Saturday, December 02, 2006

Pochoir Insects

pochoir insect prints
1. Sternotomis Imperialis. Guinée; 2. Sternotomis cornutus. Madagascar; 3. Callipogon Lemoinei. Perou; 4. Palimna annulata. Cochinchine; 5. Sternodonta pulchra. Sénégal



prints by seguy
1. Tacua speciosa. Indes; 2. Polyneura ducalis. Indes Or.; 3. Cicada saccata. Australie; 4. Cicada fascialis. Siam; 5. Tozena melanoptera. Indes Or.



E. A. Séguy butterflies and beetles
1. Scolia procer. Asie Tropicale; 2. Eulema dimidiata. Brésil; 3. Stilbum splendidum. Cosmpolite; 4. Bombus lapidarius incertus. Arménie; 5. Xylocopa tenuiscapa. Asie Tropicale



Séguy insects
1. Rhabdotis sobrins. Nubie; 2. Gnathocera varians. Sénégal; 3. Coelorhina guttata. Guinée; 4. Euchrea celestis. Madagascar; 5. Gymnetis Touchardii. Vénézuela



insect prints by E. A. Séguy
1. Phaneus conspicillatus. Brésil; 2. Phanoeus imperator. Argentine; 3. Cyclommatus tarandus. Bornéo; 4. Pachilis gigas. Mexique; 5. Phanoeus ensifer. Guyane



pochoir prints of insects by E. A. Séguy
1. Pepsis limbata. Amérique du Sud; 2. Chlorion lobatum. Asie Tropicale; 3. Vespa crabro. Europe; 4. Monedula chilensis. Chili; 5. Pepsis errans. Amérique du Sud



butterflies pochoir seguy
1. Nemopistha imperatrix. Afrique Oc.; 2. Tomatares citrinus. Afrique Austral.; 3. Neurolasis chinesis. Asie; 4. Aeschna Cyanéa. Europe; 5. Mnais earnshawi. Indochine



insect pochoir seguy
1. Pamphagus elephas. Algérie; 2. Tropidacris dux. Amérique du Sud; 3. Cyrtacantacris tartarica. Asie; 4. Aularches miliaris. Asie; 5. Phymateus saxosus. Madagascar



insects by E. A. Séguy
1. Delias neagra. Nouvelle Guinée; 2. Catagramma kolyma. Amazone; 3. Dichorragia nesimachus. Sikkim; 4. Elymnias malelas. Inde; 5. Eulepis eudamippus. Indo Malaisie



insect pochoir prints by E. A. Séguy
1. Goeana festiva. Indes; 2. Zammara tympanum. Amérique du Sud; 3. Goeana ochracea. Indes; 4. Phenax variegata. Brésil; 5. Hemisciera maculipennis. Amazone



insects: butterflies and beetles
1. Euploea rhadamanthus. Inde; 2. Troïdes brookeana. Bornéo; 3. Erasmia pulchella. Sikkim; 4. Papilio antiphates. Inde; 5. Pyrameis myrinna. Equateur



E. A. Séguy prints of insects
1. Horaeocerus nigricornis. Madagascar; 2. Acrida miniata. Algérie; 3. Aularches miliaris. Asie; 4. Phymateus Brunneri. Afrique Tropicale; 5. Acanthodis imperialis. Asie



1920s insect print
1. Arachnis dilecta. Mexique; 2. Hypsa borbonica. Congo; 3. Hypsa dominia. Chine; 4. Cerace stipatana. Chine; 5. Callimorpha hera. Europe; 6. Callimorpha equitalis. Chine



artdeco insect prints
1. Calopterix. Australie; 2. Diphlebia nymphoides. Australie; 3. Palpares imperator. Madagascar; 4. Calopterix. Asie; 5. Nemoptera sinuata. Région Méditerran.



insect prints in art deco style
1. Charaxes zingha. Congo; 2. Papilio blumei. Celebes; 3. Argynnis childrenae. Chine; 4. Papilio tyndereus. Congo; 5. Charaxes cognatus. Celebes



art deco pochoir prints by E. A. Séguy
1. Batocera Hector. Java; 2. Callichroma suturalis. Guyane; 3. Steirastoma lacerta. Brésil; 4. Rosalia alpina. Europe; 5. Batocera Wallacei. Nouvelle Guinée



prints of insects art deco
1. Amaurodes Passerinii. Mozambique; 2. Inca clathratus. Pérou; 3. Histrionica euchroea. Madagascar; 4. Cerathorhina derbyana. Mozambique. 5. Goliathus giganteus. Cameroun


[definitely click on these images: they are large-ish and much more spectacular at full size]


E.A. Séguy was active as a designer and artist in France in the first three decades of the 20th century. Of that much I am confident. But there is strangely very little biographical material about him online. Much of what is around is copied from site to site (whether university or poster shop) and I don't think all of it is trustworthy. Part of the problem comes from the fact that there was another E.A. Séguy (Eugene Alain - names they both 'might' share too) active in Paris at the same time - but he was an entomologist, strangely enough. One of them died in 1989 so it's likely these prints remain under copyright.

In any event, Séguy the artist is best remembered for a couple of series of prints he produced in the 1920s - 'Papillons' and 'Insectes' - both of which are featured above. The wonderfully lush and vibrant colours we see come from the multiple-stencil technique of pochoir printing, usually associated with the Art Nouveau and Art Deco movements.

Séguy consulted textbooks in an effort to bring a scientific level of accuracy to his work and included the species names and geographic origins that I've copied in as captions. His other work - some 11 albums - abstract his natural history penchant into the world of decorative design in which he constructed decals and motifs from insects, crystals, wings and similar.

Last year North Carolina State University purchased 'Papillons' and we are fortunate indeed that they digitized both that and 'Insectes' - I knew about the large stash of Séguy work at NYPL but the quality and size of their images is mediocre at best. NCSU definitely have the best images online but unfortunately they are all obstructively caged inside the Luna Insight browser architecture. It's worth the trouble in my opinion: these prints are fantastic seen at high magnification, a testament both to the exceptional quality of the pochoir process and to Séguy's artistic abilities.

8 comments :

Anonymous said...

Ewwww....they look so real. LOL

Michael said...

These are absolutely exquisite.
Thank you for this further compelling demonstration of your good taste.

5 Stars!

Mesi said...

wow I've never seen such beatiful drawinf of insects,it helps me now so much,I'm just making sculptures of insects.Such a shame,that NCsU's digitalizes version can't be accessed by me :(

lotusgreen said...

i just went through the whole nypl collection of his stuff (mostly in thumbs) and truly came away with a new respect. i have found as you did no bio stuff; also, my local libraries have free loan accessibility with like 50 university libraries and there are no biographies/books about him in any of them either. i guess i'll have to look at some dover books and see what they have. thanks for additional possible sources, though.

Unknown said...

I love this so much!!!

brain°°collages said...

beautiful;;;

Cecilia said...

His daughter is still alive.

Unknown said...

USEI TODAS ESTAS IMAGENS PRA MOSTRAR AOS MEUS SOBRINHOS OS INSETOS...AMO AS IMAGENS DOS INSETOS, POIS SÃO CRIATURAS ANTIGUISSIMAS...

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