Art Noveau Poster of Black and White Woman With Red Carnation

"To talk in my ain way to the spirit of the nation, to its optics which conduct thoughts virtually quickly to the consciousness."

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"The purpose of my work was never to destroy merely always to create, to construct bridges, considering we must alive in the hope that humankind volition draw together and that the amend we understand each other the easier this will become."

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"I was happy to exist involved in an fine art for the people and not for private drawing rooms. It was inexpensive, accessible to the general public, and it establish a dwelling in poor families too as in more flush circles."

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"Every nation has a palladium of its own embodying by and future history. E'er since my adolescence I felt and saw in the architectural lines of St. Vitus Cathedral built so shut to the castle, a powerful interpretation of our national symbol."

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"His art is a sumptuous art, floral, astral, feminine; information technology reflects with tender nonchalance the fluid beauty of class and the delicately veiled secrets of the soul."

"Art exists only to communicate a spiritual message."

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Summary of Alphonse Mucha

Mucha was famous for his commercial posters, which had a wide audience, simply he also worked in a variety of other media, including furniture, jewelry, and theatrical sets. He generally worked in Vienna and Paris, but was as well in Chicago, where he taught at the Art Institute, from 1904 to 1910. In that location, he introduced his interpretation of the "new fine art" to a U.s. audience. The densely patterned posters epitomize the Fine art Nouveau interest in natural forms, ornamentation, and a rejection of the anonymity of mechanical production.

Accomplishments

Women were a mutual theme in Mucha'southward work (and in Art Nouveau art in general). The femme nouvelle or "new woman" blazon was a favorite subject, since it served both allegorical and decorative purposes. Indeed, Mucha and his peers historic femininity as the antidote to an overly-industrialized, impersonal, "masculine" earth.
Mucha worked in a diverseness of media that were attainable to a wide audience, and then the accomplish of his art extended beyond the borders of "high art." Everything could be a work of art, encompassing a person's daily experience, from wallpaper to piece of furniture to clothing to promotional posters around the city.
Although Mucha is most associated with his Art Nouveau posters, he spent the latter of one-half of his career focused on projects of a nationalist character. Stirred by a pride in his country and an interest in its artistic traditions, Mucha sought to celebrate the history and mores of Czech civilization.

Biography of Alphonse Mucha

Mucha was raised in the shadow of two powerful cultural forces: The Catholic Church building and the Slav'due south desire for independence from the Austrian Empire. Excited by low-cal and color, Mucha's earliest memory was of Christmas tree lights. A baroque fresco in his local church piqued his interest in art, and he moved to Vienna, where he took an apprenticeship as a stage ready painter. Surrounded past the explosion of art in the Austrian capital letter, he learned of and greatly admired the work of Hans Makart, amid others.

Of import Fine art past Alphonse Mucha

Progression of Fine art

1896

Job Cigarette Papers

This striking poster was created as an advertisement for the Job cigarette company. A beautiful adult female with a lighted cigarette dominates Mucha'due south poster, the rising smoke intertwining with her swirling, Pre-Raphaelite hair and the Job logo. The poster's golden zigzag border, inspired by Byzantine mosaics, combines with the twirling smoke and the rich regal background to create a luxurious and sensual mood. The curving lines of the adult female'south hair and rising fume stand up out against the rhythmic lines of the zigzag frame.The very fact that this woman is smoking - allow alone that she is somewhat eroticized - was scandalous, since no respectable woman of the time would smoke in public. Furthermore, her sensual tangle of cascading pilus was daring, considering respectable women of the era wore their hair tied up.

These pregnant breaks from tradition suggest that the smoker may exist wanton and wild. She is lost in pleasance - quite peradventure in the nude, her closed eyes and half smiling suggesting ecstasy. Mucha depicts his smoking woman in the style of a rapturous saint to annunciate an everyday product, thereby revealing his smashing skill at blending fine art and commerce. He elevates the ordinary to a realm of mysterious dazzler.

