Alexis de Chaunac in his New York Studio working on Botanica Magnifica, 2018

Alexis de Chaunac BOTANICA installation view

Alexis de Chaunac BOTANICA installation view

Alexis de Chaunac BOTANICA installation view

Alexis de Chaunac BOTANICA installation view

Alexis de Chaunac BOTANICA installation view

Alexis de Chaunac BOTANICA installation view

Alexis de Chaunac BOTANICA installation view

ALEXIS DE CHAUNAC

Juglans Regia (Botanica Magnifica), 2018

ink, watercolor, wax and color pencils on manuscript paper from 1828

18.50h x 11w in
46.99h x 27.94w cm

ADC176

 

This work was created on a page from a manuscript from 1828, titled "Collection de plantes medicinales". The finely colored illustrations largely recreated according to nature are a masterpiece by the draftsman Aimé Henry. 

ALEXIS DE CHAUNAC

Curcuma Zerumbet Roxb (Botanica Magnifica), 2018

ink, watercolor, wax and color pencils on manuscript paper from 1828 (Framed in Maple wood and glass)

18.50h x 11.50w in
46.99h x 29.21w cm

ADC174

 

This work was created on a page from a manuscript from 1828, titled "Collection de plantes medicinales". The finely colored illustrations largely recreated according to nature are a masterpiece by the draftsman Aimé Henry. 

ALEXIS DE CHAUNAC

Arum Maculatum (Botanica Magnifica), 2018

ink, watercolor, wax and color pencils on manuscript paper from 1828

18.50h x 11.50w in
46.99h x 29.21w cm

ADC173

 

This work was created on a page from a manuscript from 1828, titled "Collection de plantes medicinales". The finely colored illustrations largely recreated according to nature are a masterpiece by the draftsman Aimé Henry. 

ALEXIS DE CHAUNAC

Curcubita Pepo (Botanica Magnifica), 2017

ink, watercolor, wax and color pencils on manuscript paper from 1783

16.50h x 10.50w in
41.91h x 26.67w cm

ADC162

 


This work was created on a page from a manuscript from 1783, titled "Histoire naturelle du règne végétal" written by Pierre-Joseph Buc’hoz, a French botanist who was also interested in the treatment of melancholy and recommended music as therapy. He travelled throughout his native Lorraine and published a 13-volume of "Histoire naturelle" of the province. Some of the books he published are : Mémoire sur la manière de guérir la mélancolie par la musique, 1768; Médecine rurale et pratique, or Pharmacopée végétale et indigène, 1768; Herbier ou collection des plantes médicinales de la Chine d’apres un manuscrit peint et unique qui se trouve dans la Bibliothèque de l’Empereur de Chine, 1781; L’art alimentaire ou méthode pour préparer les aliments les plus sains pour l’homme, 1783; Dictionnaire des plantes, arbres et arbustes de la République, 1785.
 

ALEXIS DE CHAUNAC

Urtica Dioica (Botanica Magnifica), 2017

ink, watercolor, wax and color pencils on manuscript paper from 1783

19h x 12w in
48.26h x 30.48w cm

ADC161

 


This work was created on a page from a manuscript from 1783, titled "Histoire naturelle du règne végétal" written by Pierre-Joseph Buc’hoz, a French botanist who was also interested in the treatment of melancholy and recommended music as therapy. He travelled throughout his native Lorraine and published a 13-volume of "Histoire naturelle" of the province. Some of the books he published are : Mémoire sur la manière de guérir la mélancolie par la musique, 1768; Médecine rurale et pratique, or Pharmacopée végétale et indigène, 1768; Herbier ou collection des plantes médicinales de la Chine d’apres un manuscrit peint et unique qui se trouve dans la Bibliothèque de l’Empereur de Chine, 1781; L’art alimentaire ou méthode pour préparer les aliments les plus sains pour l’homme, 1783; Dictionnaire des plantes, arbres et arbustes de la République, 1785.
 

