Ce design and Visual Arts Art Investigations: Alfons Mucha

Alfons Mucha was born in the town of Ivancice, Moravia. This is known as the Czech Republic today. Because of his great singing voice, he was able to continue his eduction through high school in Brunn. As a child he loved drawing, but was talented in many areas none the less. He started out painting theatrical scenery and then moved to Vienna, in 1879, to work for a leading Viennese theatrical design company. Through all of this, he still pursued his personal art talent. He later returned to his hometown after a fire destroyed the business. Mucha then did decorative and portrait painting. Because of his impressive work, Mucha was hired to decorate Hrusovany Emmahof Castle with murals, and then given formal trainging at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts. While in Paris, Muchas fame grew as he did posters for famous movie stars, clubs such as La Plume and advertisements.

Many of Alfons Muchas work was printed through lithographing, a printing process using a plate on which only the image to be printed takes up ink. He also worked with oil. Mucha was a part of the “Art Nouveau” movement. This movement was late 19C style, which included architecture, and decoration popular in the 1890s that used stylized natural forms and flowing lines. Not only did he work with oil and lithography, he did designs with jewelry, carpets, and wallpaper. Mucha's works frequently featured beautiful healthy young women in flowing vaguely Neoclassical looking robes, often surrounded by lush flowers which sometimes formed haloes behind the women's heads. In contrast with contemporary poster makers he used paler pastel colors. The 1900 Universal Exhibition in Paris spread the "Mucha style" internationally, of which Mucha said "I think [the Exposition Universelle] made some contribution toward bringing aesthetic values into arts and crafts." He decorated the Bosnia and Herzegovina Pavilion and collaborated in the Austrian Pavilion. His Art Nouveau style was often imitated. However, this was a style that Mucha attempted to distance himself from throughout his life; he insisted always that, rather than adhering to any fashionable stylistic form, his paintings came purely from within. He declared that art existed only to communicate a spiritual message, and nothing more; hence his frustration at the fame he gained through commercial art, when he wanted always to concentrate on more lofty projects that would ennoble art his birthplace (alfonsmucha biography).

Some of his most famous art includes the Slav Epic, which actually included 21 pieces. These pieces all contain parts of the Czech history that motivated Mucha as he was growing up. During his childhood, the Czechs were under Austrian rule, which stirred many to remember their ancestors and history, and to rebel. This piece in particular shows his great talent for exhibiting atmosphere and architecture.

Another famous piece is his is “Seasons” which he finished in 1896. Mucha was requested to make several of these, due to the mass popularity. They were often used for screens and wall coverings. “Seasons” shows Muchas use of curved lines and complicated designs. The positioning of the women tells a story, and actually hints of the season they represent based on their motion.

I love Alphons Mucha because of the emotion he is able to invoke through his pieces. The contour and shapes of his human subjects suggest fragility and health that not many artists can capture. He has a unique design, and has influenced my art greatly.

Work Source Citation

n.p. Alfons Maria Mucha Biography. Website. 2002. http://www.alfonsmucha.org/biography.html May 20^th 2014