Yann Hervis

Yann Hervis, born on February 15, 1956 in Juvisy-sur-Orge, is a contemporary French artist, whose aesthetic research, techniques and visual vocabulary are multiple: in turn marquetry, draughtsman, engraver, sculptor, designer, visual artist, with an ever-renewed creativity, he works with many materials, as diverse as wood, glass, bronze, Corten steel, stainless steel, stone, paper, whose countless possibilities he explores, freely and in a very personal way, between shapes and colours, poetry and modernity, sharpness of gaze and precision of gesture. He has also carried out large-scale artistic projects in the public domain. Discover the monograph on Yann Hervis's work, available to view for free on Calaméo.

Woodcut printing is one of Yann Hervis’s signature techniques, allowing him to play with light and shadow, depth and relief, and positive and negative space. He works with composite wood—specifically MDF—a modern, eco-friendly alternative to tropical hardwoods that offers a wide range of chromatic nuances. For relief printing, he uses sandblasting instead of traditional gouges, chisels, and burins; this process demands great precision to achieve fine, intricate cuts. When coloring the carved matrix, he applies natural pigments...

Born into a family of cabinetmakers, he discovered, at a very young age, woodworking in the workshops of his father (a former student of the Ecole Boulle ) and became passionate about this material. He continued his training at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts d'Orléans, while attending the Ecole Normale, where he had Roger Toulouse as a drawing teacher, whom he considered his master . It was then that he approached marquetry, one of the great traditions of French crafts, which he revisited in a contemporary spirit.
Passionate about design, he came to work in 1980 alongside his father in the family business, the Haté-Pavard house (established since 1900 in the Saint-Marceau district of Orléans ). In 1982, he met the architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte, who had the Haté-Pavard workshops create unique pieces, including the cylinder desk for President F. Mitterrand's bedroom at the Elysée Palace.
In 1983, another major meeting was with the decorator Andrée Putman, godmother of French design, who commissioned him to paint a portrait of Yves Saint-Laurent made in marquetry for the couturier's showroom in Chicago . This work launched the career of the young artist , whose creations were exhibited and awarded in New York, Chicago (where he shared the...

Solo exhibitions

2026 Yann Hervis, Bois gravés – Christian Hirlay, Sculptures. Château de la Trésorerie, SAINT-PRYVE-SAINT-MESMIN
2024 Art Shopping /Yann Hervis. Carrousel du Louvre, PARIS
2023 Le Geste et la Matière. Rétrospective. Château de la Trésorerie, SAINT-PRYVE-SAINT-MESMIN
2021 Les Témoins d’Orléans. Galerie Cat-Berro, ORLEANS
2020 We, Orléans. Galerie Cat-Berro / Galerie La Factory, ORLEANS
2016 Arbres-matrices et Bois délicats. Musée des Beaux-Arts, ORLEANS
2015 Yann Hervis plasticien. Galerie Gil Bastide, ORLEANS
2009 Estampes et Arbres-Poèmes, Yann Hervis et Anne-Marie Royer-Pantin. Galerie Gil Bastide, ORLEANS
2009 Galerie La Factory, ORLEANS
2006 SYLPH – Marquetry by Yann Hervis. Merbau Gallery, SINGAPOUR
2003 Tableaux de chai. Galerie Gil Bastide/ Canal Vin/ Alain Liger, ORLEANS
2003 Palimpsestes. Galerie Art Présent, PARIS
2003 Ça c’est Paris. Opera Gallery, SINGAPOUR
2026 Yann Hervis, Woodcuts – Christian Hirlay, Sculptures. Château de la Trésorerie, SAINT-PRYVE-SAINT-MESMIN
2024 Art Shopping /Yann Hervis. Carrousel du Louvre, PARIS
2023 Gesture and Matter. Retrospective. Château de la Trésorerie, SAINT-PRYVE-SAINT-MESMIN
2021 The Witnesses of Orléans. Cat-Berro Gallery, ORLEANS
2020 We, Orléans. Cat-Berro Gall...