris.