Alphonse Mucha

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Alphonse Mucha was born in 1860 in Ivancice, a small city in moravia. In early age A.Mucha supposed to be a musician amateur, until he finished high school. Though Mucha is supposed to have started drawing before he was walking, his early years were spent as a choirboy and amateur musician, than he became to realize beuty of art and so he was determited to start painting. Mucha's first art training took place in Munich 1880’s), A chance encounter in Moravia had provided him with a patron [Count Khen] who was willing to fund his studies . Mucha also clearly had a great natural gift for art.He was rejected by Prague's Academy of Fine Arts, and so in 1881 he left for Vienna to work professionally as a scene painter in the theatre, He worked at decorative painting jobs, mostly painting theatrical scenery. but like every aspiring artist of the day, Mucha ended up in Paris in 1887.

A.Mucha was sent off to Paris where he studied at the Academie Julian. taking further training and trying to support himself as a working artist producing magazine pictures, designs for costumes in operas and ballets, and book illustrations. At the time, however, he was a 27 year old with no money. Count khen couldnt support him anymore. Mucha did, however, manage to survive. Living above a Cremerie that catered to art students, drawing illustrations for popular magazin, unfortunaly it was very low paid. His reputation was growing very slowly. All this changed in December 1894. Around Christmas Mucha presented his new style to the citizens of Paris. There was need for a new advertising poster for a play starring Sarah Bernhardt, famous actress in Paris. On 1st January 1895 he presented a poster for the play Gismonda.

Mucha produced paintings, posters, advertisements, book illustrations, designs for jewellery, carpets, wallpaper, and theatre sets, costume designs. In those days he presented his work as new art [Art Noeveau] It was assosiated with Art's and craft's movement.For many artists the essential thing was for art to affect the lives of the people, not just in paintings on rich people's walls or , but in the essential objects of their daily lives like homes, furnishings, cups and saucers, advertisements, everything from chair's to Building's. Mucha was an overnight success at the age of 34, after seven years of hard work in Paris.













Mucha was always thinking of his Czech homeland. When Mucha visited Prague (in 1902) he had to confront this attitude of his countrymen directly . Later, when Mucha was given the commission to design the decorations for the New Municipal Building in Prague. In 1909 he was commissioned to paint a series of murals for the Lord Mayor's Hall in Prague. Mucha married Marie Chytilová 1906, in Prague. He had a son Jiri and a daughter borned in New York city.



He also began to plan out "The Slav Epic" - a series of great paintings chronicling major events in the Slav nation, a series of twenty huge paintings depicting the history of the Czech and the Slavic people. Mucha had hoped to complete the his task in 5 years, but instead it continued 18 years of his life. Twenty big canvasses were presented to Prague in 1928. Regrettably of the political situation effected critism in his final presentation.












The rest of Mucha's life was spent almost as an anachronism. His popularity was still quite big and polular. When the German invaded Czechoslovakia, he was one of the first who was arrested. He died in on July 14, 1939.


Conclusion


Art Noeveau was very assosiated to Art's and Craft's movement there is no doubt in that, there are allot of aspect's and these styles are very familiar. Basiclly these styles wanted to same thing. Bring beuty in everyday's life,designers also believed that all the arts should work in harmony. It was definetly somethink new to people and in the end they accepted it.

Alphonse Mucha was definetly a great artist. He was connected to many ways of art, he had a great feel to music aswell. By looking on his work we can clearly see he was a borned to be artist. He broght somethink new trying to find out new type of living he was trying to think ...different. His poster's were great inspiration for futured artist's. He had allot of hard time spending all those year's in poor situation. He was pushing himself forward really hard. What sets Mucha apart from almost all other artists in the movement, however, is another passion which increasingly dominated his personal and working life.
He was a great artist in many way's, his masterpiece work "The Slav Epic" was just remarkable. The size of 20 painting's were huge and he managed to pick themes to show somethink different on every each of tham. The poster Gizmonda was very original in those day's. It had a symbolizing feel and some kind of dynamic image.








Overall i think he enjoyed and suffered allot by finishing all of his work's. You can see really so much afford and hard work in his art. Definetly one of the most interesting artist from Czech republic.