Ville Souterraine
Date1982
Mediumetching on Arches paper
DimensionsImage: 16 5/16 × 23 5/16 inches (41.4 × 59.2 cm)
Plate: 16 3/8 × 23 9/16 inches (41.6 × 59.8 cm)
Sheet: 22 3/8 × 30 1/16 inches (56.8 × 76.4 cm)
Matted: 23 9/16 × 30 1/2 inches (59.8 × 77.5 cm)
Credit LineGift of Joseph Browns.
Object number2018.14.4
Copyright© 2023 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris.
The images and text contained on this page are owned by Telfair Museums or used by the Museum with permission from the owners. Unauthorized reproduction, transmission or display of these materials is prohibited with the exception of items deemed “fair use” as defined by U.S. and international copyright laws.Label TextSince he first picked up an etching needle nearly 50 years ago, French artist Erik Desmazières has produced a body of work remarkable for its sheer technical brilliance and unrelenting originality. Desmazières’ etchings may invite comparison to old masters such as Giovanni Battista Piranesi (Italian, 1720–1778) and Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669), but his work never comes across as derivative. On the contrary, each detailed composition provides a glimpse into the artist’s inventive mind. These prints reveal Desmazières’ abiding interest in architecture—in which he briefly considered making a career—as many of these works depict the actual interiors, edifices, and cityscapes that compose the artist’s world or purely fictional constructions from his extraordinary imagination.
The son of a French diplomat, Desmazières was born in Rabat, Morocco, in 1948. His youth was spent in Morocco, France, and Portugal. At age 18, he moved to Paris to study political science at the elite Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris and has called the city his home ever since. Desmazières’ work has been the subject of more than 60 solo gallery shows throughout Europe, the United States, and Japan. Telfair Museums hosted an exhibition of his work entitled Constructs and Inventions in 2009, his first solo museum show in the United States.
