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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDrama Queens, Champagne and Chocolate: The Art of Alphonse Mucha
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Nothing typified Paris in 1900 more than the poster art of a Czech artist named Alphonse Mucha who was living and working in Paris at the time. The Mucha Style advertising posters by the artist, worked up by the ambitious Champenois printing company, were everywhere in the City of Lights. Today, we call this gracious period Art Nouveau.
times of the day
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And at the time, Mucha wanted nothing to do with that term, as he thought of his art as being more serious. Yet it is impossible to imagine that art era without his works coming to mind. And he could not know that Art Nouveau would come to be regarded as the aesthetic of humanism.
Like his later American counterpart, Norman Rockwell, Mucha really wanted to be known for his gift to art, not advertising for Sarah Bernhart, or for a popular genteel champagne label and other luxury industry products. He was a true Czech patriot who wanted to honor his countrys heritage and to communicate a spiritually unifying message to the world. It was his declared creative purpose.
But the Theatre de la Renaissance, Moet et Chandon and Nestle were paying the bills, along with Lefevre Utiles high end biscuit company with whom Mucha had a long run. Bills were paid...and then some...
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Beautiful, graceful women with entwined vaporous hair and wearing light and draping dresses appear in scenes that have their inspiration in nature -- willowy foliage, flowers and extravagantly beautiful gems. These became his signature decorative art, which included both exquisite jewelry for the fabulous Paris shop of Georges Fouquet, as well as calendars and magazine covers in France, the United States and Czechoslovakia
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Fouquet admired Mucha so greatly that he asked the artist to help design his chic Rue Royale shop, here reconstructed (which you can see today) at the Musee de Carnevalet in Paris
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It may seem ironic to us today given the sumptuous nature of his art, but Mucha was a champion of class equality. He believed it was important to give access to the beauty of art to every social class and elevate designs common to their lives to the status of works of art. In the masterful visual statement of his artistic creed,
Documents Decoratifs, he established his theories and the main decorative elements of what was to be known as Art Nouveau.
Mucha and his wife traveled to the United States several times between 1904 and 1921 where he lectured at the Art Institute of Chicago as well as in New York and Philadelphia. Teaching jobs enabled the couple to have regular income with which to raise their son and daughter.
In the last 21 years of his life, Alphonse Mucha developed what he believed to be the apogee of his artistic career, The Slav Epic, for the city of Prague. In this huge series of mural paintings, he outlined the progress and celebrated the culture of the Slavic people. This massive work is exhibited today at Pragues National Gallery.
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hlthe2b
(101,698 posts)Nice post... Thanks!
djean111
(14,255 posts)flamingdem
(39,303 posts)I'm stealing that top one, love it.
CTyankee
(63,768 posts)it was upsetting to my stepchildren when they would visit...
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)I remember first seeing it when the hippies revived interest in it.
And there's an Irish fantasy artist from the 1970s named Jim Fitzpatrick who was Mucha's spiritual successor. Comics artist Barry Windsor-Smith swiped more than a little from Mucha as well.
ETA:
A Minneapolis band swiped the famous "La Plume" for their 1970 album cover. I actually own this album:
jalan48
(13,797 posts)hifiguy
(33,688 posts)in the work of the SF hippie-era artists, especially the poster artists. The underground cartoonists not so much.
Decoy of Fenris
(1,954 posts)I like to think of myself as relatively cultured, but there's always something new to learn, to see, to research. Now I'm off to examine The Slav Epic; that touches quite close to home, given my Slavic/Rus roots.
(By the way, you doublepasted your bottom paragraph if you haven't caught it already. )
CTyankee
(63,768 posts)Actually, I don't care for the Slav Epic so much but it IS interesting. I kinda prefer his decorative and advertising art more...
Decoy of Fenris
(1,954 posts)His elevation of the common man to the status of a quasi-Godhood through emphasizing day to day activities is a true masterstroke to me. So rarely do you really see artists embrace the everyman as thoroughly as you can see here; it's something that really does warm my heart. As against cultural individualism as I am, it's artists like this that make me question that belief from time to time. It's a glorious series of work that wonderfully embodies the potential of humanity on both the individual -and- the collective levels.
It's rare that forum posts put a smile on my face, but this OP did. Thanks for that, mate.
CTyankee
(63,768 posts)this stuff just "knocks your socks off" as the saying goes. I have wanted to share it with folks here, as I want to share all good and great art, because I believe art belongs to all humanity and, along with moral choice, distinguishes us from other primates...
