Todd Merrill Studio has announced that contemporary French artist Alice Riehl, celebrated for her monumental hand-built porcelain wall sculptures, will present her first museum exhibitions in spring 2026 with two concurrent shows in Jouy-en-Josas, France and New York City that together trace the poetic evolution of her practice and her strong relationship to nature.
At the Musée de la Toile de Jouy in Jouy-en-Josas, Riehl will unveil a solo exhibition titled Herbarium Interior – Alice Riehl. La nature est là où nous vivons, on view from March 27 through May 24, 2026. Inspired by the floral and pastoral motifs and mythic narratives of the museum’s historic textile collections, the exhibition reinterprets the visual language of Toile de Jouy through contemporary porcelain reliefs. Riehl’s newly commissioned monumental wall work, created expressly for the museum, transforms traditional decorative patterning into a living tableau where humans and plants merge. The figures are inspired by the stories of real New Yorkers Riehl interviewed during her Villa Albertine residency in New York City in April-June 2025, as well as photos the artist took during this period.
During her New York residency at Villa Albertine, Riehl met Elissa Auther, Deputy Director of Curatorial Affairs and William and Mildred Lasdon Chief Curator at the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD). After viewing Riehl’s Dent-de-lion porcelain installation at Villa Albertine in May 2025, Auther was inspired to exhibit her work at MAD, resulting in Riehl’s concurrent museum exhibition, slated for February 28–October 11, 2026.
MAD will present a single artist exhibition in its second-floor gallery including monumental porcelain works such as Songe (pictured above), Dent-de-lion, Alter Ego, and Timidité, alongside a selection of process materials, such as glaze and clay samples, dried flora, and design sketches, and toile samples as part of MAD’s educational programming. Accompanied by videos documenting Riehl’s process, the installation offers an immersive look into her synthesis of French decorative arts, organic imagery, and contemporary thought.
By weaving together historical ornament and human narrative, Riehl’s porcelain murals dwell in a liminal space between nature and artifice, intimacy and monumentality. Riehl’s handbuilt works achieve a rare tension between fragility and permanence, thereby transforming the material into a conduit for reflection on transformation itself.
“When I met Alice in 2022, her work immediately resonated as the perfect evolution of the handcraft tradition we champion,” Todd Merrill writes in his introduction to Riehl’s forthcoming catalogue. “Her vision unites the fantasy world of Toile de Jouy with a new, contemporary naturalism — dark and beautiful, familiar yet surreal. In her work, porcelain becomes a living tapestry, reimagining the pastoral ideal for our time.”
Like what you see? Get it first with a subscription to aspire design and home magazine.