Alphonse Mucha

200 Pages·2013·71.82 MB·English

by  Patrick Bade

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Author(s):
Patrick Bade and Victoria Charles
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ISBN: 978-1-78310-076-7
Patrick Bade and Victoria Charles
Alphonse
Mucha

Contents
Art Nouveau 7
The Origins of Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau at the 1900 Universal
Exposition in Paris
Mucha 77
Mucha and Art Nouveau
Conclusion
Works 145
Graphic Works 181
Biography 192
Bibliography 194
Index 196

ART NOUVEAU
8
The Origins of Art Nouveau
„One can argue the merits and the future of the new decorative art movement, but there
is no denying it currently reigns triumphant over all Europe and in every English-speaking
country outside Europe; all it needs now is management, and this is up to men of taste.‰
(Jean Lahor, Paris 1901)
Art Nouveau sprang from a major movement in the decorative arts that first appeared
in Western Europe in 1892, but its birth was not quite as spontaneous as is commonly
believed. Decorative ornament and furniture underwent many changes between the
waning of the Empire style around 1815 and the 1889 Universal Exposition in Paris
celebrating the centennial of the French Revolution. For example, there were distinct
revivals of Restoration, Louis-Philippe, and Napoleon III furnishings still on display at
the 1900 Universal Exposition in Paris. Tradition (or rather imitation) played too large
a role in the creation of these different period styles for a single trend to emerge and
assume a unique mantle. Nevertheless, there were some artists during this period that
sought to distinguish themselves from their predecessors by expressing their own
decorative ideal.
What then did the new decorative art movement stand for in 1900? In France, as Mucha in his studio,
rue du Val-de-Grâce,
elsewhere, it meant that people were tired of the usual repetitive forms and methods, the
Paris, c. 1898. (p. 6)
same old decorative clichés and banalities, the eternal imitation of furniture from the
reigns of monarchs named Louis (Louis XIII to XVI), and furniture from the Renaissance and Biscuits Champagne Lefèvre-Utile,
1896.
Gothic periods. It meant designers finally asserted the art of their own time as their own.
Colour lithograph, 52.1 x 35.2 cm.
Up until 1789 (the end of the Ancien Régime), style had advanced by reign; this era The Mucha Trust Collection.
wanted its own style. And (at least outside of France) there was a yearning for something
Gismonda, 1894.
more: to no longer be slaves to foreign fashion, taste, and art. It was an urge inherent in
Colour lithograph, 216 x 74.2 cm.
the eraÊs awakening nationalism, as each country tried to assert independence in Mucha Museum,Prague. (p. 10)
literature and in art.
Cassan Fils (print shop), 1895.
Colour lithograph, 174.7 x 68.4 cm.
In short, there was a push everywhere towards a new art that was neither a servile copy Mucha Museum, Prague. (p. 10)
of the past nor an imitation of foreign taste.
The Seasons: Summer, 1900.
Colour lithograph, 73 x 32 cm.
There was also a real need to recreate decorative art, simply because there had The Mucha Trust Collection. (p. 11)
been none since the turn of the century. In each preceding era, decorative art had
La Dame aux camélias, 1896.
not merely existed; it had flourished gloriously. In the past, everything from peopleÊs
Colour lithograph, 207.3 x 72.5 cm.
clothing and weapons, right down to the slightest domestic object – from andirons, The Mucha Trust Collection. (p.11)
9
10