Atelier Lacourière

Atelier Lacourière
Name	Atelier Lacourière
Established	1929
Founder	Roger Lacourière
Location	Paris
Country	France
Notable people	Roger Lacourière, Fernand Mourlot, Georges Rouault, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse

Atelier Lacourière Atelier Lacourière was a Parisian printmaking workshop renowned for premium intaglio, etching, and engraving services that serviced leading 20th-century artists. The studio became a nexus for collaborations bridging painters and printmakers, attracting luminaries across European and American modern art circles. Through technical innovation and editorial activity, the atelier contributed to important print projects, portfolios, and catalogues raisonnés that shaped print culture.

History

The atelier was established in the interwar Paris milieu influenced by the aftermath of World War I, the rise of Surrealism, and the consolidation of Cubism and Fauvism. During the 1930s and 1940s the workshop intersected with artistic movements centered on Montparnasse, Montmartre, and institutions such as the Musée du Louvre, the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, and the Galerie Maeght. Postwar activity saw relationships with publishers and galleries including Tériade, Société Anonyme, and the Cercle d'Art which facilitated portfolios and exhibition catalogues. The atelier operated through periods shaped by events like World War II and cultural recoveries that involved exchanges with collectors linked to the Smithsonian Institution, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Tate Modern.

Founders and Key Personnel

Founder Roger Lacourière trained in printmaking techniques and maintained professional ties to contemporaries such as Fernand Léger, Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso, and Henri Matisse. Key master printers and collaborators included skilled technicians who worked alongside figures like Georges Rouault, Raoul Dufy, Marc Chagall, and Joan Miró. Administrative and editorial figures often liaised with publishers and institutions including Galleries like Galerie Louise Leiris, Galerie Daguerre, and collectors associated with Peggy Guggenheim, Ambroise Vollard, and Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler. The atelier’s staff engaged scholarly contacts with curators and historians from the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Courtauld Institute, and university programs linked to Columbia University and the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.

Techniques and Workshops

Specializing in intaglio processes, the studio refined etching, aquatint, drypoint, and burin engraving techniques often used by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, and Francis Bacon. The workshop’s technical repertoire extended to photo-etching and soft-ground processes relevant for collaborations with Max Ernst, Salvador Dalí, and Yves Klein. Printers at the atelier managed large-format plates for series produced for Éditions des Chroniques du Jour and portfolios issued by Tériade and Cercle d'Art, coordinating presswork using machines of types similar to those found in the Atelier 17 network and in studios frequented by Stanley William Hayter, Sonia Delaunay, and Wassily Kandinsky. Conservation-minded approaches aligned with standards elsewhere such as the Smithsonian Institution conservation labs and the practices promoted by the International Council of Museums.

Notable Collaborations and Publications

The atelier produced editions and suites for major artists including Pablo Picasso’s graphic cycles, Henri Matisse’s black paper cut series, and Georges Rouault’s religious etchings. It worked with publishers like Tériade and Pierre Loeb to produce portfolios circulated through galleries including Galerie Maeght and Galerie Louise Leiris. Scholarly catalogues and monographs on prints issued by the atelier were often referenced by institutions such as the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Museum of Modern Art, and cited in auction records at houses like Sotheby's and Christie's. Collaborative projects included illustrated books commissioned by authors and poets associated with André Breton, Paul Éluard, and Guillaume Apollinaire.

Collections and Exhibitions

Works printed at the atelier are held by major museums and collections including the Musée d'Orsay, the Musée National d'Art Moderne, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the National Gallery of Art. Exhibitions featuring atelier prints have appeared at venues such as the Centre Pompidou, the Tate Modern, and traveling retrospectives organized with partners like the Williams College Museum of Art and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Auction houses including Sotheby's and Christie's have catalogued important suites produced in the studio, while institutional catalogues raisonnés prepared by scholars at the Courtauld Institute and the Getty Research Institute document the atelier’s output.

Legacy and Influence

The atelier’s legacy is reflected in technical innovations that informed print studios such as Atelier 17, Mourlot Studios, and later university workshops in Yale University and Pratt Institute. Its collaborations influenced graphic practices adopted by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Marc Chagall, Joan Miró, and Georges Rouault, and shaped collecting patterns at institutions like the Musée d'Orsay and the Museum of Modern Art. The workshop’s imprint on cataloguing, conservation, and curatorial study persists in holdings at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Getty Research Institute, and the curatorial programs of the Tate Modern, ensuring continued scholarly attention to editions and technical processes associated with 20th-century printmaking.

Category:Printmaking studios Category:Art in Paris Category:20th-century art