Today the art world remembers the birth of the Czech painter and sculptor Alfons Mucha , one of the most important artists of the Art Nuveau who together with Gustav Klimt made the Art Nouveau style famous in the world. Who was Alfons Mucha
Alfons Maria Mucha was born in Ivancice, Moravia. He continued his studies until high school working as an architect and hairdresser, even if he was fascinated by drawing from an early age. In Moravia he works as a decorative painter mainly for theatrical sets; in 1879 he then moved to Vienna, where he worked for an important theatrical design company, increasing his technical and artistic knowledge of him. When a fire destroyed his work tools in 1881, Alfons returned to Moravia, where he worked as a decorator and portraitist on his own.
It is then that Count Karl Khuen Belasi of Mikulov becomes interested in his work and hires him to decorate his castles of Emmahof (in Moravia) and Gandegg (in Tyrol) with frescoes. The count and so muchimpressed by Mucha’s work who decides to support him financially and thanks to this grant Mucha will be able to enroll at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. After a period of self-taught in 1887, Mucha moved to Paris, where he continued his studies at the Academie Julian and at the Academie Colarossi, becoming one of the most accredited painters of Art Nouveau , of which he develops the fundamental characteristic, making aesthetically valid even what belongs to daily use.
Here he also comes into contact with Parisian Freemasonry, which greatly influenced his painting style. In 1894 he was commissioned to make a poster to advertise Gismonda, a play by Victor Sardou starring Sarah Bernhardt. The subtlety of the drawing convinces the actress to offer Mucha a 6-year contract. From 1906 to 1910 he moved to the United States; he then returns to Europe and settles in Prague. He takes care of the decorations of the Theater of Fine Arts and of other important Prague buildings. He died on July 14, 1928. Mucha’s women Mucha
‘s production includes many works. Decorative panels , billboards , theatrical posters are part of its copious production(particularly important are those for the performances of the great actress Sarah Bernhardt, among which the lithography for the Dame aux camelias), covers for magazines, calendars, book illustrations and so on.
The female images of her posters, in neoclassical dresses, highly sensual and full of eroticism , and surrounded by floral motifs that form geometric frames around the figure, arrive and depopulate in all classes and environments of the society of the time and, all ‘now, at the sight of today’s advertising posters it is possible to see Mucha’s artistic gene. The “Mucha Style” has made it unique, recognizable, modernist precisely, an eternal symbol of Art Nouveau.
I also create many strictly Masonic themed designs, including driving licenses, letterheads and medals. For many years he devoted himself to what is considered his masterpiece, the Slavic Epic, a series of large paintings describing the history of the Slavic people, which was completed and presented in Prague in 1928.
