Already by the end of the nineteenth century Paris had become a mecca for the graphic arts, with artists such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Jules Chéret and Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen creating prints and posters there that were enthusiastically received by critics and collectors alike. Based on these developments was the twentieth-century production in the French capital of artists’ books containing original prints, through which artists including Pierre Bonnard, Pablo Picasso, Max Ernst, Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse and Joan Miró reached audiences much wider than those they could access with their paintings. Masterpieces of the book medium came into being at the hands of printers like Fernand Mourlot and publishers Ambroise Vollard, Tériade and Aimé Maeght. Based on the extensive collection of Museum Folkwang in Essen, Chagall, Matisse, Miró. Made in Paris presents outstanding examples of artists’ books and portfolios including Matisse’s Jazz, Picasso’s La Tauromaquia, Miró’s A toute épreuve and Chagall’s etchings for the Hebrew Bible—all set in the context of the nineteenth century and the work of contemporary artists such as Jim Dine and David Lynch.

Co-published with Museum Folkwang, Essen

Exhibition: Museum Folkwang, Essen, 1 September 2023 to 7 January 2024