Alice Riehl Presents Porcelain Installation 'Herbarium Interior' at Jouy-en-Josas Museum

French ceramic artist Alice Riehl has unveiled a significant porcelain installation titled 'Herbarium Interior' at the Musée de la Toile de Jouy in Jouy-en-Josas. The exhibition, which opened in February 2026 and runs through October 2026, features a large-scale work depicting thirteen plant species integrated with human forms. Riehl, who trained at the Institut de céramique française de Sèvres in the early 2000s and is based in Paris, created the piece after conducting research during a 2025 residency at Villa Albertine in New York City. There, she interviewed urban botanists, ecologists, rooftop farmers, gardeners, and museum curators about plants that had personal significance to them. The responses informed her selection of species including sugar maples, fig trees, lilacs, sassafras, and poison sumac, which she sculpted by hand from clay. The installation engages with historical textile collections at the Jouy museum, particularly floral patterns from the Oberkampf Manufactory that operated from 1760 to 1843. Riehl noted that the vibrant 'bonnes herbes' motifs directly influenced her color palette. The exhibition includes documentary photographs and videos from her New York research, along with a custom scent created by perfumer Alexandra Monet of dsm-firmenich. Simultaneously, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York is presenting 'Porcelain Florilegium,' a separate exhibition of Riehl's work through October 2026. The artist's first monograph is available at the museum for 29 euros. Riehl's work explores themes of human-plant interconnection, challenging anthropocentric perspectives through scale manipulation where botanical elements dominate human figures.