by E.A. Seguy (1877-1945)
France, 1925

'Insectes' by E.A. Seguy (1877-1945), Paris
Published by Edition Ducharte et Van Buggenhoudt, Paris, 1925

20 Plates (Pochoirs in Color) (Complete) 12 3/4'' wide by 17 3/4'' high

Plates 1 through 16 show five large specimens per plate in colorful arrangements. These plates have absolutely magnificent colors.
Among the insects illustrated are bees, wasps, locusts, cicadas, dragonflies, grasshoppers, beetles, damselflies, and plant hoppers. The species illustrated, from all over the world, are scientifically accurate.

Plates 17 through 20 display four designs incorporating insect-inspired patterns.
Also included in the folio is a table of scientific names.
Each pochoir is signed E.A. Seguy by the pochoir process

Seguy's folios were created using a unique printing process called pochoir, which was popular in France at the turn of the 20th century. Pochoir is a process that utilizes a method of applying pigment to paper through the use of stencils. First the artist created an image in gouache of watercolor. The design was then analyzed to determine the necessary colors and numbers of stencils needed. The paint was applied through the stencil by brushes or pompons. The prints were produced entirely by hand and each one was individually examined and approved upon completion. Pochoirs have a certain texture and surface quality akin to an original gouache. Pochoirs' popularity lasted only through the 1930's. The characteristics that made pochoir prints so magnificent were also the medium's eventual downfall. The pochoir process was expensive and quite labor intensive and was soon replaced by techniques such as lithography and serigraphy.

$17,500 - Inv. #1460