TubbersUK
(1,439 posts)I knew a little about his advertising images but didn't know about his jewelry and interior designs - that shop interior is stunning
CTyankee
(63,768 posts)CTyankee
(63,768 posts)remember that exhibit. Probably because I didn't know the artist at the time (or had forgotten). Nice museum, but more of a history museum than an art museum.
Raine1967
(11,589 posts)That drew me deeply into my graphical illustration studies. I was in school in the 80's and so many of the 1960's poster styles were becoming reto-popular. One of my professors pointed out that many of those styles were influenced by Mucha.
His art still inspires me to this day. His work is simply beautiful elegant and inspiring.
CTyankee
(63,768 posts)because it was so dramatic and I loved the vertical style. No wonder Bernhardt loved him and contracted with him to do all of her posters. He brought her alive all over Paris. It must have been a fabulous time to live there...
Raine1967
(11,589 posts)They are all so beautiful and strong.
Yes, agree with his vertical style, it was so graphic and yet so flowing and natural. Sarah was a smart omen.
This just screams for Mucha to make a print.
I really love his work. I love the graphic portions combined with the painterly style.
CTyankee
(63,768 posts)blogslut
(37,955 posts)I love symmetrical asymmetry, the flourish and the love of the female subject.
CTyankee
(63,768 posts)she is the apotheosis, the ideal, of beauty...and everything else...he caught the vibe...
MrScorpio
(73,626 posts)CTyankee
(63,768 posts)MrScorpio
(73,626 posts)From ten years ago.
CTyankee
(63,768 posts)dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)This is the Mucha poster I have had in my den forever,
which my son has always loved. "It reminds me of you, Mom"
(we were both much much younger then, of course)
but, over the years, things have changed.....
Person 2713
(3,263 posts)yardwork
(61,408 posts)Divernan
(15,480 posts)Mucha's grandson & daughter-in-law established the Mucha Foundation in 1992, following the death of the artist's son, Jiri. I was in Prague for 10 days back in 2002, and my Czech hosts proudly took me to the museum. For souvenirs, I bought a lovely "celebratory" book published (in English) by the Foundation/Museum in 2000 and a hand-painted silk scarf in lovely shades of cream and various greens, in one of his classic designs.
There are a number of books featuring this artist's works but I couldn't find a copy on line of the one I have. It is simply titled "Alphonse Mucha" and contains several hundred reproductions of his paintings, free drawings and pastels as well as hundreds of photos (many taken by Mucha himself) of jewelry, sculpture, posters, murals, decorative plates, ceramics, vases and photos he took of his family and of his models. It also includes reproductions and descriptions of 10 of the 20 monumental murals in his Slav Epic.
I particularly got a kick out of Mucha's photograph of Paul Gauguin playing the harmonium (like a small organ) in Mucha's studio. Gauguin manages to look tres distingue despite being bare foot, bare legged, wearing a night shirt under the jacket of a suit. Gauguin shared Mucha's Paris studio before his trip to Tahiti, and again upon returning from Tahiti and preparing for his first Paris exhibition. c. 1895.
Thanks for featuring this artist in your Friday post. I hadn't thought about him or looked at my book of his work for years, and really enjoyed going through it again.
CTyankee
(63,768 posts)and got stuff on line.
Glad you got to Prague and saw the Slave Epic. Must be overpowering.
Love the art. Love the concept of Art Nouveau. Too bad it didn't take off in this country...
840high
(17,196 posts)CTyankee
(63,768 posts)dae
(3,396 posts)Thank you for the introduction CTyankee!
CTyankee
(63,768 posts)ms liberty
(8,478 posts)Mucha turned advertising into art that everyone could enjoy.
Unknown Beatle
(2,672 posts)Here's another beautiful one by Mucha.
The Four Seasons
Alphonse Mucha had a series of paintings called the Four Seasons.
Here's another one.
CTyankee
(63,768 posts)Blue_In_AK
(46,436 posts)Decoy of Fenris
(1,954 posts)CTyankee
(63,768 posts)smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)I have a poster from the Mucha museum in Prague. It's an advertisement for a symphony and one of my most treasured possessions. Thank you for posting!
CTyankee
(63,768 posts)Person 2713
(3,263 posts)CTyankee
(63,768 posts)what an age of loveliness...
Person 2713
(3,263 posts)want to blather on . Enjoy!