Alphonse Mucha
(24 July 1860 – 14 July 1939)
“Now it seems to me, some fine things
Have been laid upon your table
But you only want the ones that you can’t get”
from the Eagles, Desperado
There are always those individuals who fail to recognize their own talents… or are even resentful of them. Within the realm of literature, I immediately think of Arthur Conan Doyle who grew to so despise his brilliant character invention, Sherlock Holmes, that he eventually killed him off in order to never have to write another Holmes tale. In December 1893, in order to dedicate more of his time to what he considered his more important works (his historical novels), Conan Doyle had Holmes and Professor Moriarty apparently plunge to their deaths together down the Reichenbach Falls in the story “The Final Problem”. Public outcry, however, led him to bring the character back in 1901, in The Hound of the Baskervilles, and in 1903, Conan Doyle published his first Holmes short story in ten years, “The Adventure of the Empty House”, in which it was explained that only Moriarty had fallen; but since Holmes had other dangerous enemies—especially Colonel Sebastian Moran—he had arranged to also be perceived as dead.
In the realm of classical music, we have the German composer, Engelbert Humperdinck (not to be confused with the schmaltzy lounge-lizard singer of the same name) who composed the the truly delicious opera, Hänsel und Gretel, at the urging of his sister to her libretto. The work was originally intended as little more than a children’s entertainment based upon the Brothers Grimm’s classic tale. The composer was not immediately thrilled with the request… after all, as a sworn Wagnerian and a protege of the great master, he took a lofty view of the operatic calling. What would Wagner think!?
Hänsel und Gretel is almost a magical achievement in its seeming simplicity… its child-like joy… its folk-like melodies… and its spontaneity… in spite of the sophistication of the work: the mature, adult sub-texts, the sensuality and complexity of the orchestration… built heavily upon Wagner’s Lohengrin and Parsifal with its spiritually uplifting moments of grace and benediction. Even the melodies that resonate with the honest simplicity of true folk music are largely Humperdinck’s originals… masterful pastiches.
The work not only impressed Richard Strauss, who called it “a masterpiece of the highest quality… all of it original, new, and so authentically German,” it also proved a smash hit. In London crowds flocked to Daily’s Theater for the biggest show of the Christmas season, 1884. Gustav Mahler, then head of the Hamburg Opera, also proclaimed Hänsel und Gretel to be a “masterpiece”. Hänsel und Gretel holds the distinction of having been the first opera performed in its entirety on the radio in Europe (on the BBC) in 1923, and in the United States in 1931. In spite of the popularity of the work, Humperdinck almost resented that he had composed it, desiring nothing more than to be recognized for his later, more “serious” musical efforts.
Alphonse Mucha is perhaps the artist most intimately associated with the art and culture of fin de siecle Paris and the entire movement eventually known as art nouveau. Unfortunately, the common narrative of Art History has tended to divide the visual arts into the realm of “Fine Art” on one side, and the “Applied Arts”, “Decorative Arts”, and/or “Commercial Arts” on the other… with a clear inference that one is of far more merit than the other. As a result, most Art Historical surveys of this period center upon the work of the Impressionists (Manet, Monet, Renoir, Degas) and Post-Impressionists (Gauguin, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Seurat, Bonnard, and Vuillard) but largely ignore Mucha. Mucha himself struggled with this concept of artistic hierarchy… desiring nothing so much as to abandon his success in fields of decorative/commercial art and illustration… and to be recognized for his efforts as a “serious” “Fine Artist.”
Mucha was born in Moravia in the present Czech Republic. He had been obsessed with drawing since childhood, and he was first employed in painting theatrical scenery for a theater in Moravia. In 1879, he relocated to Vienna to work for a major Viennese theatrical design company, while taking his first formal courses in art education. When fire destroyed the theater, he returned to Moravia, to do freelance decorative and portrait painting. Count Karl Khuen of Mikulov hired Mucha to decorate Hrušovany Emmahof Castle with murals, and was so impressed with Mucha’s work that he offered to sponsor Mucha’s formal training at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts. Following his studies in Munich, Count Khuen offered to further support Mucha’s artistic training in either Paris or Rome. Mucha chose Paris… feeling intimidated by the grandiose reputation of Rome. He continued his studies at Académie Julian and Académie Colarossi.
When Mucha arrived in Paris in 1887, the French capital was the cultural center of the Western world. With his tuition paid and a monthly stipend from his patron, Count Khuen, the 27-year-old Mucha was able to fully enjoy the brilliance of Paris like few other students. He was able to expose himself to the latest paintings of the Impressionists… and the Post-Impressionists such as Seurat and Gauguin, dine in the cafés and coffee shops where he could listen to the debates among artists and poets, and read the latest novels and poetry by Flaubert, Zola, Verlaine, Mallarmé, etc…
His circumstances took a sudden turn for the worse in 1889 when Mucha received a communiqué from Count Khuen announcing that all financial patronage from the Count was to cease immediately. The Count had not counted on a life-long student with Mucha and called on him to begin to make his way into the realm of professional artists. While the artist would later thank the Count for pushing him into the “real world” of art, Mucha was initially faced with the reality of just how to survive in Paris in the dead of winter without any means of financial support. The artist could no longer afford the luxury of attending the Académie Colarossi, and so he promptly dropped out. He was also forced to immediately cease dining in the Parisian cafés and coffee shops, and move to far more humble living quarters where he had little heat or food. Mucha set about seeking work as an illustrator with any number of the flourishing publication firms in Paris.
