Available
artworks

SCHMID Edith, engraving

When she left her native Switzerland at the age of 23, she had never touched nitric acid or activated an intaglio press before. Yet the world of prints had been her attraction for quite some time.

Biography

I was born on the shores of Lake Constance in Switzerland in 1957 into a pleasantly ordinary family. Childhood and schooling went smoothly. Around the age of 11, I received a few tubes of water paint. And this gift revealed and triggered a lively curiosity and interest in the plastic arts. In the Libraries I gradually discovered art books, and the desire to retire with my paints and brushes became more and more frequent. All kinds of supports were suitable for my brushstrokes. The result was always in the field of abstract art. I remember the game of transforming and interpreting readings in color, pictorially. Rarely did I come close to drawing. On the other hand, the world of prints showed a certain attraction. When I expressed the desire to return to Fine Arts I met a firm and definitive parental resistance.

It was only in 1983, when I moved to the south of France, that I met the opportunity to enter as a "free student" at the engraving workshop of the Beaux-Arts in Montpellier. It was an opportunity to learn the different techniques of printmaking, and soon I devoted myself solely to the practice of etching. The prize and the scholarship of Languedoc-Roussillon allowed me to acquire a press and a first workshop was created in Ganges in the Hérault.

Since then, engraving has never let go of me. Press and acid have become daily accomplices. For a long time the intervention on the plate, the moment of the bite has become the central moment of my creation. The engraved plate has a strength and a visual and aesthetic impact stronger than its prints, not all models end up in prints. Both, plates or prints, can become, in the same way, an expression of my work.

Artistic approach

Her work is situated in the universe of writing, signs and letters; words more or less decipherable, made illegible. A kind of wear and tear of the letters until they take shape, become figurative. The visual dimension imposes itself. But, insisting, there is always a content, a message to decipher. The letter-image remains a bearer of meaning.

There are themes that impose themselves cyclically like water, raw materials or North-South.

Snow too, which symbolizes the search for silence, a silence where everything stops, is silent, an expectation of peace, on the contrary to other themes, which rather describe a sick world, which deal with all its conflicting, turbulent and problematic aspects.

Exhibitions

2019 Salon de la gravure/petite édition, Nantes
ARPAGE, Octon
Journée de l'Estampe, Paris
Biennale du livre d'artiste, Rodez
Page(s), Paris

2018 Exposition internationale de Calligraphie, Barjac et Uzès
Biennale internationale de l'Estampe, Dreux
Musée Médard, Lunel
26 mai, Galerie Minima, Paris
Journée de l'Estampe, St. Sulpice, Paris
Le Trait, Biennale de gravure, Galerie Au Bout du Monde, St. Hippolyte du Fort
Maison des Ecritures, Lombez
Buch-und Druckkunst Messe, Frauenfeld, Switzerland
Sudestampe, Biennale, Nîmes
Bibliothèque patrimoniale, Toulouse
Maison des Arts, Médiathèque, Evreux
Pages, Paris

2017 ARPAGE, Octon
Graver Maintenant, Paris
Journée de l'Estampe, Paris
Biennale de l'Estampe, St. Maure
Art in Folio, Rodez
exposition «Le Trait», Paris
Page(s), Paris

2016 Journée de l'Estampe, Paris
Galerie du Bout du Monde, St. Hippolyte du Fort
Terres d'écritures, Grignan
Maison des Arts, Bages
Buch-und Handdruckpressen Messe, Frauenfeld, Switzerland
Page(s), Paris

2015 Résidence d'artiste à la Chartreuse de Villeneuve Lez Avignon
Galerie Bartoli, Marseille
Art Singulier, Canaules
Territoire d'Ecritures, Galerie HD Nick et Château d'Aubais
Triennale de Gravure en taille douce, Lisle -sur-Tarn
Page(s), Paris

