"Alphonse Mucha was born in 1860, in what is now the Czech Republic. After early education in Brno, Moravia, and work for a theatre scene-painting firm in Vienna, Mucha studied art in Prague, Munich, and Paris in the 1880s. In 1887 he was lured to Paris, where he found it necessary to take on various minor commissions, including book and magazine illustration work. He achieved immediate fame
...see more » in December 1894 when he accepted a commission from Sarah Bernhardt, the greatest actress of the time, to create a promotional graphic for the play Gismonda. Mucha is most often remembered for the dominant role he played in shaping the aesthetic of French Art Nouveau at the turn of the 20th century. His supple, fluent draftsmanship is used to great effect in his posters of female nudes, whose delicate features are framed by luxuriantly flowing strands of hair. The sensuous bravura of the draftsmanship, particularly the use of twining, whiplash lines, imparts a strange refinement to these nudes. Mucha's art captivated the hearts and imaginations of the public with its beautiful, sensuous forms and exquisite definition of detail. He achieved an elegant style with his fluid design and perfectly balanced blend of natural and abstract decorative patterns. Mucha's prolific output of posters, graphics, calendars, illustrations and decorative panel designs was concurrent with the general trend toward creating art for mass consumption and utilizing art for decoration. Between 1903 and 1922 Mucha made four trips to the United States, where he attracted the patronage of Charles Richard Crane, a Chicago industrialist and Slavophile, who subsidized Mucha's series of 20 large historical paintings between 1912-30 illustrating the "Epic of the Slavic People." After 1922 Mucha lived in Czechoslovakia, donating his "Slavic Epic" paintings to the city of Prague. Through his extraordinary versatility in adapting to various forms and media, he exerted a profound influence on the Art Nouveau style. Alphonse Mucha died in 1939."« see less
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