French painter and printmaker, born in 1953 in Paris, based in Stockholm.
Life
Didier Mazuru studied architecture at the École des beaux-arts in Paris. In 1976, at the Galerie Bernier, he discovered printmaking; his copperplates are printed at the René Tazé workshop in Paris. The Galerie Bernier gave him his first solo exhibitions, from 1984. Based in Stockholm, he exhibits regularly in France and Sweden.
Since 2012 he has devoted himself entirely to painting. In 2019 the Fondation Taylor awarded him the Madeleine Couderc painting prize.
The work
Coming from printmaking, Mazuru is associated by the gallery with Visionary Art and Surrealism. According to the artist, his catalogue comprises 222 paintings on canvas or panel, 880 drawings and paintings on paper, and 63 copper engravings.
The gallery devoted the exhibition “The Ineffable” to him (March-April 2023), then “Surrealist Fragmentations” (5 June to 4 July 2025), which included Léda ancienne et moderne (1991, oil on canvas laid down on wood, 162 x 144 cm). It showed “the visionary eye of Didier Mazuru” again in its summer exhibition (10-26 July 2025), then in the gallery’s 25th anniversary exhibition (22 May to 19 June 2026).
Exhibitions and publications (as listed by the artist)
Solo exhibitions
1984 Galerie Bernier, Paris
1986 Galerie Bernier, Paris
1986 Galerie Saint-Anne, Montluçon
1987 Galerie Bernier, Paris
1987 Galerie L, Saint-Étienne
1989 Institut Français, Stockholm
1989 Galerie L, Saint-Étienne
1990 Galerie Michèle Broutta, Paris
1990 Galleriet i Holmby, Sweden
1992 Galleriet i Holmby, Sweden
1993 Galerie L, Saint-Étienne
1998 Galerie Michèle Broutta, Paris
1998 Galerie Jan Linder, Stockholm
2005 Café Baires, Stockholm
2006 Galerie Paname, Stockholm
2008 Galerie Paname, Stockholm
2010 Galleri Nordens Ljus, Stockholm (March)
2011 Galleri Duerr, Stockholm
2016 Solo exhibition of paintings at the classical music festival “O/Modernt”, Stockholm
2021 Studio/gallery Idungatan, Stockholm, 11 November.
Group exhibitions:
1983 Atelier Tazé, Sint-Niklaas, Belgium.
1984 Maison des arts, Belfort, France
1984 Galerie Michèle Broutta, Paris.
1984 Digne-les-Bains Biennial.
1984 Saalbau-Galerie, Darmstadt.
1987 École de Médecine, Paris.
1987 International Contemporary Art Fair, Lyon.
1988 International Contemporary Art Fair, Stockholm
1989 International Contemporary Art Fair, Stockholm
1990 International Contemporary Art Fair, Stockholm
1990 École de Médecine, Paris.
1991 International Contemporary Art Fair, Stockholm
1992 International Contemporary Art Fair, Stockholm
1992 Museum of Contemporary Art, Chamalières.
1992 Institut Français, Stockholm
1992 Galerie Arts Multiples, Metz.
1994 Centro culturale di esposizione e comunicazione, Venice, Italy
1996 “Hyllning till Ilmar Laaban”, Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm
1998 7th Saint-Hilaire-de-Brens Biennial.
1999 “10 graveurs français”, Galerie Flamingo, Falkenberg, Sweden.
2002 “Terra grafica”, Galleri infra, Upplands Väsby, Sweden
2003 “Aqua di colori”, Galleri infra, Upplands Väsby, Sweden
2004 Grafiska sällskapet, Stockholm.
2004 “Métal”, prints, sculptures, drawings, Maison des jeunes et de la culture, Dieppe
2006 Atelier Grognard, “Les visionnaires – Au-delà du surréalisme”, Rueil-Malmaison, France
2006 “Les visionnaires – Au-delà du surréalisme”, Galerie Michèle Broutta, Paris
2006 “Corps humains”, Hôtel de ville, Saint-Ouen-l’Aumône.
