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Alphonse Mucha: 1860-1939

July 24, 2016 By Wendy Campbell

AAlphonse Mucha circa 1906Alphonse Maria Mucha was born on July 24, 1860 in Ivančice, Moravia (now part of the Czech Republic) and is known for his prominent role in shaping French Art Nouveau.  Mucha loved art as a child but studied on a choral scholarship at the Church of St Peter in Brno, the capital of Moravia. In 1875, Mucha returned to Ivančice where he worked as a court clerk.

After his rejection from the Prague Academy of Fine Arts in 1878, Mucha traveled to Vienna to work as a scene painter for the firm of Kautsky-Brioschi-Burghardt. In 1881, he left Vienna and moved to Mikulov (Moravia) where he paintied portraits. It was there that he met Count Khuen Belasi who commissioned him to decorate his castle at Emmahof and where the Count’s brother became his patron, enabling him to study at the Munich Academy of Art in 1885 and at the Acadamie Julian and the Academie Colarossi in Paris from 1887 to 1889.

Between 1890 and 1896, Mucha lived in a studio above Madame Charlotte’s cremerie and began illustrating for the theatre magazine “Le Costume au Theatre”. He met Paul Gauguin (who later shared his studio), and also began working for publisher Armand Colin. In 1894, Mucha designed a poster for actress Sarah Bernhardt for the play “Gismonda” which led to a five-year contract to create more posters and stage and costume designs for her, as well as designs for magazines, book covers, jewellery and furniture for others.

Mucha’s illustrations are characterized by their mosaic backgrounds and influenced by Byzantine art. In contrast with poster makers of the time, he used paler pastel colours. His romantic female figures wear garments that are decorated with precious gems and are often flamboyantly posed and surrounded by lush flowers.

Mucha moved to a new studio in 1896 at rue du Val-de-Grace and his decorative panels “Les Saisons” were published by the Champenois firm, who he would sign an exclusive contract with around 1897.  Between 1897 and 1899, he had several solo exhibitions including shows at the Bodiniere Gallery and the Salon des Cent, in Paris,  and the Topic Gallery in Prague. As well, Mucha participated in the first exhibition of the Vienna Secession.

From 1904 to 1910, Mucha traveled and lived in America, visiting New York, Boston, Chicago, and Philidelphia. While there, he painted society portraits and met Charles Crane, who would later sponsor his work on the Slav Epic project. From 1905 to 1907, he worked on commissions and taught at art schools in New York, Chicago and Philadelphia.  In June 1906, he married Maruška Chytilová (a former art student in Prague), with whom he had daughter Jaroslava, and  son Jiri.

Mucha, Maruška, and their daughter returned to Prague in 1910 where he would spend the next 18 years working on his Slav Epic project – a series of twenty paintings depicting the history of the Slav people. In 1928, the completed series was officially presented to the Czech people and the City of Prague and was shown at the city’s Trade Fair Palace. In 1931, Mucha was commissioned to design a stained glass window for the St. Vitus Cathedral, in Prague, donated by the Slavia Bank.

With the German invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1939, Mucha was one of the first to be arrested by the Gestapo. He was questioned and eventually released, but having suffered from pneumonia in the Autumn of 1938, his health was weakened by the ordeal. Alphonse Mucha died on July 14, 1939 and is buried at Vysehrad cemetery.  Over 100,000 Czechs attended the funeral despite the Nazi ban.

Les Saisons - Alphonse Mucha
Alphonse Mucha The Emerald 1900
Savonnerie_de_bagnolet_Alfonse_Mucha-1897
Der-Heilige-Berg-Athos-Slav-Epic-Alphonse-Mucha-1926
Gismonda-Alphonse-Mucha-1894
Alphonse Mucha Spring
Moet-et-Chandon-Cremant-Imperial-Alphonse-Mucha-1899
Alphonse Mucha la-nature
Carriage-Dealers-Alphonse-Mucha-1902
gold-plated-bracelet-1899-mucha
Fuchsia-Necklace-Alphonse-Mucha-1905
Dance-Alphonse-Mucha-1898
Biscuits-Lefevre-Utile-Alphonse-Mucha-1896
Slavic Epic - After the Battle of Grunwald- The Solidarity of the Northern Slavs-Alponse Mucha-1924

