Mucha's spring ladies

Alphonse Mucha
1860-1939

When Alphonse Mucha died in 1939, his work was considered outdated. Even worse than that, his art was condemned by the fascists in the 1930's. When German troops invaded Czechoslovakia, Mucha was one of the first to be arrested by the Gestapo. During interrogation, the old artist became ill with pneumonia and never recovered.

Mucha's art style finally had a long overdue revival in the 1960's. My first encounter with Mucha wasn't in an art book or museum, but in a shop on the Ave. in Berkeley where I splurged on a poster I couldn't afford. Of course I couldn't afford a frame either, but I tacked it up for years wherever we moved. Art Nouveau was something novel back in the 70's, and hippies were entranced with it.

Mucha working on the Slav Epic

A fine Mucha museum recently opened in Prague, managed by his grandson. About time. It showcases his life's work and the masterpiece called The Slav Epic, twenty huge paintings Mucha gave to the city of Prague in 1928.

Many Mucha illustrations have seasonal themes, like this painting called "Spring."

Spring, detail
1896

Here's another one with a mythological spring theme. I'm not sure what's going on here, but it has to do with flowers.

Spirit of Spring
1896

This is Mucha's poster design for a wonderful sounding event called the Spring Festival of Music and Song, Prague 1914. And the actual model sitting:

The season panels below are famous and have been reproduced thousands of times:

Here's his preliminary sketch of the models:

This is from a beautiful and intriguing blog called The Pictorial Arts.