The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 21, 2025

The Library of Babel

1997

Erik Desmazières

(French, born Morocco, 1948-)
France
Portfolio of ten etchings and aquatints printed on blue-toned laid paper
Gift of Carole W. and Charles B. Rosenblatt 2018.56
Catalogue raisonné: FF 157-166
Location: Not on view

Description

Erik Desmazières’ etchings and aquatints represent libraries, city views, cabinets of wonder, and other spaces rich with meaning, history, and content, both real and imagined. Through virtuoso draftsmanship and his consummate command of the technical aspects of etching, Desmazières renders his architectural spaces and cityscapes with hardened reality, simultaneously imbuing them with an uncanny sense of the fantastic and the surreal.
  • Carole W. and Charles B. Rosenblatt, Pepper Pike, OH
    June 4, 2018
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Desmazières, Erik. Erik Desmazières: Etchings, 1972-1981. New York: Fitch-Febvrel Gallery, 1981. cat. nos. 157-166
  • {{cite web|title=The Library of Babel|url=false|author=Erik Desmazières|year=1997|access-date=21 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2018.56