An academic draftsman and engraver highly regarded in his time, a friend of political and literary celebrities, Fernand Desmoulin turned to spiritualism around the age of fifty. Between 1900 and 1902, he produced a personal mediumistic body of work, radically different from his earlier practice—free and inventive, governed by automatic creative processes. Around one hundred drawings, out of the approximately three hundred made during these two years, were exhibited in April 1901 at the Georges Petit gallery in Paris, reflecting the enthusiasm for spiritualism. After this period spent in the service of spirits, Desmoulin returned to his academic production.
A group of works of a more academic nature entered the museum of Brantôme, in Périgord. Another group, freer and inspired by automatic and creative processes, was relegated to the cellars of the Institut Métapsychique International before being rediscovered in the 2000s.