Anne Desmet was born in Liverpool, UK in 1964. She gained a BA and MA at the Ruskin School of Art, Oxford University and a Postgraduate Diploma in Printmaking at Central School of Art and Design, London. She has taught wood engraving at the Royal Academy schools, the British Museum and Middlesex University. In 2011 Anne was elected a member of the Royal Academy of Arts and is only the third wood engraver ever elected to the RA in its entire history.
Anne has accepted commissions for the Royal Mint, the V&A Museum, the British Library, the British Museum, the National Gallery, Sotheby’s, The Times, Vital Arts NHS Trust, and Oxford University Trust amongst other institutions and private collections.
Her work is held in many major contemporary art collections including the British Museum, the Ashmolean Museum, the V&A, the National Art Library, British Library, Pallant House; and Internationally: Ex Libris Museum in Russia, Musée d’Art Contemporain in France, the Ostrobothnian Museum in Finland, Museu de Arte do Espirito Santo in Brazil, and Museo Civico in Italy …to name but a few.
Anne was editor of Printmaking Today from 1998 – 2013, she is also the author of several books about wood engraving including Anne Desmet: A Greek Journey (2019), and Anne Desmet: An Italian Journey (2016), she is co-author of Handmade Prints (2000), and Printmakers – the Directory (2006). She has also written for The Times, The Guardian, Art Monthly, Art Review, The New York Times and the RA Magazine.
Anne has had more than 50 solo exhibitions. Her latest exhibition Kaleidoscope / London is on at Guildhall Art Gallery, London, until January 2025.