ALEXIS DE CHAUNAC

Jambolana (Botanica Magnifica), 2017

ink, watercolor, wax and color pencils on manuscript paper from 1783

16.50h x 10.50w in
41.91h x 26.67w cm

ADC163

 


This work was created on a page from a manuscript from 1783, titled "Histoire naturelle du règne végétal" written by Pierre-Joseph Buc’hoz, a French botanist who was also interested in the treatment of melancholy and recommended music as therapy. He travelled throughout his native Lorraine and published a 13-volume of "Histoire naturelle" of the province. Some of the books he published are : Mémoire sur la manière de guérir la mélancolie par la musique, 1768; Médecine rurale et pratique, or Pharmacopée végétale et indigène, 1768; Herbier ou collection des plantes médicinales de la Chine d’apres un manuscrit peint et unique qui se trouve dans la Bibliothèque de l’Empereur de Chine, 1781; L’art alimentaire ou méthode pour préparer les aliments les plus sains pour l’homme, 1783; Dictionnaire des plantes, arbres et arbustes de la République, 1785.
 

ALEXIS DE CHAUNAC

Cucumis Anguria (Botanica Magnifica), 2017

ink, watercolor, wax and color pencils on manuscript paper from 1783

16.50h x 10.50w in
41.91h x 26.67w cm

ADC164

 


This work was created on a page from a manuscript from 1783, titled "Histoire naturelle du règne végétal" written by Pierre-Joseph Buc’hoz, a French botanist who was also interested in the treatment of melancholy and recommended music as therapy. He travelled throughout his native Lorraine and published a 13-volume of "Histoire naturelle" of the province. Some of the books he published are : Mémoire sur la manière de guérir la mélancolie par la musique, 1768; Médecine rurale et pratique, or Pharmacopée végétale et indigène, 1768; Herbier ou collection des plantes médicinales de la Chine d’apres un manuscrit peint et unique qui se trouve dans la Bibliothèque de l’Empereur de Chine, 1781; L’art alimentaire ou méthode pour préparer les aliments les plus sains pour l’homme, 1783; Dictionnaire des plantes, arbres et arbustes de la République, 1785.
 

ALEXIS DE CHAUNAC

Saccus Arboreus (Botanica Magnifica), 2018

ink, watercolor, wax and color pencils on manuscript paper from 1783

16.50h x 10.50w in
41.91h x 26.67w cm

ADC168

 


This work was created on a page from a manuscript from 1783, titled "Histoire naturelle du règne végétal" written by Pierre-Joseph Buc’hoz, a French botanist who was also interested in the treatment of melancholy and recommended music as therapy. He travelled throughout his native Lorraine and published a 13-volume of "Histoire naturelle" of the province. Some of the books he published are : Mémoire sur la manière de guérir la mélancolie par la musique, 1768; Médecine rurale et pratique, or Pharmacopée végétale et indigène, 1768; Herbier ou collection des plantes médicinales de la Chine d’apres un manuscrit peint et unique qui se trouve dans la Bibliothèque de l’Empereur de Chine, 1781; L’art alimentaire ou méthode pour préparer les aliments les plus sains pour l’homme, 1783; Dictionnaire des plantes, arbres et arbustes de la République, 1785.
 

ALEXIS DE CHAUNAC

Malum Arvanum (Botanica Magnifica), 2018

ink, watercolor, wax and color pencils on manuscript paper from 1783

16h x 10.50w in
40.64h x 26.67w cm

ADC169

 


This work was created on a page from a manuscript from 1783, titled "Histoire naturelle du règne végétal" written by Pierre-Joseph Buc’hoz, a French botanist who was also interested in the treatment of melancholy and recommended music as therapy. He travelled throughout his native Lorraine and published a 13-volume of "Histoire naturelle" of the province. Some of the books he published are : Mémoire sur la manière de guérir la mélancolie par la musique, 1768; Médecine rurale et pratique, or Pharmacopée végétale et indigène, 1768; Herbier ou collection des plantes médicinales de la Chine d’apres un manuscrit peint et unique qui se trouve dans la Bibliothèque de l’Empereur de Chine, 1781; L’art alimentaire ou méthode pour préparer les aliments les plus sains pour l’homme, 1783; Dictionnaire des plantes, arbres et arbustes de la République, 1785.
 

