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Alphonse Mucha Gallery |
White Star Champagne
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Les Saisons, 1897
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Morning Star
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Gallery Description
Alphonse Mucha was born in 1860 in Ivancice, Moravia in the present day Czech Republic. From early childhood days Mucha showed deep-rooted interest in painting; but it was not until later when he learned that the beautiful paintings in the church he saw almost everyday were creations of real men like him that he resolved to become a painter. Though he never took any formal education in painting he managed to get commissions with the help of a chanced patron of his studies. He moved, like other artists, to Paris with no money or formal training. For the first 5 years he did minor illustration works, lived on cheap lentils with no money to buy food, was sick and thus fulfilled all criteria to be a great artists. But with the impressionism movement gaining strength in Paris, he used his distinctive style and inadvertently started the Art Nouveau Movement ("New Art" in French). From then, he became a household name and his fame spread far and wide. Mucha’s works were based on strong compositions, sensuous curves derived from nature, refined decorative elements and natural colors. Commissions started pouring in from all over the world, he made several trips to America and even had a one-man exhibition displayed in Paris.
Mucha, however, remained a true patriot of his homeland, Czech. He started the plan of getting “The Slav Epic" - a series of great paintings chronicling major events in the Slav nation done. 11 of these paintings were completed by 1919. Among his other works in his homeland is the fabulous series of Mural paintings for the Lord Mayor's Hall in Prague. As time passed, much of Mucha’s work faced severe criticism but the beauty and popularity remained. 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.
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Thursday, August, 7 th
2008
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