In the year 1860, on 24 July, Alphonse Maria Mucha was born in Ivancice, in southern Moravia, which is in modern Czech Republic. His parents were Ondřej, who was an escort in the district court, and Amalia. He also had two sisters, Anděla and Anna and was the youngest of the three. He was a painter and graphic artist and was popular mostly in France. His art was inspired by mainly two things – nationalism and religion. As he was born at the border with Austria, German culture and art played a significant role in his life.
It is said that Alphonse Mucha had started painting even before he knew how to walk. He liked to sketch people’s faces and paint pictures from a very early age. As a young boy, he had joined the church choir in St Peter’s Church located in Brno and was an amateur musician. He studied at the Slavic gymnasium and wanted to join the Art Academy in Prague. However, since he was not accepted there, he started to work as a clerk of the district court in his homeland.
At the beginning of his career, Alphonse Mucha was mostly self-taught. From 1879 to 1881, he took professional training in stage decoration from Vienna. While working for a company, which produced stage sets, Alphonse Mucha discovered the works of Hans Makart. In 1882, he left for Mikulov. He made a living by making portraits of famous local people. Count Khuen-Bellassi was one of them who invited Alphonse Mucha at his home to paint murals. He also used to attend evening drawing classes. The Count sent him to Munich in south Bavaria where he joined the Munich Academy of Fine Arts. He studied there from 1885 to 1887. (Arwas, 26-30).
From Munich, he went to Paris in the autumn of 1888 and studied under several teachers. He joined the Academie Julian and found work in the studios of Jean-Paul Laurens and Jules Lefebvre. In 1889, all his grants were stopped and he had to leave the Academy. He then had to survive of his small payments, which he obtained for his newspaper and book illustrations. He started creating illustrations in novels and schoolbooks for a Parisian publishing company. He then joined Academie Coarossi for a brief period. In the year 1890, Alphonse Mucha did his first individual show where more than 400 of his works were displayed.
In 1892 he was asked by Colin to illustrate “Scenes et Episodes de l’Histoire d’Allemagne” by Charles Seignobos. In the end of 1894, he designed a poster for the famous actor Sarah Bernard for the play “Gismonda”, which later became the best theatre poster ever made by him. Soon his poster became a sensation all over Paris. Sarah Bernard was so impressed with him that he received a contract for 6 years from her. He not only designed for the Lautrec’s Aristide Bruant dans son Cabaret, but also her costumes, other posters and sets at Theatre de la Renaissance and became famous almost immediately. The posters, which he made for her, were “Lorenzaccio” and “La Dame aux Camelias” in 1896, “La Samaritaine” in 1897, “Medee” in 1898, “Hamlet” and “Tosca” in 1899. He was thereafter flooded with all kinds of business advertisements. His work was admired by all Parisian people as it had something new in it and it quickly became a part of daily life.
Gismonda
At the end of 1896, he completed one of his most interesting and successful projects, “Ilsee”. It was published in 1897 by Piazza and became popular from the day of it publication. It displayed his unique design and immediately became a masterpiece. “The Princess of Triesate” was one of his notable works.
From 1896 to 1902, Alphonse Mucha obtained his highest graphic productivity. He produced his first panneaux decorates “The Seasons “in 1896, which was a set of four huge images located around a central theme. He created two sets of the “Four Seasons”, the “Four Arts”, the “Four Times of Day “ and later his best the “Four Precious Stones”. It was painted on silk and created for the collectors. He made posters for “La Dame aux Camélia”, which was a play by Alexander Dumas, in 1896. He also created the fabulous “Job”, “Slavia” and “Prophetess” in 1896,
He created the first of his sensational travel posters, “Monaco-Monte-Carlo” and “Salon des Cent” in 1897. He painted the “Zodiac” in 1898. In the same year, Mucha created the poster for “Medee”, which was a play by Catulle Mendes. Medea’s horrifying figure is depicted after she kills Jason’s children who are lying at her feet. A snake bracelet is entangled around her left hand, a design Mucha would complete for “Fouquet” in 1899.
Zodiac
“La Plume”, “Primavere” and ‘Dry Imperial” for Moet and Chandon’s was created in 1899. He also published the “Documents Decoratifs” in 1902, through which he wanted to transfer his artistic knowledge to his next generations. He had also announced the “Figures Decoratives”.
Since his work was not just confined to printing media, in 1900, he was asked by the Austrian government to design the Austrian pavilion to be displayed at the World Fair in Paris that same year. By 1903, Alphonse Mucha was tired of painting similar motifs repeatedly. He was devoted to the Slav people and this gave him the idea of “The Slav Epic”, which is a huge painting depicting the life of the Slavs. This he wanted to present to the Czech people. In 1904, he went to USA to collect money for his project by making portraits. His dream became a reality after he met Charles R. Crane, an industrialist who sponsored his entire project. He then returned to his birthplace to finish his work in 1909.