Soon he began to earn a little income as an illustrator and he moved into a small studio room above Madame Charlotte’s crèmerie. Madame Charlotte’s café-restaurant was one of the small but important gathering places for artists in Paris. Madame Charlotte often fed any number of penniless Parisian art students, and the walls of her establishment were covered in paintings and drawings accepted in lieu of payment. Students and teachers and working artists gathered in the café and talked of William Morris and the burgeoning Arts and Crafts Movement, Impressionism and the Post-Impressionists, and especially Japanese art. The interest in Japanese art had exploded in Europe following the trade agreement between Japan and the US of 1854 which opened up Japan to trade with the West. Japanese goods and arts flooded the European market, and the Japanese style, or Japonisme would become all the rage among artists, and especially a major influence upon Art Nouveau.
Mucha’s career took a major turn for the better late in the year 1894 as the result of true luck. One evening just before Christmas, the artist was going over proofs with the printer Lemercier. There was a phone-call from the Théâtre de la Renaissance. The internationally-known actress, Sarah Bernhardt was displeased with the poster for her latest play, Gismonda, and demanded a new poster design ready to be hung in a little more than a week. Most of Lemercier’s artists and designers had left Paris for the holiday, and no one could be found willing to take on this rush order from a demanding client. Aware of Mucha’s abilities as an illustrator and draftsman, Lemercier offered him the job. Mucha realized the potential impact of this particular commission, and produced a poster that was truly a work of art:
Rejecting the usual poster format, Mucha elected a tall, narrow composition allowing him to present a near-life-size image of Sarah Bernhardt. The artist also rejected a focus upon naturalism and the modern world, and instead drew heavily from a unique mix of art historical sources.
The tall, narrow format was clearly inspired by the panels of Japanese screen paintings…
as well as the works of artists such as Edward Burne-Jones… well-known from William Morris Arts and Crafts Movement:
The emphasis upon flat pattern rooted in natural forms and the overall organic/linear design was again inspired in part by the Arts and Crafts Movement…
… and ultimately might be traced back to the works of William Blake:
Archaic elements such as the use of the halo and the textures suggestive of mosaics were inspired by Byzantine mosaics and icons:
At a time in which color lithographic printing was undergoing major innovations and print artists were taking full advantage of the availability of the most brilliant colors in their designs, Mucha elected to employ a far more subtle and subdued pastel color palette. This may be owed in part to his admiration of Japanese Uliyo-e print masters such as Utamaro:
The poster design for Gismonda did not at all impress or please Lemercier. The work was clearly unconventional… even outrageously innovative. Sarah Bernhardt, however, was highly enthusiastic… as were the Parisian public when the poster hit the streets. Bernhardt offered Mucha a multi-year contract and over the next decade the artist was to produce a series of equally brilliant posters for the actress which helped to establish the artist… and the Mucha Style… which essentially became recognized as the epitome of the fashionable Art Nouveau style:
Mucha rapidly became the artist/illustrator/designer in demand. His designs were employed to sell products ranging from foods…
…to bicycles…
…to chocolate…
… to cigarettes…
… to travel and tourism…
… to champagne…
… and cognac…
Of course… no matter what product was being marketed… what Mucha was really selling was an image of fin de siecle Paris: a world of beautiful women wearing equally beautiful (and often revealing) clothing; perfume, champagne, flowers, the theater and nightclubs.
The demand for Mucha’s work was so high that the artist became one of the first to utilize the relatively new technology of photography in the production of his images. He would stage and photograph his models:
These photographs were then “gridded-off” in the same manner in which Renaissance painters gridded-off original drawings alowing them to transfer the works to a far larger surface (canvas or plaster in the case of fresco). Mucha then transferred the figures to his lithographic stone allowing him to rapidly establish the proper proportions and gesture. He would then adjust the contours to suite his desired elegant flow and build up the decorative elements around the figure.