Sources: Mucha Foundation, Mucha Museum, Wikipedia

Filed Under: ART, Art History, Illustration Tagged With: Alphonse Mucha, art nouveau, Czech Art, Decorative Art, Mucha Birthday

Gustav Klimt: 1862-1918

July 14, 2016 By Wendy Campbell

Hygieia Gustav Klimt 1907Born on July 14, 1862 in Baumgarten, near Vienna, Austria, Gustav Klimt is considered one of the greatest decorative painters of the 20th century. From 1876 to 1883, he attended the Vienna Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Applied Arts) where he studied figural drawing and painting. His brother Ernst also enrolled in the school in 1877. By 1880, the Klimt brothers, and fellow student Franz Matschhad had formed a team they called the “Artists’ Company, Klimt Brothers and Matsch”. The group received numerous commissions painting interior murals and ceilings in public buildings including the National Theatre in Bucharest, and the new Burgtheater and Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. After completing the Burgtheater frescoes Klimt was awarded the Austrian Gold Cross for Merit by Emperor Francis Joseph, for his watercolour View of the Interior of the Old Burgtheater.

In 1892, both Klimt’s father and brother Ernst died, leaving Gustav responsible for both families. Around this time, Klimt met Emilie Flöge, who became his life-long companion. Outside of his relationship with Emilie, Klimt is believed to have fathered fourteen children.

By 1894, Klimt’s style became less academic, his painting taking on a more fantastic and blended style of Art Nouveau and Symbolism that was overtly sexual. Public criticism of his work came after he was commissioned to create three paintings for the Great Hall in the University of Vienna. Labeled radical, pornographic, and disturbing, the paintings were not displayed. As a result, Klimt refused all public commissions.

In 1897, Klimt became one of the founding members and the president of the Vienna Secession, also known as the Union of Austrian Artists. Secession artists objected to the conservatism of the Vienna Künstlerhaus and was supportive of exploring the possibilities of art outside the confines of academic tradition.

Klimt’s ‘Golden Phase’, beginning around 1898, received positive critical reaction and success. Many of his paintings from this period utilized gold leaf and a common theme was that of the dominant woman or femme fatale. Influences contributing to Klimt’s unique style include Egyptian, Minoan, Classical Greek, and Byzantine. Klimt was also inspired by the engravings of Albrecht Dürer, late medieval European painting, and the Japanese Rimpa school.

Klimt’s later works (1900’s and on) are dominated by portraiture and landscapes of the Attersee, near Salzburg. Overall, his output was relatively small, producing between four and six canvases a year. He was, however,  a prolific draughtsman and several thousand surviving drawings make him one of the most accomplished draughtsmen of his era.

Klimt continued painting until his death on February 6, 1918, from pneumonia following a stroke. He was just 56 years old, and many of his paintings were left unfinished.

For more information about Gustav Klimt, visit the source references below.

Water-Serpents-II-Gustav-Klimt-1904-07

Water-Serpents-II-Gustav-Klimt-1904-07
Hope-I-Gustav-Klimt-1903
Portrait-of-Mada-Primavesi-Gustav-Klimt-1912
The-Three-Ages-of-Woman-Gustav-Klimt-1905
The Kiss Gustav Klimt 1907
Portrait-of-Emilie-Floge-Gustav-Klimt-1902
Music-I-Gustav-Klimt-1895
Mermaids-Whitefish-Gustav-Klimt-1899
Judith-I-Gustav-Klimt-1901
Hygieia-Gustav-Klimt-1907
Gustav-Klimt-bauerngarten_mit_kruzifix_1911-12
Judith-II-Gustav-Klimt-1909
Garden-Path-With-Chickens-Gustav-Klimt-1916
Death-and-Life-Gustav-Klimt-1916
Sources: MOMA, Art History Archive, Galerie St. Etienne, Wikipedia, Klimt.com

Filed Under: ART, Art History, Painting Tagged With: art nouveau, Austrian Art, Decorative Painting, Gustav Klimt

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