ALEXIS DE CHAUNAC

Epidendron (Botanica Magnifica), 2018

ink, watercolor, wax and color pencils on manuscript paper from 1783

16.50h x 10.50w in
41.91h x 26.67w cm

ADC170

 


This work was created on a page from a manuscript from 1783, titled "Histoire naturelle du règne végétal" written by Pierre-Joseph Buc’hoz, a French botanist who was also interested in the treatment of melancholy and recommended music as therapy. He travelled throughout his native Lorraine and published a 13-volume of "Histoire naturelle" of the province. Some of the books he published are : Mémoire sur la manière de guérir la mélancolie par la musique, 1768; Médecine rurale et pratique, or Pharmacopée végétale et indigène, 1768; Herbier ou collection des plantes médicinales de la Chine d’apres un manuscrit peint et unique qui se trouve dans la Bibliothèque de l’Empereur de Chine, 1781; L’art alimentaire ou méthode pour préparer les aliments les plus sains pour l’homme, 1783; Dictionnaire des plantes, arbres et arbustes de la République, 1785.
 

ALEXIS DE CHAUNAC

Melastoma, Villosa (Botanica Magnifica), 2018

ink, watercolor, wax and color pencils on manuscript paper from 1790

10.50h x 8w in
26.67h x 20.32w cm

ADC178

 

This works was created on a manuscript page from 1790, titled "Histoire Naturelle". This encyclopedic work, comprised of over 200 volumes, was the undertaking of an enterprising publisher Charles-Joseph Panckoucke (1736-1798) who got his start in the publishing world of the day by collaborating on the "Encyclopedie de Diderot & d’Alembert". This latter work was to become the definitive record of history and a remarkable reference for all aspects of eighteenth-century European thought and civilization. From the onset, it was controversial, banned by the government and condemned by the Pope, causing it to become enormously popular. The backdrop of the publication of the Botany plates was the French Revolution, when, in 1793 Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette went to the guillotine. It was a time of great transformation in France and reorganizing. The old "Jardin des Plantes" became the "Musée National d'Histoire Naturelle" (National Museum of Natural History). The Botany Plates prints section in the encyclopedie were touched by artists who participated in the French Revolution: the brothers Redoute, Deseve & Fossier. 

ALEXIS DE CHAUNAC

Anemone and Narcissus (Botanica Magnifica), 2018

ink, watercolor, wax and color pencils on manuscript paper from 1780

8.50h x 5w in
21.59h x 12.70w cm

ADC180

 

This work was created on a page from a manuscript from 1780 titled "L'Herbier de Nicolas Culpeper", reprinted in 1780 from the 1653 original version. Nicholas Culpeper (1616-1654) was a botanist, herbalist, physician, and astrologer. This herbal contains a store of pharmaceutical and herbal knowledge. He spent much of his life in outdoors cataloguing hundreds of medicinal herbs. He criticized what he saw as the unnatural methods of his contemporaries. Using a combination of experience and astrology, he devoted himself to using herbs to treat his patients and was accused of witchcraft. He believed medicine was a public asset rather than a commercial secret, and the prices physicians charged were far too expensive compared to the cheap and universal availability of nature’s medicine. He felt the use of Latin and expensive fees charged by doctors, lawyers and priests worked to keep power and freedom from the general public. He was a radical in his time, angering his fellow physicians by condemning their greed and their use of harmful practises, toxic remedies and expensive concoctions. Culpeper attempted to make medical treatments more accessible to laypersons by educating them about maintaining their health. His ambition was to reform the system of medicine by questioning traditional methods and knowledge and exploring new solutions for health. The systematization of the use of herbals by Culpeper was a key development in the evolution of modern pharmaceuticals, most of which originally had herbal origins. He was one of the most notorious astrological botanists of his day, pairing the plants and diseases with planetary influences, countering illnesses with nostrums that were paired with an opposing planetary influence. Combining remedial care with humoral philosophy and astrology, he forged a strangely workable system of medicine. Astrological botany is based on the notion that if plants or seeds are to be used for medicinal purposes then their planting and collection must be carried out with regard to the positions of the planets and other heavenly bodies, which are at the heart of the disease process. His approach to using herbals has had an extensive impact on medicine in early North American colonies, and modern medications. Culpeper was one of the first to translate documents discussing medicinal plants found in the Americas from Latin. He is featured as main protagonist in Rudyard Kipling’s story “Doctor of Medicine”. 

