Émile-Allain Séguy’s Insectes, 1925 – A Hymn To Nature In 20 Beautiful Illustrated Plates

“Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, by forces over which we have no control. It is determined for the insect, as well as for the star. Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper.”

— Albert Einstein

 

 

Émile-Allain Séguy’s published his book of Insectes in 1925. The popular French designer working throughout the Art Deco and Art Nouveau movements is known primarily for his patterns and textiles and was heavily influenced by the natural world. He was particularly fond of the intricate patterns and beauty of insects, which he saw as “mechanic wonders” that provided abundant inspiration for interior design.

Presented in 20 pochoir pattern plates, Insectes features 80 different creatures and 16 decorative compositions. The depictions of insects in the illustration are remarkably detailed. The pochoir technique is based on an ancient method that uses stencils for colour application. This costly and labour-intensive technique, pochoir was especially popular in Paris in the 1920s. Each colour  has its own stencil and layers of gouache or other pigments are applied through each stencil by hand with a brush or sponge.

 

 

Little is known about Émile Alain Séguy (born France 1877). We do know that he worked as an artist in Paris during the first three decades of the 20th century, having graduated from the city’s School of Decorative Arts. In 1913, he founded the art department of the Grands Magasins du Printemps.

He produced eleven albums of nature themed illustrations and patterns, drawing inspiration from butterflies and other insects, flowers, foliage, crystals and animals.

You can buy his work in our shop.