THE ARTIST
LORRAINE DE LA VERPILLIERE
Lorraine is a Franco-British art historian and artist-printmaker. She was born and raised in Paris, where she studied History of Art at the Sorbonne (Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne), as well as life drawing at the Atelier des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris and traditional painting reproduction.
For the past decade, she has lived in Cambridge, United Kingdom, where she completed a PhD in early modern art history with a special focus on print culture. Drawing on this background, Lorraine now devotes her time to creating her own prints.
Her work is rooted in nostalgic memories of the places she has loved between France and Britain, and in a long-standing fascination with the history of the printed image. Moving between personal reflection and art-historical dialogue, she uses primarily linocut and, more recently, mezzotint, to explore how memory, place, and time can be translated through the language of print.
Debuts in Paris
I grew up in Paris, in the Montparnasse neighbourhood — once the vibrant meeting ground of artists and writers in the early 20th century. Modigliani, Picasso, and Man Ray all had their favourite cafés and haunts there.
Perhaps it was the artistic spirit that still lingers in those streets that predisposed me to the arts — or perhaps simply the lack of green spaces in Paris, which led my parents to fill my childhood with museum visits instead. My first artistic shock came at the age of four, when I encountered the exuberant world of Niki de Saint Phalle at her 1993 exhibition at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris!
As I grew older, I first pursued science, then turned to art history with the ambition of becoming a painting conservator. I attended life drawing classes at the Ateliers des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris and painting reproduction workshops. While studying for my bachelor’s degree at the Sorbonne, I discovered a deep passion for the theory of art and for the early modern period in particular. I was fascinated by the challenge of interpreting artworks created in worlds whose visual languages and symbolic codes are no longer entirely our own.
THE CAMBRIDGE LIFE…
My curiosity eventually led me to focus on early modern print culture — a period when, unlike today’s world of photography and digital media, prints and the printed word were the primary means of spreading ideas and shaping society.
I moved to the United Kingdom to pursue a PhD in Art History at Pembroke College, University of Cambridge. My research examined Renaissance printmakers and the striking self-awareness they showed about their material knowledge, craftsmanship, and imaginative processes.
…TO PRINTMAKER
As Cambridge became the place where I built my family, my long-quiet love of drawing and the tactile side of artmaking re-emerged. After years immersed in the academic study of art, moving into printmaking felt like a natural evolution — a joyful continuation of my lifelong fascination with images and their making.
I am fortunate to be part of the creative community at St Barnabas Press in Cambridge, where I continue to develop my printmaking knowledge as a student. My background in art history — and the trained eye it has given me — continually informs and enriches my practice.
Nostalgia plays a central role in my work. My current series explore three places that have profoundly shaped me: my native Paris, especially the Montparnasse neighbourhood; the landscapes around my adopted home of Cambridge; and the Normandy coast — particularly Houlgate, where I spend peaceful summers with family.
