Type II booklet

7/29/2019 Type II booklet

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this is so god damned frustrating

His master ful g raphic work continues

to charm new generations. Mucha was

the Andy Warhol of the belle poque.

Mark Favermann


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Most people, artists especially, know the iconic images from

Alphonse Muchas illustrations: a beautiful, seductive woman,

surrounded by owing lines, and elaborate decoration. These

kinds of illustrations have made it far from the artists original

workshop. They are used in ads, copied in art, and became

wildly popular (for the second time) around the 1960s, long

after Mucha had died and the art Nouveau movement had

ended. But while his illustrations are so easily recognizable,

people often refer to his artwork simply as Art Nouveau,

rather than naming the ar tist that had such an impact on the

movement. Mucha was a big part of Art Nouveau, but he did

not make the movement himself, nor did he even aim to be

identied with it in the rst place. Its odd that so many people

(like myself, until last year) can see and know his work, without

ever knowing the name of the ar tist, and here I would like to

offer and introduction.

Alphonse Mucha was an artist in Paris, starting in the late

1880s, but he was born in 1860 in what is now the Czech

Republic. As a child, he was a choirboy and a musician. Hisfather was a court usher and at the age of 15, he was given a

job at home, to work as a clerk. But Mucha was drawn to ar t

despite his fathers wishes. In 1878 he applied to the Prague

academy of ne ar ts, and he was turned down. The next year,

Mucha began to travel across Europe. He rst went to Vienna

where he found a job as a scene painter, then to Milukov where

he made a living painting portraits. There he met Count Khuen

Belasi, who commissioned him as a decorator. In 1883, the

counts brother decided to become Muchas patron, and two

years later Mucha was able to attend the Munich Academy of

Art. With the help of his patron Mucha moved to Paris in 1887,

where he began his rise to popularity.

Moet & Chandon

Wine Labels, 1897

A popular example of

Muchas iconic style

ALPHONSE MUCHA Photograph of AlphonseMarie Mucha,.1897

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Mucha spent two years in two different schools in Paris,

the Acad emie J ulian and the Academie Colaro ssi, bef ore

his sponsorship ended, and he began to look for work as

an illustrator. He lived above a cremerie, and he made little

money, from the magazine illustrations he made. He got

sick, living on cheap food. But Mucha found his big break in

1894, commissioned for a poster for Sarah Bernhardts play,

Gismonda. The poster was an elongated piece, a full figure

illustration of Bernhardt, a proud and beautiful woman, with

elaborate decorations and patterns inspired by Byzantine

mosaics. The Gismonda poster was the work that began

Muchas new stylethe iconic style that seems to dene the

words art nouveau.

Bernhardt made a contract with Mucha after the rst poster

so he would continue to design for her for six years and the

Champenois printing rm began to print Muchas posters. The

next year they published Muchas first decorative four-panel

work, and what is now one of his most popular, The Seasons.

By 1897, Mucha has several one-man exhibitions lined up, allwith hundreds of works to show, and he has a feature in the

Salon des Cent symbolist group magazine, La Plume. In 1898,

he begins to give dr awing lessons at the Acadmie Carmen, and

the next year, he worked with the Austro-Hunga rian pavilion

and the Bosnia and Herzegovina pavilion for the 1900 Paris

International Exhibition. He took a research trip to the Balkans

Gismonda with Actress

Sarah Bernhardt, 1897

It was everything an artists life was

supposed to be. Some success,

some failure.

Jim Vadeboncoeur jr.

A Portrait of his

daughter, Jaroslava, 1925

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for the commission, and it is there where he was rst inspired

to pa int the S lav Epic, a tri bute to Sl avic histo ry and what he

considered to be his masterpiece, which he would make from

1910 to 1928. The 1900 Exhibition gave Mucha worldwide

recognition, and he was appointed a knight of the order of

Emperor Franz Joseph the same year.

