Anne Desmet Personal Information

  • 1964
    • Anne Desmet born in Liverpool, England
  • 1964- 70
    • Lived with family in father's hotel, Toxteth, Liverpool

Anne Desmet Education

  • 1983-86
    • BA Fine Art, Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art/ Worcester College, Oxford University
  • 1987-88
    • Advanced Studies in Printmaking Postgraduate Diploma, Central School of Art and Design, London
  • 1989-90
    • Anne Desmet lived and worked in Rome, Italy
  • 1991
    • MA Fine Art, Oxford University

Anne Desmet Solo Exhibitions

  • 2008
    • Whitworth Gallery, Manchester (& touring UK)
    • Hart Gallery, London
  • 2006
    • Hart Gallery, London
  • 2004
    • Blender Gallery, Oxfordshire
    • Hart Gallery, London
  • 2002, 2000, 98, 96, 94, 92 & 91
    • Duncan Campbell Fine Art, London
  • 2002
    • Wrexham Arts Centre, Wales
  • 1999
    • Towers and Transformations exhibition toured to: School of Art & Museum, Aberystwyth; Holburne Museum & Crafts Study Centre, Bath; Peter Scott Gallery, Lancaster University; Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate; Millais Gallery, Southampton Institute; Oriel 31, Newtown, Powys; & Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester
  • 1998
    • Towers and Transformations: major retrospective exhibition, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
  • 1995
    • Ex Libris Museum, Moscow, Russia
  • 1995 & 93
    • Godfrey & Watt Gallery, Harrogate
  • 1992
    • Royal Overseas League, London
  • 1990
    • Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, Oxford
  • 1989
    • Tudor Hall School, Wykham Park, Banbury

top of pageAnne Desmet Two and Four-person Exhibitions

  • 1984
    • Worcester College, Oxford
  • 1985
    • St. Johns College, Oxford
  • 1987
    • Old Fire Station Arts Centre, Oxford
  • 1993
    • Barbican Centre, London
  • 1996
    • Printworks Gallery, Colchester
  • 1999
    • Printing from Wood, Artmonsky Arts, London
    • FourSight, Royal Over-Seas League, London
  • 2000
    • Espaco Cultural Yazigi International, Vitoria, Brazil
  • 2001
    • Urban Evolution: Anne Desmet & Jacqueline Newell, Manhattan Graphics Center, New York, USA
  • 2002
    • De Ploeg print gallery, Groningen, Netherlands
  • 2003/4
    • Rembrandt Revisited & Anne Desmet, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester

top of pageAnne Desmet Group Exhibitions

  • 1990 to date
    • Anne Desmet has shown in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition eleven times since 1990.
    • She shows regularly with the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers and the Society of Wood Engravers, as well as in numerous selected group exhibitions worldwide.

top of pageAnne Desmet Publications and associated references

    • The many publications featuring her work include:
    • Monoprinting by Jackie Newell & Dee Whittington (A&C Black ltd);
    • Collecting Original Prints by Rosemary Simmons (A&C Black ltd);
    • Private Views: Artists working today by Judith Palmer (Arts Council);
    • An Artist’s Handbook by Ray Smith (Dorling Kindersley);
    • An Engraver’s Globe by Simon Brett (Primrose Hill Press);
    • Relief Printmaking by Ann Westley (A&C Black ltd); Engravers Two (Silent Books);
    • Wood Engraving and the Woodcut in Britain c1890 - 1990 by James Hamilton (Barrie & Jenkins);
    • Printmaking Today magazine - Anne Desmet: Collaged Wood Engravings (feature by Rosemary Simmons);
    • The Times;
    • The Guardian;
    • Art Review;
    • Art Monthly;
    • The Jackdaw;
    • Art & Cities;
    • Oxford Times & Burlington Magazine.
    • Anne Desmet - Towers and Transformations, a complete catalogue raisonnee of the artist's work, was published by Ashmolean Museum Publications to mark the solo retrospective exhibition (of same title) at the Ashmolean Museum and touring UK.
    • She was interviewed about her work on Woman's Hour (Radio 4) in 1998 & 1996.
    • She is co-author, with artist Jim Anderson RE, of a book: Handmade Prints - An Introduction to Printmaking without a Press, published by A&C Black Publishers ltd (London), Davis (USA) and Haupt (Germany) in 2000 (reprinted in UK, USA and Germany in 2003 & 2006).
    • She is co-editor, with Anthony Dyson RE, of Printmakers: The Directory, a handbook of some 150 professional artist-printmakers, published in 2006 by A&C Black Ltd.
    • Since 1998, Desmet has been editor of Printmaking Today - the quarterly journal of international contemporary graphic art.

