Alphonse Mucha

Alphonse Mucha
Mucha in his studio (c. 1899)
Born
Alfons Maria Mucha

(1860-07-24)24 July 1860
Died14 July 1939(1939-07-14) (aged 78)
EducationMunich Academy of Fine Arts
Académie Julian
Académie Colarossi
Known forPainting, illustration, decorative art, architecture
Notable workThe Slav Epic (Slovanská epopej)
MovementArt Nouveau
AwardsLegion of Honor (France), Knight of the Order of Franz Joseph I (Austria)
Signature

Alfons Maria Mucha[1][2] (Czech: [ˈalfons ˈmuxa] ; 24 July 1860 – 14 July 1939),[3] known internationally as Alphonse Mucha, was a Czech painter, illustrator, and graphic artist. Living in Paris during the Art Nouveau period, he was widely known for his distinctly stylized and decorative theatrical posters, particularly those of Sarah Bernhardt.[4] He produced illustrations, advertisements, decorative panels, as well as designs, which became among the best-known images of the period.[5]

In the second part of his career, at the age of 57, he returned to his homeland and devoted himself to a series of twenty monumental symbolist canvases known as The Slav Epic, depicting the history of all the Slavic peoples of the world,[3] which he painted between 1912 and 1926. In 1928, on the 10th anniversary of the independence of Czechoslovakia, he presented the series to the Czech nation. He considered it his most important work.

  1. ^ "Mucha, Alphonse", Grove Dictionary of Art Online. Retrieved 3 October 2009.(subscription required)
  2. ^ New Town, Frommers Eastern Europe, p. 244. Retrieved 8 October 2009.
  3. ^ a b Ian Chilvers (2017). The Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists. Oxford University Press. p. 891. ISBN 9780191024177.
  4. ^ "Mucha, Noted Artist, Dropped First Name; Death Due To Shock Caused By Germans' Seizure Of Prague". The New York Times. 18 July 1939. Retrieved 20 April 2008. The artist Mucha—he always signed his work without his given name, which he preferred to ignore—died here ...
  5. ^ Thiébaut 2018, pp. 64–77.

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