Alphonse Mucha: Master of Art Nouveau at the Paine

Coming from a Slovak family very proud of their heritage, I grew up hearing much praise for the Czech artist Alphonse Mucha. 

Zodiaque (Zodiac), 1896, detail

I've always appreciated the accurate draftsmanship and ornate style of his Art Nouveau illustrations, but have rarely had an opportunity to see his lithographs in person. Therefore, I became very excited to make the drive to Oshkosh when I learned the Paine Art Center and Gardens had an exhibition of Mucha's work scheduled. The show far exceeded my expectations!

Rêverie (Daydream), 1898

Color lithograph on paper mounted on linen

Variant 4

Rêverie (Daydream), 1898, detail

Color lithograph on paper mounted on linen
Variant 4

Alphonse Mucha: Master of Art Nouveau, an exhibition of selected works from the Dhawan Collection, is at the Paine Art Center and Gardens through May 10, 2020. 
*Update:  Paine will be closed March 16 - April 8 in response to the risk of COVID-19.

On the day I visited, elaborate floral arrangements filled the gallery and grand mansion with alluring fragrance during the "Rooms of Blooms" concurrent event. It was truly the perfect environment to experience this amazing artist's images of beautiful women surrounded with intricate floral elements.

       

Têtes Byzantines - Brunette et Blonde 

(Byzantine Heads - Brunette and Blonde), 1897

Color lithographs on paper

Monaco, Monte-Carlo, 1897

Color lithograph on paper

Variant 1

Featured prominently at the gallery entrance are four versions of Mucha's first poster created for Sarah Bernhardt's play Gismonda. Comparing variations in the design and coloring of these pieces engages the viewer. 

Gismonda, 1894 (above left)

Color lithograph on paper mounted on linen

Sarah Bernhardt, American Tour, 1895 (above right)

Color lithograph on paper mounted on linen

A delightful detail of a dog reading appears to the right of Gismonda's feet in the original 1894 poster but was eliminated in the later versions.

Gismonda, 1894 (detail)

Color lithograph on paper mounted on linen

The metalic gold ink on this hand-colored lithograph of Bernhardt's haloed frontal portrait supports the icon-like quality of the image.

Sarah Bernhardt, La Plume, 1897

Hand-colored lithograph on paper

Variant 1

Seeing the black and white proof next to the hand-colored lithograph, one is able to fully appreciate the structure of the drawing and also the impact of the added color.

Sarah Bernhardt, La Plume, 1897

Color lithograph on paper

Black and white proof

Lefèvre-Utile, 1904, a portrait of Sarah Bernhardt in a complementary pink and green color scheme, is my favorite lithograph in the exhibition. I found the naturalistic treatment surprising when compared to the other pieces in the show.

Lefèvre-Utile, 1904

Color Lithograph on paper

The complex pastel coloring seems to have been created by layering many transparent hues. Sarah's soft, pretty face lacks the crisp stylized contour lines characteristic of Mucha's graphic style in the other posters of the actress.

Lefèvre-Utile, 1904, detail

Color Lithograph on paper

The rhododendron in the foreground of Lefèvre-Utile looks so painterly that I was almost fooled into think the lithograph was an oil on canvas.

Lefèvre-Utile, 1904, a detail of Rhododendron 

Color Lithograph on paper

La Tosca, an 1898 poster for a play by Victorien Sardou at the Theatre Sarah Bernhard portrays the heroine holding a large bouquet surrounded by a border of abstract swans.

La Tosca, 1898 (detail)

Color lithograph on paper mounted on linen

In La Samaritaine, a poster for another Bernhardt theater production, Hebrew lettering set into a mosiac background allude to the biblical story of the Samaritan woman at the well. Sarah played Photina, a girl from Samaria who encounters Christ at a well and converts to Christianity according to the biblical account of John.

          

La Samaritaine, 1897

Color lithograph on paper mounted on linen

Full image (left) and details (right and below)

In another biblically themed lithograph by Mucha is Salome, from L'Estampe, the artist presents Salome as a dancing gypsy.

  Salome, from L'Estampe Moderne, 1897

Color lithograph on paper

Job, an advertisement for cigarette papers was Mucha's best known poster. The femme fatale's ecstasy hints that smoking with these papers will be this pleasurable. An angular monogram motif used as a background pattern and the zigzag border contrast with curvilinear swirls of hair.

Job, 1896
Color lithograph on paper mounted on linen

It is my assumption that the same model was used for Salon des Cent, XXme Exposition (20th Exhibition), a poster created a year later. 

Salon des Cent, XXme Exposition (20th Exhibition), 1897

Color lithograph on paper

For Vin des Incas, a poster designed for a coca-based tonic, Mucha researched "Incan" imagery. The male figure is based on a Mayan stele at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. 

Vin des Incas (Wine of the Incas), 1897

Color lithograph on paper

Variant 1

In an advertisement for local breweries, the Meuse river is allegorically portrayed as a goddess crowned with poppies, barley, hops, and other beer ingredients.

Bières de la Meuse (Beers of the Meuse), 1899

Color lithograph on paper

Three vibrant red poinsettia blooms feature prominently in the foreground of  Le Rubis (Ruby). I enjoyed examining the large preliminary drawing shown beside the colored lithograph. 