ALEXIS DE CHAUNAC

Rose and Jasmine (Botanica Magnifica), 2018

ink, watercolor, wax and color pencils on manuscript paper from 1780

8h x 5w in
20.32h x 12.70w cm

ADC181

 

This work was created on a page from a manuscript from 1780 titled "L'Herbier de Nicolas Culpeper", reprinted in 1780 from the 1653 original version. Nicholas Culpeper (1616-1654) was a botanist, herbalist, physician, and astrologer. This herbal contains a store of pharmaceutical and herbal knowledge. He spent much of his life in outdoors cataloguing hundreds of medicinal herbs. He criticized what he saw as the unnatural methods of his contemporaries. Using a combination of experience and astrology, he devoted himself to using herbs to treat his patients and was accused of witchcraft. He believed medicine was a public asset rather than a commercial secret, and the prices physicians charged were far too expensive compared to the cheap and universal availability of nature’s medicine. He felt the use of Latin and expensive fees charged by doctors, lawyers and priests worked to keep power and freedom from the general public. He was a radical in his time, angering his fellow physicians by condemning their greed and their use of harmful practises, toxic remedies and expensive concoctions. Culpeper attempted to make medical treatments more accessible to laypersons by educating them about maintaining their health. His ambition was to reform the system of medicine by questioning traditional methods and knowledge and exploring new solutions for health. The systematization of the use of herbals by Culpeper was a key development in the evolution of modern pharmaceuticals, most of which originally had herbal origins. He was one of the most notorious astrological botanists of his day, pairing the plants and diseases with planetary influences, countering illnesses with nostrums that were paired with an opposing planetary influence. Combining remedial care with humoral philosophy and astrology, he forged a strangely workable system of medicine. Astrological botany is based on the notion that if plants or seeds are to be used for medicinal purposes then their planting and collection must be carried out with regard to the positions of the planets and other heavenly bodies, which are at the heart of the disease process. His approach to using herbals has had an extensive impact on medicine in early North American colonies, and modern medications. Culpeper was one of the first to translate documents discussing medicinal plants found in the Americas from Latin. He is featured as main protagonist in Rudyard Kipling’s story “Doctor of Medicine”. 

 

 

This work was created on a page from a manuscript from 1780 titled "L'Herbier de Nicolas Culpeper", reprinted in 1780 from the 1653 original version. Nicholas Culpeper (1616-1654) was a botanist, herbalist, physician, and astrologer. This herbal contains a store of pharmaceutical and herbal knowledge. He spent much of his life in outdoors cataloguing hundreds of medicinal herbs. He criticized what he saw as the unnatural methods of his contemporaries. Using a combination of experience and astrology, he devoted himself to using herbs to treat his patients and was accused of witchcraft. He believed medicine was a public asset rather than a commercial secret, and the prices physicians charged were far too expensive compared to the cheap and universal availability of nature’s medicine. He felt the use of Latin and expensive fees charged by doctors, lawyers and priests worked to keep power and freedom from the general public. He was a radical in his time, angering his fellow physicians by condemning their greed and their use of harmful practises, toxic remedies and expensive concoctions. Culpeper attempted to make medical treatments more accessible to laypersons by educating them about maintaining their health. His ambition was to reform the system of medicine by questioning traditional methods and knowledge and exploring new solutions for health. The systematization of the use of herbals by Culpeper was a key development in the evolution of modern pharmaceuticals, most of which originally had herbal origins. He was one of the most notorious astrological botanists of his day, pairing the plants and diseases with planetary influences, countering illnesses with nostrums that were paired with an opposing planetary influence. Combining remedial care with humoral philosophy and astrology, he forged a strangely workable system of medicine. Astrological botany is based on the notion that if plants or seeds are to be used for medicinal purposes then their planting and collection must be carried out with regard to the positions of the planets and other heavenly bodies, which are at the heart of the disease process. His approach to using herbals has had an extensive impact on medicine in early North American colonies, and modern medications. Culpeper was one of the first to translate documents discussing medicinal plants found in the Americas from Latin. He is featured as main protagonist in Rudyard Kipling’s story “Doctor of Medicine”. 