Color lithograph - Mucha Museum, Prague

1896

The Seasons

The offset of Mucha's much-copied pânneaux décoratifs (decorative panels), The Seasons (1896), shows the harmonious cycles of nature. Four seasonal beauties, each prepare against a singled-out natural properties, convey the mood of each flavor. Innocent Spring stands among white blossoms, charming birds; Summer lounges among red poppies; bountiful Fall rests with chrysanthemums, gathering fruit; and Winter,in a snowy landscape, huddles under a cloak with a small bird. The decorative style of the images illustrates Mucha's artistic influences and interests. This style reflects his debt to Japanese woodcuts, as well as to Hans Makart's The Five Senses (1879), while his association of women with a subtle undercurrent of expiry and rebirth speaks to his interest in symbolism. The option of medium reflects his interest in making art available to all, since the panels were created as affordable art for private homes.

Mucha's desire to see mass-produced art accomplish the widest possible audience was speedily achieved; his pânneaux were so popular that he presently created other, similar works: The Flowers (1898), The Arts (1898), The Times of the Day (1899), The Precious Stones (1900), and The Moon and the Stars (1902).

Color lithograph - Mucha Museum, Prague

1899

Ophidian Bracelet with Band

Mucha's interest in expanding the boundaries of fine art and design led to beautiful collaborations with the Parisian goldsmith Georges Fouquet. The near iconic of these is this sparkling snake bracelet, created for his mentor, the extra Sarah Bernhardt. (Mucha shot to fame when he illustrated Bernhardt's theatre affiche Gismonda in 1894.) Thick gold coils twine about the wrist, the tail slithers up the arm, while the winged caput and mosaic of opals, rubies and diamonds sits on the hand. Fine gilded links and hinges allow motion and connect to a snake-caput ring.

Not merely is this bracelet an example of Mucha's connection to the world of theater, but it too reveals his interest in bringing together traditions from Eastward and West. The bracelet is too impressively utilitarian: Mucha's son Jiri said that the bracelet was designed to accommodate Bernhardt's arthritic wrist! Mucha and Fouquet worked together for 3 years, resulting in a treasury of elaborate jewels for Fouquet'due south display at the 1900 Exposition Universelle.

Gold, enamel, opal, reddish and diamond - Mucha Museum, Prague

1899

Le Pater

Created at the turn of the century, this illustrated book marks the point when Mucha's own spiritual philosophy entered his work. In his book, Mucha created an image for each line of the Lord's Prayer,with his own symbolic interpretations thereof. This included mysterious motifs ranging from an eight-pointed star to stars, crescent moons, circles and many other esoteric images drawn from the Kabbalah and Masonic philosophy, amongst other sources. Information technology was a universal call from the homo to the divine, a prayer to reach a college spiritual plane.

Mucha'due south imagery blended his own Catholic traditions with his involvement in the occult, such as Spiritualism (he conducted seances and psychic experiments), and Masonic behavior (he was a practicing Freemason). He considered the book to be his masterpiece, and said he put his soul into it. Century Magazine called him a "New Mystic" and noted that in Le Pater, Mucha's God was "no longer the benign or wrathful Father, simply a mysterious Being whose shadow fills the earth. Nature is personified equally a luminous, adolescent giant, and Dear descends from heaven in the guise of a woman."

Illustrated Book - Mucha Museum, Prague

1908

Slavia

Commissioned by the millionaire and philanthropist Charles Crane upon the marriage of his daughter Josephine, this painting is a portrait of Josephine equally the Slav goddess, Slavia. The work says more nearly Mucha'due south utilize of the image of Slavia as a symbol of his homeland than it does most Josephine herself. Mucha painted Slavia/Josephine as his ultimate 'Mucha woman,' with her hair, trunk, and clothing creating graceful forms in front of a richly ornamented background. Presumably, Charles Crane was pleased with this painting, since he would afterward go along to finance Mucha'south well-nigh ambitious project, the Slav Epic (1911-26).

