Open days at Didier Clad’s studio
Didier Clad will be making prints of some new etchings at the open days at his studio in Kruth, Haut-Rhin (France) from 19 to 21 September 2025. Visitors will be able to see him printing two new works entitled “Le héron” and “Le capricorne”, both new additions to his “Bestiaire” collections. These two prints on 400 gsm Velin d’ARCHES® paper will be acquired by the BNU, Strasbourg university library.
The programme for the three open days will include demonstrations of printing from copper engravings on an intaglio press, video screenings, the history of intaglio printmaking from Martin Schongauer to the present day and the art of linocut printing from Picasso to the present day.
© Corinne Clad
© Corinne Clad
Can you tell us about the two animals you are adding to the “Bestiaire”?
The grey heron is a common sight around the Lac de Kruth, where I like to swim in the summer. My sketch shows it in profile holding its latest catch, a tench, in its beak. In this image, the air and the water are represented metaphorically by the heron and the fish.
© Didier Clad – “Le héron”, print on 400 gsm Velin d’ARCHES® paper
The capricorn beetle is depicted as a silhouette, in profile. It is a valuable creature in our gardens… one that crawls, camouflages itself and represents the earth.
© Didier Clad – “Le capricorne”, print on 400 gsm Velin d’ARCHES® paper
Can you tell us why 400 gsm Velin d’ARCHES® paper is particularly suited to printmaking?
When I was studying art in Strasbourg, I spent three years studying printmaking at the Fine Arts school in Strasbourg. It was there that I first discovered ARCHES® paper and the remarkable qualities that make it perfect for printmaking. It faithfully reproduces the engraved lines for both intaglio prints and lithographs.
My studio is next to our house, and for over thirty years I have been making prints with ARCHES® papers, obviously choosing the grammage according to the project.
If you were to sum up ARCHES® paper in a word what would be?
Loyalty.
What is it about Martin Schongauer’s works that fascinates you?
Actually, we know very little about Martin Schongauer. To many a biographer’s dismay. His father was a goldsmith from Augsburg in Germany who moved to Colmar in 1440. Martin was born there in about 1450.
I’ve been fascinated by Martin Schongauer’s engravings and paintings for a long time. I first discovered him at the Musée Unterlinden in Colmar when I was training to be a teacher at the Ecole Normale. He revolutionised the Rhenish Northern Renaissance.
After my training at the University and the Fine Arts school in Strasbourg and qualifying as an art teacher, I set up a professional publishing and intaglio printmaking studio next to his house dedicated to self-publishing of prints and books.
I have a few facsimiles of prints from the series of 116 engravings on religious subjects.
Have you any other projects in mind for after the “Bestiaire”?
I am working with the Artothek Weil-am-Rhein in Germany and the Arthothèque in Nancy, France. These are galleries that lend works of art, as a library lends books. I am currently preparing for a solo exhibition at Hamburg City Hall in 2026.