As the “Mucha Style”… which became known as Art Nouveau… grew in popularity with the public, the artist turned his attention to a broad array of decorative commercial endeavors including…
… book illustration…
…Calendars…
… carpet, tapestry, and furniture design…
… jewelry…
… and even cast metal bric-à-brac:
The design for Mucha’s poster images was so high (people were stealing them off the streets) that the artist began to produce a series of purely decorative “poster/prints” that could be hung in the home like any “fine art” print or painting. These images were often released in series… on themes such as Flowers:
… precious stones…
… the seasons…
… the times of the day…
… the celestial bodies…
… and the muses…
In order to meet the ever-increasing demand the artist produced a printed and bound folio of designs, known as the Documents Decoratifs that might be used by other artists and craftsmen as well as a means of passing on his knowledge to younger artists:
Mucha’s work and its influence spread throughout the major cultural centers of Europe and to the Americas. The extent of his impact could be best seen at the Exposition Universelle of 1900 in Paris. At this exposition, which featured such innovations and achievements as the Eiffel Tower, Ferris wheels, Campbell’s Soup, Diesel engines, talking films, and the Telegraphone (the precursor to modern day sound recording), Mucha’s designs could be found throughout. Mucha participated in a committee of artists, designers, and architects involved in discussions on replacing the Eiffel Tower (which had been constructed in 1888 with the intention of being but a temporary structure) with another symbol for France. He designed the decor for the Bosnia-Herzegovina Pavillion, and perhaps in response to the success of his 1897 solo exhibition in Austria, Ausstellung Alfons Mucha, the artist was asked to contribute a couple of sculptural works and the poster promoting the Austrian contribution to the Exposition Universelle:
It was at this point… at the peak of his career… while his Mucha Style/Art Nouveau was being imitated across Europe and the Americas, that Mucha attempted to disassociate himself from his fame and his commercial/decorative achievements. He always insisted that rather than maintaining any fashionable Parisian stylistic form, his paintings were entirely a product of himself and Czech art and that art existed only to communicate a spiritual message, and nothing more… hence his frustration at the fame he had gained by his commercial art when he most wanted to concentrate on “serious” artistic projects… especially a celebration of Slavic history which he had held in his thoughts for a good many years.
Mucha married Maruška Chytilová on 10 June 1906, in Prague. The couple visited and spent extended periods of time living the U.S. from 1906 to 1910, during which time their daughter, Jaroslava, was born in New York City. In the U.S., Mucha hoped to leave his reputation as a commercial artist behind, and expected to earn money to fund his nationalistic projects to demonstrate to Czechs that he had not forgotten his homeland through the production of “serious” art. The artist offered his services as a portraitist to wealthy American patrons. Unfortunately, Mucha was not highly experienced in the use of oil paints and not only did he struggle with the media, but he found himself up against serious competition in the like of master-portraitists such as John Singer Sargent:
It also became rapidly obvious that the American audience were well aware of and every bit as enthusiastic about Mucha’s commerical works with the images of beautiful women, flowers, and flowing designs.
Mucha was soon churning out more advertisements for bicycles:
… and baby carriages, etc…
Mucha’s efforts in America at portraiture and “serious art” were not without some degree of success. The artist made the acquanitence of millionaire Charles R. Crane, who used his fortune to help promote revolutions and, after meeting Thomas Masaryk, Slavic nationalism. Crane agreed to help fund Mucha’s proposed cycle of mural-sized paintings in celebration of Czech history eventually entitled Slovanská epopej (The Slav Epic). Mucha worked on this project in Prague from 1910-1928…
…and considered it to be his life’s fine art masterpiece. He bestowed it upon the city of Prague in 1928, and since 1963 the series of 20 huge paintings has been on display in the chateau in Moravský Krumlov the South Moravian Region in the Czech Republic. The artist contributed further to his homeland through the production of designs for posters…
… money…
… designs for various government documents, and paintings in various government offices.
The rising tide of fascism during the late 1930s resulted in Mucha’s works, as well as his Slavic nationalism, being denounced in the press as ‘reactionary’. When Nazi troops moved into Czechoslovakia in the spring of 1939, Mucha was among the first persons to be arrested by the Gestapo. During his interrogation, the aging artist became ill with pneumonia. Though released eventually, he was weakened by this experience, and died in Prague on 14 July 1939. The occupation German forces forbid any public gathering, but reportedly over 100,000 Czechs paid their respects.
In spite of the merits of the paintings of the Slav Epic…
… and it’s admiration among the Czech population…
the paintings were clearly dated in style… essentially 19th century history painting. Had such work been the whole of his oeuvre, Mucha would have been known, if at all, as yet one of a number of minor Eastern European painters of native Nationalistic themes.
Mucha’s commercial efforts, on the other hand… the work for which he had become famous and wealthy for having produced… were wholly of their time. It is these graphic works that remain admired today. His elegant Art Nouveau posters are undoubtedly among the most influential works of art of the 20th century. Their style is recognized (even by those knowing almost nothing of art) and imitated everywhere. They had a profound impact upon other artists, and in spite of the artist’s own dismissive thoughts, and the commercial purpose of the work, they were most certainly every bit “serious” art… worthy of his efforts and the popularity they garnered. Any number of Mucha’s contemporaries were inspired by his organic, flowing style:
The big boom of classic psychedelic Rock posters from the 1960s were equally inspired by Mucha’s work:
Current commercial artists and poster-designers continue to draw ideas from Mucha:
Even Disney has been inspired by Mucha:
Mucha received the “ultimate” posthumous recognition when on 24 July 2010, he was honored with a “Google Doodle"in memory of his 150th birthday:
Mucha’s commercial efforts and posters remain beloved because they truly were his "serious art”. They continue to speak of a now-long-gone (an perhaps largely imaginary) image of fin de siecle Paris… a glittering world of beautiful women in long flowing gowns, bubbling champagne, flowers, and elegant ballrooms filled with dancers. “Serious Art” need not always be tragic and death-laden. And “serious art” need not be limited to painting and sculpture.
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