The goddess Slavia was a recurring icon both in Mucha's commercial and fine art work, and on posters and logos for the Slavia Banking company. Slavia, a symbol of the unified Slav nation, was a well-known allegory in Slavic civilisation, actualization in ballsy songs also equally legends. Mucha revisited the subject field affair ten years later, when hewas commissioned to pattern banknotes for the newly founded Czechoslovakia. He used the paradigm of Slavia on the 100 korun banknote. Mucha also planned to use the paradigm of Slavia in his stained glass window in St Vitus Cathedral, but was ultimately persuaded to supervene upon her with the Christian St. Wenceslas instead.

1912

The Slavs in Their Original Homeland

This is the first of the twenty massive canvasses (some measuring 6x8 meters) that made up Mucha's life-long project - The Slav Epic (1911 - 1926), in which he sought to create a national iconography for the much-persecuted Slav people while also uniting them with spiritual virtue. In the painting, innocent medieval farmers are menaced by Huns invading from the East as well as past Germanic tribes from the West. Mucha's colors are imbued with a symbolic significance that enhances the painting'south power and beauty. The ascendant bluish represents a spiritual realm, with the contrasting white of the Slavs suggests purity. Both the spiritual blueish and the pure white contrast with the reds and oranges of the called-for flames of a torched village in the background. The godlike figure hovering at the upper right is flanked by a immature man and woman, symbols of war and peace. The message seems to be one of promise for the Slavs - hope that they may accept peace and prosperity even in the shadow of their many struggles and wars.

Mucha toiled for two decades to complete the twenty canvases that comprized this series. Drawing on his all-encompassing experience working with stage sets and theater, he used photographs of costumed models to compose his images. The start 11 canvases were publicly exhibited in Prague in 1919. Although the canvases received a positive reception from the general public, critics were unimpressed and were wary of the overtly nationalistic field of study matter. The last canvas, The Embodiment of the Slavs, which depicts the joy of Slav independence, was completed in 1926. Mucha gave his series to the city of Prague and the series was also exhibited around the United States, to much acclaim.

Tempura and oil on canvas - Prague, Czech Republic

1931

Stained Glass Window

This stunning stained glass window casts brilliant light into the north nave of St Vitus' Cathedral in Prague. Information technology creates incredible bursting lite, color, and activity - with the primal flaming aureate and red colors fading into the cool dejection and greens on the outer scenes. At the center is the boy Saint Wenceslas (the Czech patron saint) with his grandmother, Saint Ludmila. They are in prayer, the scarlet hues around them perchance foreshadowing the martyrdom to come up. 36 episodes from the lives of the ninth Century Saints Cyril and Methodius, famous for baptizing the Slavs into Christianity, surround the cardinal scene.

Wenceslas personifies the gratuitous Czechoslovakian nation. Christ looks down from above, while the 'Mucha women' correspond the young people of the new nation. The secular earth intrudes into this religious scene, equally the window bears the logo of the new Slavia Bank who had funded the project. Non just is Mucha's window an achievement for its colorful exuberance and dynamic design, simply it is also emotionally and psychologically deep. The profound humanity and emotion of the figures comes through in their facial expressions and body linguistic communication.

Stained glass - St Vitus Church, Prague

Similar Art

Influences and Connections

Influences on Artist

Influenced by Artist

Bob Masse
Naoko Takeuchi
Paul Harvey

Useful Resources on Alphonse Mucha

Books

websites

articles

video clips

Content compiled and written by Jen Farren

Edited and revised, with Summary and Accomplishments added by Ellen Hurst

"Alphonse Mucha Artist Overview and Assay". [Internet]. . TheArtStory.org
Content compiled and written by Jen Farren
Edited and revised, with Summary and Accomplishments added by Ellen Hurst
Available from:
First published on 06 February 2016. Updated and modified regularly
[Accessed ]

jacksonsamplim.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.theartstory.org/artist/mucha-alphonse/