          

 Left: Le Rubis (Ruby), 1900

Color lithograph on silk 

Right: Preliminary drawing for Le Rubis (Ruby) 1900

Pencil on paper

  

La Fleur (The Flower) 1897

Color lithograph on paper

Six highly detailed architectural drawings are included in Paris 1900: Austria at the World's Fair, 1900, a poster Mucha created for the Exhibition Universelle (1900)

Paris 1900: Austria at the World's Fair, 1900

Color lithograph on paper

Paris 1900: Austria at the World's Fair, 1900 (detail)

Color lithograph on paper

Paris 1900: Austria at the World's Fair, 1900 (detail, Oesterreich - Reichhaus)

Color lithograph on paper

Mucha designed a twenty-plate hardcover portfolio of prints published in Both Czech and French. The cover of the Czech version shown below features the allegorical figures of Bohemia and France.

Praha-Parizi (From Prague to Paris) cover for 1900 World's Fair, 1900

Lithograph on paper

Exhibition booklet for Exposition Universelle, 1900

Color lithograph on paper

An elegant Parisienne dressed in the fashion of the day is the focus on the Exhibition booklet for Exposition Universelle. A vista of the Pont Alexandre over the Seine can be seen in the background. The image ultimately became the cover of the Menu of the Official Banquet of the Exposition. The design was also used three years later as the 1903 Christmas cover of the weekly magazine Paris Illustré shown below.

Paris Illustré, Christmas Issue, 1903
Color lithograph on paper

Mucha's Symbolist imagery is fully revealed on an 1896 Christmas publication cover, L'Illustration Christmas Issue. A winged woman places a shroud over a corpse as disembodied hands pull at the left side border.

L'Illustration, Christmas issue, 1896

Color lithograph on paper

Christian Brinton wrote about Mucha as a Symbolist artist in an article outlining the artist's exploration of mysticism in an age defined by science and technology.

"Alfons Mucha and the New Mysticism" in The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, Vol. 69, 1904

Color lithograph on paper

A series of Masonic symbols line the left edge of the cover for Mucha's illustrated book, Le Pater. The book was the culmination of a project in which the artist offered personal reflections on "The Lord's Prayer".

Le Pater (The Lord's Prayer), 1899

Color lithograph on paper


Otcenas (The Lord's Prayer), 1899
Book cover for the Czech translation published 
in a very limited edition of only 120 copies

A cover for a humorous bi-monthly magazine Cocorico, printed entirely in deep blue suggesting an evening scene in the city of Paris, features a charming coquette with curling hair, and crescent moon shapes.

Cocorico, December 31, 1898

Blue monochrome lithograph on paper

La Plume (The Pen or the Quill), May 1897

Color lithograph on paper

A nearly monochromatic theatrical poster for a play starring Sarah Bernhardt as the male lead in the title role of Lorenzaccio, has a background of intricate Italianate designs. Looming overhead is a sinister dragon symbolizing the evil that will destroy Florence.

          
Lorenzaccio, 1896 (detail at right)

Color lithograph on paper mounted on linen

Variant 2

Zodiaque, designed originally as a calendar for the printer F. Champenois of Paris, quickly found a wider audience as a decorative panel, an advertisement for British toiletries and French soap, and a billboard for a store in Tours, France in nine variations.

Zodiaque (Zodiac), 1896
Color lithograph on paper mounted on linen
Variant

Vintage Candy Tin, Whitman's Salmagundi, ca. 1920
Lithographed tin

Drawing for a Book Illustrations
Pencil and watercolor on paper, undated

A levitating female embracing a bunch of grapes appears on a menu designed for wine distributer Moët & Chandon in a campaign for their high quality champagne. 

Menu for Moët and Chandon Champagne

Color lithograph on paper

A poster designed in 1898 for Le Grand Cie, the maker of Bénédictine, an herbal liqueur, shows two women pressing flowers into books to underscore the variety of herbs that comprise the secret recipe for the liqueur. A landscape at the bottom shows the medieval Abbey at Fecamp. 

        

Bénédictine, 1898 (detail at right)

Color lithograph on paper

Nectar, 1902

Color lithograph on paper

Mucha worked for the biscuit manufacturer Lèfevre-Utile for many years designing not only posters, but biscuit wrappers and containers as well.

        

Lefèvre-Utile Flirt Biscuits, 1899 (detail at right)

Color lithograph on paper

Drawing for Lefèvre-Utile Biscuit Box

Gouache and ink on paper

Lefèvre-Utile Label for a Biscuit Box

Color lithograph on paper

 

The Slav Epic, 1928

Color lithograph on paper mounted on linen

In Allegories of the Months, a suite of black and white lithographs designed in 1899 for the satirical periodical Cocorico, each month represented a particular quality. 

November

December

April

A few of the books, illustrations, and bank notes designed by Alphonse Mucha that were displayed along with other artifacts and photos in other parts of the museum can be seen below.

Slavia Mutual Insurance Bank Policy, 1907

Lithograph

Zlata Praha (Golden Prague), 1918 (on wall behind floral arrangement)
Ink on paper




Photograph of Alphonse Mucha

Photo of one of Mucha's models

Indian Chief, 1908
Oil on canvas




Les Chasseurs d'Epaves (Shipwreck Hunters), 1898
Book cover and color illustrations




Ilsée, Prinzessin von Tripolis, 1901
Book with color lithographs




Mémoires d'un Elephant Blanc (Memoirs of a White Elephant), 1894
Book cover and color illustrations

Thank you for reading about this beautiful exhibition. I am so glad that I was able to attend and hope this post gave a sufficient facsimile of the show for friends who might not be able to. 

My next post will highlight some of the permanent collection housed at the Paine Art Center.

Don't forget to check out my artwork available at my Etsy store, Facebook page, as well as my Instagram feed.