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Mucha
"The mission of art is to express each nation's aesthetic values in accordance with the beauty of its soul. The mission of the artist is to teach people to love that beauty." --Alphonse Mucha
Alphonse Mucha was an extraordinarily prolific and versatile artist who made his mark in the diverse fields of design--including posters, jewelery, interior decoration, theater, and packaging and product designs-- as well as in painting, book illustration, sculpture, and photography. He is one of the best-known Czech artists to wide international audiences today and rose to fame in fin-de-siecle Paris with his elegant designs for theater posters for Sarah Bernhardt, the most famous French actress of the time, and decorative panels (panneaux decoratifs) featuring gracefully posed women. For those posters, Mucha created a distinctive style---le style Mucha---characterized by harmonious compositions, sinuous forms, organic lines, and a muted palette, which became synony- mous with the newly emerging decorative style of the time--Art Nouveau. By the time of the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900, Mucha had become a leading figure in this decorative-art movement, and he defined the look of the era.
The catalog explores the development of Mucha's career and overall achievements as a multifaceted and visionary artist. It is divided into six sections highlighting Mucha's personality as a Bohemian; a picture maker for people; a cosmopolitan; a mystic; a patriot; and a philosopher.
This is a companion to the exhibition at Complesso de Vittoriano in Rome, Italy.
Alphonse Mucha was an extraordinarily prolific and versatile artist who made his mark in the diverse fields of design--including posters, jewelery, interior decoration, theater, and packaging and product designs-- as well as in painting, book illustration, sculpture, and photography. He is one of the best-known Czech artists to wide international audiences today and rose to fame in fin-de-siecle Paris with his elegant designs for theater posters for Sarah Bernhardt, the most famous French actress of the time, and decorative panels (panneaux decoratifs) featuring gracefully posed women. For those posters, Mucha created a distinctive style---le style Mucha---characterized by harmonious compositions, sinuous forms, organic lines, and a muted palette, which became synony- mous with the newly emerging decorative style of the time--Art Nouveau. By the time of the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900, Mucha had become a leading figure in this decorative-art movement, and he defined the look of the era.
The catalog explores the development of Mucha's career and overall achievements as a multifaceted and visionary artist. It is divided into six sections highlighting Mucha's personality as a Bohemian; a picture maker for people; a cosmopolitan; a mystic; a patriot; and a philosopher.
This is a companion to the exhibition at Complesso de Vittoriano in Rome, Italy.
- GenresArtNonfiction
247 pages, Paperback
First published September 12, 2018
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80 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 7, 2020
A wonderful retrospective. I came in a fan of Mucha's art and knowing little about his life; this book gave me a whole new appreciation.
Here's what I learned about Mucha: He was a Czech nationalist who scorned art for art's sake -- he was determined to make art "for the people," and in service of the independence of his homeland. In a lot of ways, his success can be attributed to being in the right place at the right time. He was classically trained as an artist, but had a gift for illustration and arrived in Paris in the 1890s, just as:
1) color-printing technology (lithography) got better and more accessible, leading to a boom in poster art
2) continental Europe was caught in the throes of Slavophilism(!), making Slavs and Slavic art chic and desirable
3) France was experiencing an economic boom, leading to an explosion of new publishing houses, and the arts scene flourished
But he was no lucky slouch. Mucha was astoundingly prolific, and understanding his nationalist and spiritual background granted me a whole new appreciation for the outpouring of details in his work (many of which are Slavic and Catholic-influenced, if you look closely). He lived to see his homeland win independence, but then, tragically, lose it again in World War 2; as a leading artist and thinker, Mucha was one of the first to be arrested by the Gestapo when they marched on Prague. He died of pneumonia in prison, his final work -- a triptych inspired by Masonic ideals, featuring Love, Wisdom, and Reason -- unrealized. But, suffice it to say, he'd more than made his mark; even today we associate Art Nouveau with "le style Mucha," and his art is widely beloved.
The book is largely (beautiful!) color plates of Mucha's work, with a few contextualizing essays. It was a gift to read, and I'm grateful for the time it spent in my life.
Here's what I learned about Mucha: He was a Czech nationalist who scorned art for art's sake -- he was determined to make art "for the people," and in service of the independence of his homeland. In a lot of ways, his success can be attributed to being in the right place at the right time. He was classically trained as an artist, but had a gift for illustration and arrived in Paris in the 1890s, just as:
1) color-printing technology (lithography) got better and more accessible, leading to a boom in poster art
2) continental Europe was caught in the throes of Slavophilism(!), making Slavs and Slavic art chic and desirable
3) France was experiencing an economic boom, leading to an explosion of new publishing houses, and the arts scene flourished
But he was no lucky slouch. Mucha was astoundingly prolific, and understanding his nationalist and spiritual background granted me a whole new appreciation for the outpouring of details in his work (many of which are Slavic and Catholic-influenced, if you look closely). He lived to see his homeland win independence, but then, tragically, lose it again in World War 2; as a leading artist and thinker, Mucha was one of the first to be arrested by the Gestapo when they marched on Prague. He died of pneumonia in prison, his final work -- a triptych inspired by Masonic ideals, featuring Love, Wisdom, and Reason -- unrealized. But, suffice it to say, he'd more than made his mark; even today we associate Art Nouveau with "le style Mucha," and his art is widely beloved.
The book is largely (beautiful!) color plates of Mucha's work, with a few contextualizing essays. It was a gift to read, and I'm grateful for the time it spent in my life.
December 16, 2023
"L'arte è eterna come il progresso dell'uomo e la sua funzione è accendere di luce il suo cammino. Dunque l'arte si trova in costante sviluppo ed è sempre qualche passo avanti all'umanità". (Alphonse Mucha)
March 31, 2021
Gorgeous artwork. Great background on the life and career of Mucha. But it doesn't seem to go into details about his artwork as much as I would like.
October 18, 2018
“What is it, new art [art nouveau]? Art can never be new”
AM
P143 “Seeing the Invisible”
Self-portrait, “asleep” in a paranormal experiment at his studio in Rue du Val-de-Grâce, Paris, ca. 1897
Modern print from original glass-plate negative
This is an interesting evidence to get a glimpse of the artist’s creative process.
His photography work/studies of forms/expressions are much more interesting than the art nouveau poster aesthetic he’s generally known and associated with the art nouveau -ism.
AM
P143 “Seeing the Invisible”
Self-portrait, “asleep” in a paranormal experiment at his studio in Rue du Val-de-Grâce, Paris, ca. 1897
Modern print from original glass-plate negative
This is an interesting evidence to get a glimpse of the artist’s creative process.
His photography work/studies of forms/expressions are much more interesting than the art nouveau poster aesthetic he’s generally known and associated with the art nouveau -ism.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews