Customer Reviews

Anne Desmet Towers and Transformations

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There just isn't enough work about Anne desmets work, and this book barely gives a sliver of an insight, little more.

Desmet is clearly important but determining if that importance is in the larger sphere of British art or only amongst the remnant of British wood engravers is a big call at this time and this book provides few clues.

My own gut feeling is that Anne Desmet is a little bogged down in academic intellectual debates about the nature of this and that and the validity of post (place whatever "ism" is currently fashionable here). Her work though defends itself and speaks for itself, intricate, precise and enticing, food for the imagination, aesthetically reconciled. Her work could easily exist outside of the British intellectual artisti debates, it really is that good.

If you are a student of wood engraving or printmaking then this is a must see or own book.

British art collectors seem to have missed the boat in this instance (don't misunderstand me I am sure her work sells very well, but she probably ought to have the status/public awareness of the chapman twins or some of the other YBA).

In 2011, Anne Desmet was accepted into the esteemed Royal Academy of the Arts. This catalogue from her 1998 retrospective exhibition at The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England, showcases a selection of her remarkable prints & collages, created between 1984-1998. Anne Desmet is a wonderful contemporary artist and a leading authority on the art of printmaking. She is the editor of 'Printmaking Today' magazine and has written & contributed to Handmade Prints and Primary Prints.