It was in 1903 when Alphonse Mucha met the woman who

would later become his wife. He had been teaching at the

Academie Colarossi, when a Czech woman by the name of

Maruka Chytilov came to him to study art. Mucha took four

trips to America between then and when they were mar ried,

for commissions, teaching, and exhibitions. Before another trip

abroad in 1906, he married Maruska in Prague, and they left

for America together, where they would start a family on

Muchas teaching income from various art schools in the US.

Their daughter, Jaroslava, was born in 1909, in New York.

The next year, Mucha began to work on the Slav epic in Prague,

sponsored by Charles Crane, who he met in 1904. The series

outlined the history of the Slavic and Czech people, focusing on

themes of Slavic p ride, un ity, religion, and the war s of the Slavic

peoples past. He worked on it for an entire sixteen years. His

son Jiri was born in 1915, while he was still only beginning his

great series. In 1918 Czechoslovakia became an independent

state and Mucha designed their postage stamps and Banknotes.

Age of Wisdom , 1936

Holy Mount Athos, 1926

The Hussite King Jiri of

Podebrad, 1923

The Slav Epic:

The Printing of the Bible

of Kralice in Ivancice,

1914

They looked at it as

a work whose ideas

and intentions were

out of tune with the

time of its origin. Butthey were aware

of the sincerity and

the honest effort

that went into the

creation of the whole

series. It came to be

viewed as one of

those controversial

artistic errors which

make us feel both

respect and pity...

Jiri Mucha, onThe

Slav Epic

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It wasnt until 1928 that the Slav Epic was ofcially complete, after

years of t ravel and study. The 20 paintings were presented to the

Czech people and to the city of Prague. Mucha slowed down

after the mixed reception to what he considered his nest work,

becoming sick ten years later, and stopping work on his last multi-

panel piece , The Ages of Reason , Wisdom, and Love, to write

his memoirs. Shortly before his death, Mucha was ar rested by the

Gestapo when the Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia in 1939. (An

artist, and promoter of peace and Slavic pride, He was seen as

an enemy to the Nazis.) His interrogation worsened his health

but he was released later that year, and died in Prague, on July

14th.

Muchas Slav Epic was hidden away during World War II, to

protect it from the war, but once it was certain the work would

be safe, the Communist Government in Czechoslovakia after

the war had no interest in Muchas work. The epic was passed

to Moravsky Krumlov in 1950, but the entirety of the series was

not publicly exhibited again until 1967, and the current location

isnt widely known. Alphonse Mucha was wholly proud of hishuge painting series, but the rest of the world never seemed

to sh are h is en thus iasm. In fact , while Mucha was immense ly

popular for his commercial work, he worked hard to try to

separate himself from the art nouveau movement. The Slav

Epic was an example of his devotion not only to his home,

but also to fine art as opposed to the decorative, flourishingThe Four Flowers:Iris, 1897

designs of his commissioned work. Rejected from art school at

the sta rt, and known only for h is poster illus trations, he felt for

years that he wasnt respected as an artist. Alphonse Muchas

posters had always gained a lot of attention. The work, when

he started producing it, was new and embraced the era. But

there wasn t anything vi siona ry about his p ainti ngs. There a re

those who see the slav epic as a masterpiece, not because it was

Muchas greatest work, but because it was a dedicated, beautiful

visual history of t he Slavic people, but what Mucha will always

be known for, to his own disappointment, will always be his

commercial prints: illustrations that started to get old, the longer

he made them.

The Art nouveau movement started to come to an end

around the 1930s. By that time, Muchas fame had started

to dwindle. His work was sti ll beautifu l and cheris hed, but it

wasnt new. By the time of his death, he was no longer the

big hit he had been before. But I believe Alphonse Mucha

did have the respect of the artistic community. He was a

poor artist in Paris, and I dont think anyone can blame him forbecoming known for commercial work. In fact, the Art Noveau

revival that happened in the 1960s and 70s proves that Muchas

work would always be celebrated, if not for the reasons he

would have liked. Muchas work remains famous to this day.

