endars, ornate menus, and
covers and illustrations for
books and periodicals. Some
of the more notable publications for which he designed
covers and illustrations were
L’Image, L’Illustration, La
Plume, L’Estampe Modern,
Cocorico, Le Mois, Otčenάś,
and Clio. Mucha also produced folios, such as Combinaisons ornementales and
Documents décoratifs, con-
MUCHA: Master Artist
of Art Nouveau
and portrait painter, but his
output of graphic art, which
brought him great success
in Paris, was minimal. This
was not a result of lack of
demand. Even in the United
States le style Mucha was
widely known and appreciated. His reduced production of graphic art occurred
because Mucha desired to
leave behind his career as a
creator of commercial art and
Because of the patronage of Sarah
Bernhardt, Mucha was catapulted to the
forefront of the Art Nouveau movement.
taining prints that served as
instructional tools used to
teach students and fellow
artists how to work in le style
Mucha. Additionally, he
created stunning postcards.
Although they were often
based on designs he used
for his larger prints, today
his postcards are viewed as
works of art in their own
right and are highly valued.
On March 5, 1904, Mucha
departed for his first of several trips to the United States.
While abroad he gained
employment as a teacher
become a “serious artist,” an
artist who depicts historical
subject matter and works in
traditional media. Mucha
eventually achieved his goal
because of the financial support of a wealthy American
patron. With the assistance
of the American millionaire,
Charles R. Crane, Mucha
began to work on his last
great endeavor, the creation of The Slav Epic. For
this project, Mucha painted
twenty monumental panels
that recorded events from
Slav history. Mucha consid-
OnV
i e w
Ma
g a z i n e
.
c om
•
O
Alphonse Mucha,
Clio, 1900;
Collection of Patrick M. Rowe.
c t o b e r
/D
e c e m b e r
2015
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