BIOGRAPHY

lphonse Maria Mucha (1860-1939) was born in 1860 in Ivančice, Moravia, which is near the city of Brno in the modern Czech Republic.  His early years were spent as a choirboy and amateur musician.  After finishing high school he decided to become a painter, initially doing theatrical scene painting in Vienna.  In Moravia he found a patron who was willing to fund his studies.  After two years in Münich  painting murals for his patron, he went to Paris where he studied at the Académie Julian in 1887.  Two years later the supporting funds were discontinued and Alphonse Mucha was thrust upon a world that he would soon transform.

Vintage 1897 Mucha Round Poster Buy posters at AllPosters.com

fter five more years as a typical starving artist, on January 1, 1895, he presented his new style to the citizens of Paris.  He created a poster for Sarah Bernhardt's play, Gismonda.  Art Nouveau ("New Art" in French) can trace it's beginnings to about this time.  Mucha's name became a household word, as did Le style Mucha, and, though his name is often used synonymously with the Art Nouveau movement, he disavowed the connection.

Bieres De La Meuse Buy posters at AllPosters.com

ucha's art was based on a strong composition, sensuous curves derived from nature, refined decorative elements and natural colors.  The Art Nouveau precepts were used, but never at the expense of his vision.  Sarah Bernhardt gave him a six year contract to design posters, sets and costumes for her plays.  Commissions poured in and by 1897 he  had his first one-man show at the Bodiniére Gallery in Paris and had begun publishing graphics with Champenois, a new printer anxious to promote his work with postcards and panneaux - sets of four large images around a central theme (four seasons, four times of day, four flowers, etc.)

Chocolate Amatler 1900 Buy posters at AllPosters.com

t the World's Fair in Paris in 1900 Mucha designed the Bosnia-Herzegovina Pavilion.  He partnered with goldsmith Georges Fouquet in the creation of jewelry based on his designs and then he published Documents Décoratifs which was his attempt to pass his artistic theories on to the next generation.  His fame spread around the world and several trips to American resulted in covers and illustrations in a variety of U.S. magazines which exposed him to U.S. patrons who commissioned portraits.

Detail from Alfons Maria Mucha's "The Slavs in Their Original Homeland"

n 1909 he is prepared to begin his life's work.  Mucha was always a patriot of his Czech homeland and in 1909 he was commissioned to paint a series of murals for the Lord Mayor's Hall in Prague.  He also began to plan out The Slav Epic - a series of great paintings chronicling major events in the Slav nation which took 18 years to complete.  At the end of this time Mucha's work was labeled an anachronism. His work was still beautiful and popular, it just was no longer "new".  When the Germans invaded Czechoslovakia, he was still influential enough to be one of the first people they arrested.  He returned home after a Gestapo questioning session and died shortly thereafter on July 14, 1939.