L’atelier Lacourière-Frélaut

The Atelier Lacourière-Frélaut (now Lacourière) was one of the leading Parisian printmaking workshops specializing in intaglio techniques, including etching and engraving. Founded by Roger Lacourière in 1929 and later associated with Jacques Frélaut, the atelier established itself in Montmartre, the historic center of artistic production in Paris, and became a key site for collaboration between artists and master printers.

The workshop was widely used by major figures of modern art, including Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Marc Chagall, Salvador Dalí, Alberto Giacometti, and Pierre Soulages. Lacourière became the printmaker of record for many of their major editioned works, employing a wide range of techniques, including etching, engraving, aquatint, sugar-lift, mezzotint, and other intaglio processes.

The atelier played a central role in the production of prints in postwar Paris, contributing to the dissemination of modern art through editions and collaborations between artists and skilled artisans. In the late 1940s and 1950s, it functioned as a secondary but important workshop alongside the dominance of Atelier Mourlot.