The Slav Epic
Alphonse Mucha painted very fast to finish his dream project. He wanted to complete his project within five or 6 years but it took him 18 years to do so. By the end of 1912, the first three six-by-eight-meter paintings were completed. After World War I ended in 1919, Alphonse Mucha displayed his first 11 paintings at the Carolinum Hall in Prague followed by two more exhibitions in USA.
During the period of 1904 to 1921, Alphonse Mucha frequently visited USA not only for business but also to teach art in Chicago and New York. Until the start of World War II, Alphonse Mucha continuously worked on “The Slav Epic”. When in 1939, the Nazis captured Czechoslovakia; Alphonse Mucha’s fame made him the primary target of the Nazi secret police, the Gestapo. He was then arrested, questioned and finally released, but unfortunately, he died shortly after that on 14 July 1939, in Prague. He left behind his wife Marie, son Jiří and daughter Jaroslava and his dream, “The Slav Epic” remained incomplete forever. (Hoole, 166-8)
In his honor, the city of Prague created an Alphonse Mucha Museum and dedicated it to him.
Art Nouveau Movement
Art Nouveau is one of the most notable art styles in history. It means “New Art” in French and obtained its name from a gallery in Paris, which mainly focused on the modern art styles like ornamental tapestries, furniture and other artistic objects. The movement was mainly initiated to make art from anything in the world. It also fabricates the end of a huge list of fine art styles like the Baroque, Renaissance, Romance and others. This boom in the shape of the Art Nouveau Movement arose in the late 19th century, but lasted for less than a decade as it was converted into a more fresh and advanced art form. It was an international art movement, which denoted a transition from the conventional art forms to the modern industrial era. The Art Nouveau Movement was initiated to improve the life of the common people by introducing art in their daily life.
Art Nouveau Movement was brought about due to industrialization, which reached Western Europe in 1890, mainly by the juvenile artists of that time. It tried to relate the intimacy of personal life with its practical surrounding as it brought about a new interest in smooth and graceful forms and created a biased feeling towards spiritual satisfaction. Rich adornment spirals and curves became its important features and were applied on a variety of items, like ceramics and glass and were used architecture. Art Nouveau Movement was based on the ideas of Japanese art and French Rococo and reflected Symbolism. As it was a unique and new style, it immediately became popular and quickly spread all over Western Europe, particularly in Vienna, Berlin, Paris and Munich, and UK and USA.
The Industrial Age brought with it a new and unique kind of advertising. This genre of art was first seen in France. The promotion of various cultural events was done by large posters and handbills and these types of printed art became a legal art form. During the Golden Age of Illustration, along with great illustrators like Dulac, Sime and Rackham, the Czech artist Alphonse Mucha was rising with his unique style of art covering the various forms of graphic art, and thus, changed the face of the art world in Paris.
Alphonse Mucha was the most famous Art Nouveau Movement artists. During his stay in Paris from 1894 to 1904, he influenced fashion and art largely and started to develop ideas of Art Nouveau Movement, also called Le Style Mucha. He had a career span of almost 60 years and created a huge range of unique art ranging from sculptors to posters and ornamental panels to historical canvases. There is no doubt that Alphonse Mucha was indeed the principal artist of the Art Nouveau style. The Art Nouveau style needed experienced artisanship and is characterized by flowing curved lines, dynamic and natural themes. (Reade, 54-59).
His Style
Alphonse Mucha aimed at introducing art in the lives of people. He started designing advertisements, labels for items like toothpaste, posters, jewelry, crockery, calendars, book illustrations, stamps, bank bills, small decorative statues, tissues and other forms of illustrative works.
Alphonse Mucha had his own unique style of painting. It contained soft colors, Art Nouveau Movement elements and other decorative styles. These elements were painted around fairy-like images of beautiful young women wearing gorgeous dresses and having long locks of hair. These types of images later became his painting trademark. He also used lithography of printing his posters and they were usually signed in block. Some of his poster, like the “Four Seasons”, were created as sets and are the most popular among his works. (Reade, 54).
Alphonse Mucha associated art to the religious evaluation of the human spirit and considered it eternal. Alphonse Mucha‘s most notorious work is “The Slav Epic”. Critics have called it a blank historical bombast and felt that since it was a romantic idea, it was rather out-of-date for display in the early 20th century. Even today, Alphonse Mucha‘s work is admired all over the world. There are galleries and art museums all over the world, which displays his work, bringing back his fame of the Parisian days. Alphonse Mucha is so famous with Japanese art lovers that they have decided to open a museum displaying his works.
Alphonse Mucha was indeed the most popular Czech artist during the era of Art Nouveau Movement. He remains the most decorative and fashionable artist of his time and gracefully presented the French Art Nouveau Movement.
Works Cited
Arwas, Victor; Alphonse Mucha: The Spirit Of Art Nouveau; Art Services International; 1996.
Hoole, John, Alphonse Marie Mucha, Tomoko Sato, Victor Arwas, Barbican Art Gallery; Alphonse Mucha; Lund Humphries in association with Barbican Art Gallery, 1993.
Reade, Brian; Art Nouveau and Alphonse Mucha; H.M. Stationery Off., 1963.