Marcel Durassier

Marcel Durassier (1903–1983) was a French lithographer who worked as a master craftsman at Atelier Maeght. He played an important role in Ellsworth Kelly’s development as a printmaker. Kelly collaborated closely with Durassier, together they developed a method for printing large, seamless areas of color to achieve an apparently effortless uniformity.

Throughout the six weeks required to complete Twenty-Seven Lithographs, Ellsworth Kelly stayed in Joan Miró’s apartment, located directly above the lithographic studio in Levallois. He worked closely with Durassier, who proved receptive to adapting his methods to Kelly’s demands. Together, they developed a technique—new to the workshop—for printing large, continuous fields of color with a seamless, uniform surface. Kelly remained highly exacting in his pursuit of precise tonal balance and chromatic intensity in each work. As Axsom notes, “Kelly worked upstairs, going back and forth to the printers below, actively involved on a full-time, daily basis with making preliminary collages and drawings, drawing with lithographic crayon on the stones, helping to carry them, and carefully following the proofing stages.” The resulting prints demonstrate the same rigor of form, color, and execution that characterises Kelly’s painting practice.