 

ALEXIS DE CHAUNAC

Radiatae (Botanica Magnifica), 2018

ink, watercolor, wax and color pencils on manuscript paper from 1780

8h x 5w in
20.32h x 12.70w cm

ADC184

 

 

This work was created on a page from a manuscript from 1780 titled "L'Herbier de Nicolas Culpeper", reprinted in 1780 from the 1653 original version. Nicholas Culpeper (1616-1654) was a botanist, herbalist, physician, and astrologer. This herbal contains a store of pharmaceutical and herbal knowledge. He spent much of his life in outdoors cataloguing hundreds of medicinal herbs. He criticized what he saw as the unnatural methods of his contemporaries. Using a combination of experience and astrology, he devoted himself to using herbs to treat his patients and was accused of witchcraft. He believed medicine was a public asset rather than a commercial secret, and the prices physicians charged were far too expensive compared to the cheap and universal availability of nature’s medicine. He felt the use of Latin and expensive fees charged by doctors, lawyers and priests worked to keep power and freedom from the general public. He was a radical in his time, angering his fellow physicians by condemning their greed and their use of harmful practises, toxic remedies and expensive concoctions. Culpeper attempted to make medical treatments more accessible to laypersons by educating them about maintaining their health. His ambition was to reform the system of medicine by questioning traditional methods and knowledge and exploring new solutions for health. The systematization of the use of herbals by Culpeper was a key development in the evolution of modern pharmaceuticals, most of which originally had herbal origins. He was one of the most notorious astrological botanists of his day, pairing the plants and diseases with planetary influences, countering illnesses with nostrums that were paired with an opposing planetary influence. Combining remedial care with humoral philosophy and astrology, he forged a strangely workable system of medicine. Astrological botany is based on the notion that if plants or seeds are to be used for medicinal purposes then their planting and collection must be carried out with regard to the positions of the planets and other heavenly bodies, which are at the heart of the disease process. His approach to using herbals has had an extensive impact on medicine in early North American colonies, and modern medications. Culpeper was one of the first to translate documents discussing medicinal plants found in the Americas from Latin. He is featured as main protagonist in Rudyard Kipling’s story “Doctor of Medicine”. 

ALEXIS DE CHAUNAC

Arum maculatum (Botanica Magnifica), 2018

ink, watercolor, wax, pigment and color pencils on paper, in wood frame

45.50h x 32w in
115.57h x 81.28w cm

ADC187

 

This work is an original work inspired from the work that was created on a page from a manuscript from 1828, titled "Collection de plantes medicinales" (see ADC173). The finely colored illustrations largely recreated according to nature are a masterpiece by the draftsman Aimé Henry. 

ref: ALEXIS DE CHAUNAC
Arum Maculatum (Botanica Magnifica), 2018
ink, watercolor, wax and color pencils on manuscript paper from 1828 18.50h x 11.50w in
46.99h x 29.21w cm
ADC173
 

ALEXIS DE CHAUNAC

Symphytum Officinale (Botanica Magnifica), 2018

ink, watercolor, wax, pigment and color pencils on paper, in wood frame

45.50h x 32w in
115.57h x 81.28w cm

ADC188

 

This work is an original drawn after: ADC171 which was created on a page from a manuscript from 1828, titled "Collection de plantes medicinales". The finely colored illustrations largely recreated according to nature are a masterpiece by the draftsman Aimé Henry.



