Émile Dezaunay seems to have spent most of his life in Nantes, even though he did find outlets in Paris for his work often over the years. After all, he was trained in the capital at the École des Beaux-Arts where he studied with Puvis de Chavannes and Élie Delaunay, who was a fellow Nantais. Maried in his birth town, he was apparently working in Paris well into the 1890s. He had met Maxime Maufra in 1886 and built a lasting friendship with him. Both artists would often take long hikes through the countryside in Brittany and paint together.

Dezaunay however became far more involved with printmaking than his close friend and printed with the renowned father-son duo Auguste and Eugène Delâtre in Paris. While he was associated with the School of Pont-Aven and the Nabis, and while much of his inspiration came from Brittany, he cannot be said to have adopted any style or school in earnest. Much rather did he let his subject inspire and dictate execution, form, color, and ultimate result. His etchings, some in color, some monochromatic, are created with simple lines and tend to render peaceful portraits of Bretton countryfolk in traditional dress.