Anne Desmet, Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester - Towers and Transformations. A Retrospective Exhibition

Anne Desmet: Towers and Transformations
A Retrospective Exhibition
The Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester
1 October - 28 November 1999

Anne Desmet is one of the most original talents in contemporary printmaking. Her wood engravings and collages show a unique imagination as well as an abundance of technical skill.

Central to her work is a vision of architecture, often depicted in minute detail. Anne Desmet attributes this partially to prolonged stays in hospital as a child when the artist passed the time making detailed pencil drawings of her surroundings. A year spent in Italy inspired the many prints featuring Roman and Italian buildings. The multi-layered aspect of Italian cities is shown with ancient ruins co-existing with the modern. Anne Desmet explores the themes of change, decay, and regeneration, with some of her subjects undergoing amazing transformations in a series of related images, like looking at a flickbook or a series of film stills.

Anne Desmet was born in Liverpool in 1964, and was a student at the Ruskin School of Art in Oxford from 1983-86. Subsequently she studied at the Central School of Art and Design in London and held a scholarship at the British School in Rome.

The exhibition is touring the UK and was organised by the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford and supported by the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation and Southern Arts. An illustrated catalogue is available at Zwemmers, the Gallery Shop.

THE WHITWORTH ART GALLERY
The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M15 6ER
www.whitworth.man.ac.uk