ADC171 (no longer available)
Symphytum Officinale (Botanica Magnifica), 2018
ink, watercolor, wax and color pencils on manuscript paper from 1828
18.50h x 11.50w in
46.99h x 29.21w cm
 

ALEXIS DE CHAUNAC BOTANICA

Curated by Christina Warner In Collaboration with Silas von Morisse Gallery

at SSD Lower Level Gallery (Sargent's Daughters) 179 East Broadway, New York, Opening Friday March 22, 6 - 8 PM

March 22 – April 21, 2019

 

ALEXIS DE CHAUNAC  BOTANICA

curated by Christina Warner in collaboration with Silas von Morisse Gallery

March 20 - April 23, 2019

Opening Friday March 22, 6 - 8 PM

 

at SSD Lower Level Gallery (Sargent's Daughters) 

179 East Broadway
New York, NY 10002
T: 917 463 3901

Gallery hours: Weds-Sun 12-6

 

 

Silas von Morisse is pleased to present the "Encore" solo exhibition of Alexis de Chaunac, Botanica, curated by Christina Warner in collaboration with the gallery. The exhibition will be held at SSD Lower Level Gallery (Sargent's Daughters) , 179 East Broadway, New York, NY 10002  Gallery hours: Wed-Sun:  12-6.

 

In this body of work presented in December 2018 in NYC, de Chaunac draws his inspiration from the natural world, collecting insects, plants and minerals in the spirit of the naturalists.  A passion since childhood which has evolved in urging the artist to name, label and classify the world around him.  De Chaunac paints and draws on top of original French botanical engravings from the 18th and 19th century, giving new life to these enigmatic herbariums, custodians of naturalistic illustrations of typified plants.  His process introduces subtle forms and colors that give new meaning to the material while keeping visible the original illustration and the accurate name of each plant. De Chaunac likes to combine scientific rigor through observation with a sense of fantasy and optical illusion: among the plants, camouflaged human faces and symbiotic relationships with these extremely complex beings emerge. Studies in neuroscience show that neurons connect with each other within our brain  just as plants. Those neurological gardens reflect our own personality, mood and energy. Plants not only beautify our planet, they provide oxygen and have exceptional nutritional and medicinal qualities. Because of their infinite variety of colors, shapes and flavors, they are essential ingredients in gastronomy. Some plants are less innocent, as they are hallucinogenic and can even be deadly because of the potency of their poison. As we absorb them, they undergo a transformation and display their properties within our bodies. Each work in this new series correspond to these inner reactions.

 

Alexis de Chaunac describes drawing as “a transcendental language that anyone can understand.” He works often with ink because of its fluidity, producing rich, multilayered works filled with faces and laden with cultural references. His own artistic rendering of humanity comes from literature. He claims influences from the Scriptures to great epics and all the way to Beat Generation writers such as William S. Burroughs. Referring to his practice as contemporary myth making, he takes archetypes such as Oedipus, Jesus Christ or Dante “working out of them to explore the primitive aspects of human nature”.

 

Alexis de Chaunac  (French-Mexican, b. 1991 in New York, NY). Born in New York and raised between Mexico City and Paris, de Chaunac grew up drawing in the studio of his grandfather – renowned Mexican artist Jose Luis Cuevas.  He studied at Sarah Lawrence College, NY and has had a few solo museum exhibitions in Mexico at Museo Iconografico del Quijote, Guanajuato, Mexico (2014) and Pinacoteca Diego Rivera (2015).

 

 

PLEASE CONTACT THE GALLERY FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT THE WORKS

Press

ARTSY For Galleries, Online Viewing Rooms Are About Storytelling and Sales Scott Indrisek Dec 27, 2019
VANITY FAIR ALEXIS DE CHAUNAC
October 2017
WHITEWALL ALEXIS DE CHAUNAC: A DANCE WITH LIFE AND DEATH by Katy Donoghue, October 19, 2015
NY1 Noticias La búsqueda trascendendental del pintor Alexis de Chaunac
NY ART BEAT, Alexis de Chaunac "A Dance with Life & Death"
CULTURAL SERVICES OF THE FRENCH EMBASSY, ALEXIS DE CHAUNAC FIRST SOLO SHOW, September 16 - October 25, 2015
TRAITE D'ANATOMIE HUMAINE by A. Charpy and P. Poirier (Alexis de Chaunac, A Dance with Life & Death)
VERACRUZ Exhibe IVEC Mala Sangre / Bestiario, en Pinacoteca Diego Rivera
DIARIO AZ Xalapa veracruz, Continua la Exposición Mala Sangre / Bestiario de Alexis de Chaunac
ALEXANDRA REBOUL about ART 3 Inaugural Opening