Alphonse Mucha : The Spirit of Art Nouveau

by Victor Arwas, Jana Brabcová-Orlíková, and Anna Dvorák; With an Introduction by R

• ISBN13: 9780300074192
• ISBN10: 0300074190
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 1998-04-20
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939) was one of the most important decorative artists working in Paris at the turn of the century. His distinctive and original posters and his decorative panels in le style Mucha became almost synonymous with French Art Nouveau. The admirer and iconographer of Sarah Bernhardt, he was also well known as the creator of familiar advertisements and as a book illustrator. Yet there was much more to Mucha's achievement than this. At the height of his career as a decorative artist, he became convinced that art should serve ideas, he became chief artistic and cultural adviser to the interwar Czech government, and he completed a major and controversial fresco cycle, the Slav Epic, as well as portraits and large symbolic paintings. This book -- the first full-scale treatment of Mucha's oeuvre -- includes discussions and reproductions of paintings, posters, panneaux decoratifs, pastels, drawings, and illustrations from throughout his career. In addition, the authors provide essays on Mucha's Paris years; his association with Sarah Bernhardt; the importance of American patronage on his later work; his graphic and painterly techniques; and the problems connected with the conservation of the large canvases. This lavishly illustrated book is the catalogue for an exhibition of Mucha's work that will tour the United States, beginning in San Diego in 1998.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments Art Services International	8	(3)
Preface The Mucha Foundation	11	(1)
The Spirit of Mucha	12	(4)
Ronald F. Lipp
Suzanne Jackson
Bohemia and Paris	16	(14)
Jana A. Brabcora-Orlikora
New Aspirations 1900-1939	30	(12)
Anna Drorak
Mucha's Debut in Fin de Sieele	42	(4)
Paris Victor Ancas
Mucha and Photography	46	(8)
Quentin Bajae
Would Mucha Have Made It on Madison Avenue?	54	(8)
Jack Rennert
Le Style Mucha and Symbolism	62	(6)
Victor Arwas
Mucha and Sarah Bernhardt	68	(10)
Victor Arwas
Mucha and Seulpture	78	(4)
Victor Arwas
Alphonse Mucha as Illustrator	82	(14)
Anna Drorak
The Slav Epie	96	(28)
Anna Drorak
The Fouquet Boutique	124	(10)
Jean-Marie Bruson
Jiri Mucha: Keeper of the Flame	134	(2)
Geraldine Mucha
Notes to the Catalogue	136	(1)
Catalogue	137	(1)
The Early Years	138	(4)
Le Style Mucha: Sarah Bernhardt	142	(14)
Le Style Mucha: Posters	156	(28)
Le Style Mucha: Decorative Panels	184	(24)
Le Style Mucha: Magazines	208	(16)
Le Style Mucha: Illustrated Books	224	(14)
Le Style Mucha: Other Graphic Design	238	(14)
Mucha the Painter	252	(32)
Designs for Public Spaces	284	(16)
Sculpture and Jewelry	300	(10)
Pedagogic Publications	310	(14)
The Slav Epic	324	(12)
Mucha's Last Series	336	(4)
Select Bibliography	340	(3)
List of Exhibited Works	343