Alphonse Mucha Art Style Overview

Alphonse Mucha Art Style OverviewAlphonse Mucha is best kn let for his luxurious handbill and mathematical product designs, which encapsulate the Art Nouveau style. Interest in his work was revived in 1980 when it was shown at an exhibition at the Grand Palais in capital of France.Alphonse Mucha was born in South Moravia. In 1882 he started to earn a living by painting portraits in Mikulov. The following year wait Khuen kicked Mucha to ornament his castle at Emmahof and his brother Count Egon Belasi became his patron. He was educated at the Munich Academy of Arts and at the Acadmie Julian in Paris and aft(prenominal) completing work for Count Khuen began work as an illustrator in 1889.His graduation work was a theatre magazine authorize Le garment au Theatre and in it his counterbalance drawing of Sarah Bernhardt as Cleopatra appeared in 1890. By 1895 he had signed a six year turn off with Bernardt to produce percentage point and costume designs as well as posters. At t he same time Mucha joined the Salon des Cent, a symbolist group that included Bonnard, M in botharm and Toulouse-Lautrec. He intentional a poster for their twentieth exhibition in 1896 and the next year he exhibited many of his whole shebang at this exhibition as well as at his own one-man show at the Topic Gallery in Prague.between 1903 and 1922 Alphonse Mucha made four visits to the United States where his work proved affairicularly successful. Charles Richard Crane, a Chicago industrialist and Slavophile, agreed to finance Muchas series of 20 huge paintings entitled Slav Epic (1909-1928). He continued to work on a lean of projects, however, including the design of new postage stamps for Czechoslovakia in 1918 and producing a number of posters and designs for public buildings besides the Slav Epic for example, Allegory of Prague (1911) for the Prague Town Hall. He completed the full cycle of the Slav Epic finally in 1928 and it was exhibited at the Trade Fair Palace. Just t hree long time ulterior he was commissioned to produce a stained-glass window for the St. Vitus Cathedral, hence in 1938 embarked on yet another mammoth project involving a triptych, The term of Wisdom, The Age of Love and The Age of Reason. Sadly they were never completed as he died in 1939.For the Slavs, the plastic arts are a popular striving towards a symbolic manifestation a taste for symbols is part of the inheritance of all Slavs That is why the language of symbols is the surest way to communicate our feelings to our brother Slavs. Alphonse Mucha.Alfons Mucha was born in Southern Moravia on July 24, 1860. At the age of 17 the artist left his home, to work as a painter of stage palm trees at the Vienna Ringtheater. When there was a fire at the theater, Mucha incapacitated his job. He found new employment at the Vienese castle with Count Khuen, who became his patron and sent him to the Munich art academy a few years later. From there, Alfons Mucha went on to Paris in 18 87 to continue his studies at the Acadmie Julian and then at the Acadmie Colarossi.Due to a lack of financial support from Khuen, however, the savant was forced to leave the academy and earn a living as an illustrator. During this time he produced a large number of sketches and drawings. These were studies for illustrations, which were later create in Figaro illustr, Petit Parisien illustr and other journals.This early work and the prints for illustrated books like Llfant blanc by Judith Gauthier, at which Alfons Mucha worked during this time, still reflect the usual academic diachronic style of the time. By coincidence, thanks to an employer of Lemercier printers, Mucha was commissioned to design a poster for Sarah Bernhardt in 1894. This provided the launchpad for Muchas future success and importance as an influencial interior decorator of French Art Nouveau.Sarah Bernhardt was impressed by the artists work. From then on, the famous actress not only had Mucha design her poster s but also her costumes and stages. The public also desire Muchas works very much and he became a famous, widely talked some and celebrated master almost over night.Around 1900 Alfons Mucha reached the peak of his fame. Muchas notional theses Documents Dcoratives and Figures Dcoratives influenced the applied art of the time significantly. From now on, wad talk about Mucha style whose typical elements like the arabesque hair and the doughnut surrounding the pistillate profile, were often copied.In 1900 Alfons Mucha took part in the Paris human being Exposition, evoking general attention with his wall decorations in Bosnia and Herzegovinas pavilion. In 1904 Alfons Mucha went to America, where he produced wall decorations, stages settings and portraits during a prolonged stay in New York. alongside he taught drawing and compostition at the Chicago Art Institute.After Muchas devote to his home country, shortly beforehand World War I, he sanctified considerable time to lithogr aphic work. Then he became increasingly engaged by a series of 20 pictures entitled Lpope Slave, the Slavian Epos. Mucha finished the large format continuation (6 x 8m) of the decoration of the Bosnian pavilion in 1928 and donated it to the city of Prague.Alfons Mucha died in Prague shortly before the invasion of Czechoslovakia by German troops on July 14, 1939.Alphonse Mucha with his decorative posters has perform a kind of trademark and synonym for the Art Nouveau movement. In the mid-sixties his poster reproductions had a revival and were popular again among the flower-power and hippie generation.The images on this page are link-sensitive and take you to other articles or web sites in which you might be interested.Alphonse Mucha his Academic TrainingAlfons Maria Mucha was born in Ivancice, a small provincial town in the Czech Republic.He started his artistic career as an autodidact. Alfons Mucha had a vocational training in stage decorations in Vienna from 1879 to 1881. In the evening he attend a class in drawing. After a few daily commissions for decorative paintings, he went to Munich in Southern Bavaria. here he analyse at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts from 1885 until 1887.After Munich, Mucha moved to the mecca of arts, Paris. Here he studied with different teachers. He lived in modest conditions and could outlive with small commissions for book and newspaper illustrations. For a short period he shared a studio with Paul Gauguin.The BreakthroughIn celestial latitude 1894 Mucha became famous with a commission for a poster for the actress Sarah Bernard. Sarah Bernard was a repute of her time. His poster design for the play Gismonda became a sensation in Paris. Sarah Bernhard was delighted. He received an exclusive contract for six consecutive years by the actress. In the following years, he not only designed all her posters, but her theater decorations and costumes as well. From now on the artist was swamped with commissions for all kind of comm ercial print advertising.His StyleBy this time Mucha had develop his own personal style characterized by art nouveau elements, tender colors and bycantine decorative elements. And all these elements were ranked around images of fairy like one-year-old women with long hair and splendid, refined costumes. In the coming years, this type of female images should become his trademark.Mucha used lithography as the printing technique for his posters. The posters are commonly signed in the block. Some of his posters were produced as sets like The Four Seasons. cope sets count among the most searched for of his works.Public Recognition for Alphonse MuchaIn 1890 the artist had his first one man show in Paris with 448 works on display. His art work was not confined to the printing media. He designed tissues, stamps and even bank bills. In 1900 he received a commission by the Austrian government to decorate the Austrian pavilion for the World Fair in Paris of 1900. He became also active in designing jewelry.Between 1904 and 1921 Mucha traveled frequently to the United States. He took commissions in the US and taught art at art academies in New York and Chicago.In 1939 the German Nazis occupied Czechoslovakia. The popularity of the artist made him a number one target for the Gestapo, the Nazi secret police. He was arrested, interrogated and realeased. Shortly afterwards, Alphonse Maria Mucha died on July 14, 1939 in Prague.The city of Prague has dedicated an Alphonse Mucha Museum to the artist.