2014 Médiathèque, Uzès
L'Estampe, Graver Maintenant, Atelier Grognard, Rueil-Malmaison
Manifestampe, Villeneuve lez Avignon
Salon du Livre d'Artiste, Carré d'Art, Nîmes
La Maison de Brian, Simiane la Rotonde
Biennale de Gravure, St. Hippolyte du Fort
Buch- und Handdruckpressen Messe, Frauenfeld, Switzerland
Sudestampe, Nîmes

2013 ARPAGE, Octon
les Cahiers du Trait, sortie de la revue, Galerie M. Broutta, Paris
«Blanc» Graver Maintenant, Paris
Journée de l'Estampe, Paris
Terres d'Ecritures, Grignan
Petit Temple, Lassalle
Petit Temple, Ganges
XIV Biennale Internationale de la Gravure, Conflans-St. Honorine
Fête du Livres, Forcalquier
Exposition du TRAIT, Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris

2012 Galerie Arts et Lettres, Vevey, Switzerland
Salon du Livre d'Artiste, Nîmes
Livre d'Exception, Albi
CAC, Briançon
ARTNIMES
La Minoterie de Nay, Nay
Buch- und Handdruckpressen-Messe, Frauenfeld, Switzerland
Sudestampes, Musée Georges Borias, Uzès
L'Art de Lire, Ganges

2011 Foire aux Livres d'Exception, Albi
ARPAGE, Octon
Book Project International, Marseille
Biennale de l'Estampe, St. Maure

2010 Art Tête Galerie, Avignon
Triennale d'Estampe Petit Format, Chamalières
Galerie dans le Ciel, Mougins
Sudestampe, Nîmes
Médiathèque de Ganges
Art de Lire, Ganges
Atelier de Poche, Nîmes

2009 Galerie Vita, Soleur, Switzerland
Galerie du Bout du Monde, St. Hippolyte du Fort
Soleil Bleu, Lodève

2008 HD Nick, Aubais

2007 Espace Sextius, Aix-en-Provence
ARPAGE, Octon
Graveurs du Sud, Nîmes

2006 Artopi, Alès
Village des Arts et Métiers, Octon
Atelier des Eyguesiers, Aix-en-Provence

2005 Foire aux Livres d'Exception, Albi
Galerie Vita, Soleur, Switzerland
Minoterie de Nay, Nay
Europ'Art, Genève
Bibliothèque Nationale et Universitaire, Strasbourg

2004 Atelier des Eyguesiers, Aix-en-Provence
Buchmesse, Bâle
200RD10, Vauvenargues

2003 Galerie Nelly L'Eplattenier, Lausanne, Switzerland
Atelier des Eyguesiers, Aix-en-Provence
Centre Européen de Poésie, Avignon
Galerie du Bout du Monde, St. Hippolyte du Fort

2002 Galerie du Bout du Monde, St. Hippolyte du Fort

2001 Atelier des Eyguesiers, Aix-en-Provence
Galerie Vita, Berne, Switzerland
Château des Templiers, Gréoux les Bains

2000 Galerie Bateau-Lavoir, Grenoble
Transhumance, l'Abattoir Embrun
Fête du Livre Forcalquier
Espace Sextius, Aix-en-Provence

1998 Galerie Vita, Berne
Fête du Livre, Forcalquier

1997 60 graveurs/360 gravures, Brest
Galerie Bateau-Lavoir, Grenoble
Galerie Collis Lausanne

1996 Chapelle des Pénitents Blancs, Vence
Galerie Matarasso, Nice

1995 Galerie Vita, Berne, Switzerland
Le Moulin d'Ardouvin, La Valette du Var
Europ'Art, Genève

1994 Triennale Mondiale d'Estampe Petit Format, Chamalières

1993 Biennale Méditerranéenne, Nice
Salon de la Jeune Peinture, Angers
Gallerie Collis, Lausanne
Salon d'Automne, Paris
Petit Temple, Ganges

1992 Galerie Vita, Berne, Switzerland
Biennale de la Gravure, Sarcelles

1991 Bibliothèque Municipale, Kreuzlingen, Switzerland

1984 Bourse de l'Office Régional de la Culture du Languedoc-Roussillon