2012 Moreh Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chamalières
2012 “Les visionnaires”, Grafiskkunst der Gegenwart aus Frankreich, Panorama Museum, Germany
2012 “10 artistes visionnaires”, Galerie Michèle Broutta, Paris
2014 Surrealist works on paper, Galerie Les Yeux Fertiles, Paris.
2014 Galleri Duerr, Stockholm
2014 Affordable Art Fair, Stockholm, with Galleri Duerr
2016 “Voyage dans l’imaginaire”, Galerie Les Yeux Fertiles, Paris.
2018 Estampe en Yvelines, 2nd print biennial, La Tannerie, Houdan
2019 Winner of the Madeleine Couderc painting prize awarded by the Fondation Taylor, Paris
Publications:
1983 “L’atelier Tazé”, exhibition catalogue
1984 “Dédale”, catalogue of the exhibition at the Galerie Bernier
1984 Catalogue of the Digne-les-Bains Biennial
1987 Catalogue of the Lyon international fair
1988 Catalogue of small-format prints, Chamalières
1988 Catalogue of the Stockholm international contemporary art fair
1989 Catalogue of the Stockholm international contemporary art fair
1992 Catalogue of the Stockholm international contemporary art fair
1991 “L’art visionnaire”, by M. Random, Éditions Philippe Lebaud (pp. 112-113)
1992 “L’art visionnaire”, catalogue of the exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chamalières
1993 “Le dessin, art des origines”, by Robert Moran, Éditions Fleurus (p. 160)
1994 “Du fantastique au visionnaire”, exhibition catalogue, Venice (pp. 70-71)
1996 “La gravure contemporaine”, by M. Solvit, Pierre Zech éd. (pp. 260-261)
1997 “Dans l’ossuaire des songes”, by D. Mazuru, Éditions C.D.G. Création
1998 “Hyllning till Ilmar Laaban”, catalogue of the exhibition at the Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm (p. 57)
1999 Konstvärlden & disajn no. 4 1999, Sweden
2006 “Les visionnaires – Au-delà du surréalisme”, exhibition catalogue, Atelier Grognard, France
2012 Exhibition “Visionnaires, Grafiskkunst der Gegenwart aus Frankreich”, Panorama Museum, Germany (pp. 212-227)
2016 Illustrations for the catalogue of the classical music festival “O/Modernt”, Stockholm
2018 Catalogue of the exhibition “Estampe en Yvelines”, Houdan
2021 Grekisk Mytologi i vardags livet 2021 (in Swedish), texts by Véronique Mazuru and Didier Mazuru
2021 Konst och Identitet (in Swedish)
2021 Art et Identité, Didier Mazuru, texts and paintings
2022 Struktur (in Swedish)
2022 Structure, Didier Mazuru, texts and paintings
2022 Arbre de vie, Didier Mazuru, texts and paintings
2023 Cheminement intérieur, Didier Mazuru, texts and paintings
2023 Ineffable, Didier Mazuru, paintings 2015 – 2022, Venus d’ailleurs éditeurs
Articles:
1984 Les nouvelles de l’estampe no. 75 (p. 23)
1986 Les nouvelles de l’estampe no. 86
1986 Les cahiers de la galerie Ste-Anne
1989 Cultural programme of the Institut Français de Stockholm, September
1990 Artension no. 13, January-February
1990 Skånska Dagbladet, 24 April, Sweden
1998 Pariscope, January
1998 La Gazette des arts plastiques et décoratifs no. 6, February
1998 Art & Métiers du livre no. 207
1998 Arts Actualités Magazine no. 82, February
1998 Résidences Décoration no. 20, March-April
1999 Svenska Dagbladet, 7 November, Sweden
2014 Text by D. Mazuru: catalogue of Doaré’s engraved work
2014 Art & Métiers du livre no. 300, article by D. Mazuru on Doaré
2019 Fondation Taylor: 2019 catalogue (p. 41)
To date he has produced 222 paintings on canvas or panel, catalogued H1 to H222, 880 drawings and paintings on paper and card, catalogued D1 to D880, 63 copper engravings with many proofs heightened or entirely reworked in ink, watercolour or acrylic, and some ten sketchbooks.
Stockholm 2023