Erik Desmazieres: Imaginary Places

Erik Desmazieres is considered one of the finest French printmakers of his generation. His etchings and drawings, rendered with masterly precision and attention to detail, range from intimate interiors to wild architectural fantasies, and recall Old Masters such as Bosch and Goya. A prolonging of childhood fairytales, the allure of Erik Desmazieres's prints lies partly in their ambiguity and partly in the technical virtuosity, careful observation, and singularity of his inventions. The 80 prints and drawings in this volume are from the artist's production of the 1970s and 1980s, focusing on imaginary places. It includes the artist's masterpieces The Temptation of St Anthony, the prints used to illustrate Borges' Library of Babel, Imaginary Alphabets, and Rembrandt's Curiosity Cabinet, to name but a few. The Argentine writer, Alberto Manguel, author of the fascinating and erudite The Dictionary of Imaginary Places, contributes a critical essay on the fantastic nature of the artist's oeuvre. Text in English and French.