Cath Pound
Alphonse Mucha, Autoportrait en chemise russe (roubachka) dans
l’atelier de la rue de la Grande-Chaumière, Paris, 1882. © Mucha Trust 2018
Alphonse Mucha’s
instantly recognizable works feature beautiful women with long tendrils of hair
and flowing garments surrounded by decorative botanical motifs in delicate
shades of peach, gold, ochre, and eau de Nil. The Czech artist originally found
fame via his stunningly original poster designs for the legendary actress Sarah
Bernhardt, but is best known today for his innovative advertisements, posters, and
decorative works. Although Mucha resented his work’s formal association with
Art Nouveau, which to him represented a uniquely contemporary—rather than
timeless—movement, the egalitarian nature of the poster was instrumental in
popularizing an aesthetic that, to many, became known simply as le style Mucha.
Born in 1860 in the
small Moravian town of Ivančice, then one of the Slavic provinces of the
Austrian Habsburg Empire, Mucha came of age in an era of nationalistic
consciousness, a reaction against the increasing Germanization of Czech
culture. As such, he saw art as a means of responding to his nation’s need for
cultural representation. These aspirations were put on hold following his
rejection from the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. Mucha was forced to earn a
living as an apprentice scene painter in Vienna, and then as a portrait painter
in the Moravian town of Mikulov. His talents eventually caught the eye of two
local counts, whose patronage allowed him to gain formal training in Munich,
and later in Paris.
Alphonse Mucha, Les Saisons:
l’été , 1896. © Mucha Trust 2018.
Alphonse Mucha, papier à cigarette (Job), 1896. © Mucha Trust 2018.
He spent some time
as an illustrator in Paris before his big break came in 1894, when the
legendary stage actress Sarah Bernhardt commissioned Mucha to design a poster
for Gismonda, a Greek melodrama she was to star in and direct. “The way he
treated Sarah Bernhardt’s poster was revolutionary,” said Tomoko Sato, curator
of the Mucha Foundation in Prague and organizer of a current survey of the
artist’s work at the Musée du Luxembourg in Paris. Mucha chose to portray
Bernhardt in character, dressed in an exquisitely embroidered gown and dramatic
orchid headdress.
The poster caused a
sensation when it appeared on hoardings throughout Paris in January 1895.
Thanks to developments in lithographic printing, Mucha, as well as artists like
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Théophile Steinlen, took daring risks in their
designs. Paris entered a golden age of poster art; the streets turned into
veritable open-air art exhibitions. Yet nothing like Mucha’s design had been
seen before. While the work’s muted pastel palette was in marked contrast to
the bolder color schemes prevalent in poster art of the time, it was the
extremely narrow, life-size composition of Mucha’s design that was truly
groundbreaking. (Sato suggests that Japanese scrolls—then being imported
heavily into France—influenced the format.)
A delighted
Bernhardt invited Mucha to serve as artistic director of her theater, designing
posters, stage sets, costumes, and jewelry for her productions. Following the
design principles of Gismonda, Mucha created an additional six posters for
Bernhardt. These works proved instrumental in creating an enduring image of
“The Divine Sarah” in the public imagination.
His association with
the celebrated performer led to a flood of commissions, and the partnership
also benefited his artistic development. To produce his iconic images of
Bernhardt, Mucha carefully studied her performances and noted “the particular
magic of her movements.” The costumes he designed for her were meant to enhance
her gestures. As Bernhardt sat, stood, or turned, the diaphanous fabric of her
dress would swirl around her. These flowing movements later found their way
into his commercial and decorative work.
The Parisian printer
Ferdinand Champenois recognized the commercial possibilities of Mucha’s style,
and offered the artist an exclusive commercial contract. Mucha went on to
design posters for brands such as JOB cigarette papers (1896), Chocolat Idéal
(1897), and Moët & Chandon (1899). All of these advertisements included a
version of the so-called “Mucha Woman,” now using all of her ethereal charms to
communicate the desirability of a product, rather than the strength of a
performance. He also embarked on a wholly new endeavor: the creation of purely
decorative panels for domestic use. Mucha’s delightful aesthetic perfectly lent
itself to panel series such as “The Times of Day” (1899) or “The Flowers”
(1898), which feature women embodying the titular themes set against detailed
botanical backdrops.
Yet his patriotic
feelings lingered, leading Mucha to increasingly incorporate Slavic motifs in
his work. These appeared in the form of florals—inspired by Moravian folk
arts—or in prominently placed discs, which, for Mucha, recalled Byzantine
icons. In Byzantine Heads (1897), the images of two women wearing luxurious
hair ornaments are set in circular frames, surrounded by an exquisite lacework
pattern influenced by Moravian craftwork. He also referenced the geometric
patterns familiar in Czech Baroque churches in the decorative surrounds of
series such as “The Seasons” (1896). Mucha’s success was, in part, a product of
good timing: France enjoyed close cultural relations with Russia, and,
bolstered by a visit from Tsar Nicholas II in 1896, a wave of Russophilia swept
through fin-de-siècle Paris.
Mucha’s star only
continued to rise. In 1896, poet and novelist Léon Deschamps, founder of the
French art magazine La Plume, invited Mucha to join the Salon des Cent. He was
given a major retrospective there the following year. Six editions of La Plume
devoted to the artist served as a catalogue for the exhibition, which further
spread his fame as it toured through Europe.
It was during this
time that Mucha’s style become inextricably linked with Art Nouveau. The
movement’s focus on natural motifs and flowing, organic lines had much in
common with his own work. Yet Mucha was dismissive of the movement’s name.
“From his point of view,” Sako explained, Art Nouveau “was new art. He thought
art should be permanent—universal or timeless.” Nevertheless, his work was
instrumental in popularizing the Art Nouveau aesthetic. Better yet, his posters
and graphic works were visible to everyone on the street, and could be
purchased by those who might not have had the means to buy more expensive
luxuries such as Tiffany lamps or Lalique glassware.
In 1904, Mucha
traveled to New York for a two-month visit. His fame was evident even across
the Atlantic, and he was greeted like a celebrity. Although he produced posters
for American actresses such as Leslie Carter, Mucha’s primary aim in the United
States was to raise funds for a new project that was dear to his heart—The Slav
Epic, a cycle of 20 paintings that he conceived as a monument to Slavic unity.
In 1910, he returned
to his homeland after a 25-year absence to concentrate on its creation,
accepting only outside commissions that would promote Czech cultural or
philanthropic events. (In his charming 1911 poster for Czech composer Oskar
Nedbal’s ballet-pantomime Princess Hyacinth, for example, his traditional style
takes on a fairy-tale element.) Mucha was able to present the completed Slav
Epic to the city of Prague in 1928, 10 years after the founding of an
independent Czechoslovakia. Tragically, only 11 years later, the Nazis marched
into the city and declared it a protectorate. As a prominent Czech patriot,
Mucha was arrested and questioned by the Gestapo. In weak health and with his
spirit broken, he died shortly after his release.
Mucha was interred
in the Slavin monument in Prague’s Vyšehrad cemetery, the final resting place
of many great Czechs. The monument bears the inscription “Though dead they
still speak to us.” Mucha’s work continues to do just that. His work, largely
disseminated through posters—one of the most important and egalitarian forms of
visual communication of the 20th century—has largely defined a glamorous era
that continues to excite the public imagination. His unique sense of design and
powerfully sensuous line have ensured that even his most commercial works have
transcended their original purpose to become artworks in their own right,
reproduced throughout the world to this day.
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