top of pageAnne Desmet Awards and Prizes

  • 1987
    • Lithography Prize, Printmakers Council (PMC) & Whatman Paper
    • National Print Exhibition, Royal Festival Hall, London
  • 1988
    • Anne Desmet elected Associate of the Royal Society of Painter Printmakers (RE)
  • 1989 & 96
    • The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation (Montreal, Canada) award for representational/ figurative work in Printmaking
  • 1989-90
    • British School at Rome Scholarship in Printmaking
  • 1990
    • Artist-in-Residence, Oriel 31 (Davies Memorial Gallery), Newtown, Powys
  • 1991
    • Rooks Rider Prize, A View of the New Exhibition, Royal Over-seas League, London
    • Elected Fellow of the RE
    • Elected Member of the Society of Wood Engravers (SWE)
  • 1992
    • Prizewinner, South Bank Picture Show, Royal Festival Hall, London
  • 1994
    • The Gordon Tuffrey Memorial Award, Royal West of England
    • Academy (RWA) Open Print Exhibition
  • 1995
    • Anne Desmet awarded medal for most significant exhibition of the year - Ex-libris Museum, Moscow
  • 1998
    • The Art Review Award, National Print Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London
  • 1996
    • The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation (Montreal Canada) Award for representational printmaking
  • 1997
    • The S Dawson Taylor Award for a wood engraving, RWA Open Print Exhibition, Bristol
    • Southern Arts Award for exhibition publicity for Ashmolean Museum Exhibition
  • 1998
    • Pollock-Krasner Foundation Award, USA The Art Review Award, National Print Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London
  • 1999
    • Purchase Prize, International Mini-Print Exhibition, Connecticut, USA
  • 2000
    • Exhibition Prize, Mini-Print International Show, Vitoria, Brazil
    • Selected art writing, lecturing and related experience
  • 1989
    • Visiting lecturer in Fine Art/ Printmaking, Leeds Polytechnic
  • 1990-91
    • Lecturer in Fine Art/ Printmaking, Royal Academy Schools, London
  • 2004
    • Commissioned to tutor woodcutting workshop in chiaroscuro techniques at the British Museum
  • 2006
    • Rachel Reckitt Award,Society of Wood engravers'Annual Exhibition, Touring.
  • 2007
    • An Honorory Prize for 6th International Mini Print Triennial at Lahti Art Museum, Lahti, Finland.

top of pageAnne Desmet Selected Commissions

  • 1987
    • Wood engraving of & for Central School of Art & Design, London
  • 1988
    • Wood engraved illustrations for Young Dragon Book of Verse published by Oxford University Press
  • 1991-93 23
    • wood engraved illustrations for The Times
  • 1993
    • Wood engraved logo for the Abbey School, Tewkesbury
  • 1993
    • Wood engraved letterhead for The Times newspaper
  • 1994
    • Illustration for calendar, for National Grid PLC
  • 1995
    • Wood engraving, in an edition of 250, of & for Balliol College, Oxford
    • Watercolour of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for children, East London
    • Woodcut of enlarged detail of head of Hercules (from Hercules & the Molionide Twins by Durer); & filmed demonstration of woodcutting techniques for British Museum/ National Gallery video
  • 1996
    • Wood engraved logo for Sotheby's Auctioneers of their New Bond Street premises, London
    • Wood engraving for print portfolio project: Gardens in Relief comprising 14 artists
    • Logo design for The Art of the Garden, an RWS & Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers touring exhibition
  • 1997
    • Wood engraved logo of & for Bourton House, Bourton-on-the-Hill, Gloucs
  • 1998
    • Wood engraving for new British Library, London: engraved block and print comprise part of a permanent exhibition at the Library demonstrating print processes
    • Wood engraving of Queen Elizabeth Hospital for Children, East London

top of pageAnne Desmet Collections

    • Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (has purchased 25 works to date)
    • Victoria and Albert Museum, London
    • The National Art Library, London
    • British Museum (Education Service)
    • British Library
    • The Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester
    • Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
    • Ex Libris museum, Moscow, Russia
    • Musee d'Art Contemporain, Chamelieres, France
    • Ostrobothnian Museum, Vaasa, Finland
    • Museu de Arte de Espirito Santo, Vitoria, Brazil
    • Municipal art Gallery, Lodz, Poland
    • Worcester College, Oxford
    • Balliol College, Oxford
    • Slaughter & May, London
    • Manchester University Library
    • The National Grid PLC
    • IMG Corporate, New York, USA
    • Art Review
    • H M The Queen
    • H M The Queen Mother
    • The Duchess of York
    • Private Collections worldwide