François Houtin - prints and biography

François Houtin, born in 1950 in Craon en Mayenne, France, is celebrated for his imaginative etchings that transform the traditions of French landscape design into dreamlike visions. Trained as a landscape architect, he developed an early expertise in the history and structure of gardens, a foundation that would later shape his artistic voice. In 1971, he moved to Paris, where he has lived and worked ever since. Among his notable professional projects was his participation in the 1991 renovation of the Jardin des Tuileries, one of France’s most iconic public gardens and a site originally designed by André Le Nôtre.

Houtin’s artistic path expanded in 1973, when he began studying printmaking with Jean Delpech. He quickly found in etching a medium that allowed him to merge technical precision with creative freedom. By 1979 he had committed fully to being an artist, turning away from traditional landscape architecture to create highly detailed prints of utopian gardens.

These works are neither literal reconstructions or purely imaginary flights. Instead, they blend historical references with fantasy, producing landscapes filled with pavilions, towers, fountains, and intricately ordered vegetation. In them, Houtin draws on the grandeur of French classical design while also giving free rein to his own vision, creating spaces that invite viewers into meditative journeys of the mind.

In 1981, Houtin won the Prix de Gravure Lacourière, one of France’s most prestigious awards for printmaking, and in 1986 he received the Prix de Gravure Florence Gould. His election in 1991 to the Société des Peintres-Graveurs Français further affirmed his standing among France’s leading printmakers.

What makes Houtin’s art so distinctive is the way it unites his dual expertise. His training as a landscape architect instilled a sensitivity to order, balance, and perspective, while his work as a printmaker gave him freedom to imagine landscapes unconstrained by the limits of geography or practicality. His gardens, simultaneously rigorous and fanciful, serve as metaphors for the human desire to shape nature while also celebrating the fertile possibilities of the imagination.