Printmaker Albert Decaris was born on May 6, 1901, in Sotteville-les Rouen, France. Decaris studied printmaking at the Ecole Estienne and then learned engraving from Antoine Dezarrios. At age eighteen he won the Prix de Rome for his engraving Eve, Before Sin.

Decaris began using his engraving skills to illustrate a number of books, including the Hellenistic poems of Leon Cathlin and The Fate of Vigny, Letters from Rome of Chateaubriand, The Book of Kings David and Solomon, Shakespeare's Macbeth and the speech from the Miseries by Pierre de Ronsard. In all, he illustrated over thirty-six publications. Decaris also worked as a stamp engraver between 1936 and 1985, engraving some 600 stamps for France and French overseas colonies and territories.

Albert Decaris was elected to the Academy of Fine Arts in 1943, appointed the official painter of the French Navy in 1962 and was made an Officer in the Legion of Honor. In 2001, Claude Jumelet designed and engraved a postage stamp in his honor.

Albert Decaris died in Paris, France on January 1, 1988.