While many people may not know his name, hi s illu strat ions

are iconic and so often mimicked that it is clear Alphonse

Mucha had a place in the world of art.

Girl with a Rose, above,

and Girl with a Pigeon,opposite page,

Early 20th century

By the 1890s,

Muchas delicately

sensuous style had

become synonymous

with French Art

Nouveau

Alphonse Mucha: The spirit

of art Noveau, The NortonMuseum of Art

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La Samaritaine Poster, 1897 Lorenzaccio Poster, 1897 Medee Poster, 1897 La Tosca Poster, 1897

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He submits without

argument, as he

himself says, to

the commands

of this watchful,

protective force

which propels him

through life as if he

were sleepwalking,

placing before his

feet at decisive

moments the stops

to success.

Victor Champier,

quoting Mucha

Job Cigarette

advertisements, top right

and opposite page, 1897

Biscuits Lefevre Utile calendar,

to the r ight,1896

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Exposition universelle &

internationale de St. Louis

(Etats-Unis)advertisement,

1904

La Plume Zodiac

calendar, 1897

Bleu Deschamps

advertisement, ca. 1897

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La Trappistine sketch and

nished advertisement,

1897

The four Seasons,

between1880-1910For the life-size gures of his Bernhardt posters

Mucha chose an extremely elongated shape,

and in contrast to other poster designers

he used ver y pale colourswhites, beiges,

mauves, dull purples, reds and greens, with

decorative touches of gold and silver. His

unusual posters were uniquely appropriate

to the famous actress of whom Charles Hiatt

wrote that she had the ability to touch even

a classical French drama with the oriental,

the strange and the exotic.

Anna Dvorak

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Nature, 1900

Ilsee, Princess de Tripoli

book illustration, top

left,1897

Peacockdecoration panelfor a jeweler, opposite

page, 1901

It is good to cultivate tradition in art, but at

the same time . . . the tradition must be that

of the art of your ancestors and one mustwish to conserve life by helping forward

its organic evolution

Alphonse Mucha



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The Celebration of

Svantovit, 1912

Jan Milic of Kromeriz,1917

The Bulgarian Tsar Simeon,

1923

Meeting at Krizky, 1916

More From The Slav Epic:

The Bohemian King

Premysl Otakar II,1924

Works Cited

Michle Lavalle. Mucha, Alphonse. Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. 12 Feb.

2012.

Mucha, Alphonse A Dictionar y of Modern and Contemporary Art by Ian Chilvers and John

Glaves-Smith. Oxford University Press Inc. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University

Press. Seatt le Public Library. 12 Feb 2012 http:/ /www.oxfordrefe rence.co m/views/E NTRY.

html?subview=Main&entry=t5.e1849

Vadeboncoeur, Jim. Alphonse Mucha. Bpib.com. JVJ Publishing, 1999. Web. 12 Feb. 2012.

.

Johnston , Ian. An Introductio n to the Work of Alphonse Mu cha and Ar t Nouvea u. Lecture.

Kunstpedia.com. Kunstpedia, 17 Apr. 2008. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. .

Mucha Museum. Alphonse Mucha Biography. Mucha.cz. Mucha Museum, 2002. Web. 12 Feb.

2012. .

Favermann, Mark. Siren Song: The Art Of Alphonse Mucha. Art New England 21.2 (2000): 21.

Art Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 12 Feb. 2012.

Alphonse Mucha: The Spirit Of Art Nouveau: Nort on Museum Of Ar t, West Palm Beach,

Florida. Drawing 20.2 (1998): 60. Art Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 12 Feb. 2012.

Describing the glorious and tragic

events in its history, I thought of the

joys and sorrows of my own countr y

and of all the Slavs.

Alphonse Mucha



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Type II booklet