“Petra” by Beatrice Brandini

A work by Alphonse Mucha

For the first time, Florence presents an exhibition dedicated to Alphonse Mucha, the father of Art Nouveau, with over two hundred works of extraordinary beauty.

Entrance to the exhibition

   

Works by Alphonse Mucha

Produced by Arthemisia, under the patronage of the Municipality of Florence and the Embassy of the Czech Republic, edited by Tomoko Sato with the collaboration of Francesca Villanti. the exhibition opens today, 27 October, until 7 April 2024, at the Museo degli Innocenti in Florence.

       

Multimedia room with alternating images of Alphonse Mucha

Mucha was born in the Czech Republic in 1860, but in 1887 he moved to Paris where he was able to nurture his art. Paris was in fact considered the center of the world and specifically of art, these are the times of the Belle Époque and in this climate the most important meeting of his life will take place, that is, the one with Sarah Bernhardt, an internationally renowned actress, beautiful and famous, to whom he will entrust his image, soon making him very popular and who will tie him up with a five-year contract for sets, costumes and of course posters.

   

Preparatory drawings by Alphonse Mucha

   

Images by Sarah Bernhardt

Famous for his women, “Mucha’s women”, graceful, romantic images, girls immersed in floral compositions that soon all the most famous brands wanted, eager to entrust their products to his art, to advertise them. And in fact Mucha will be the supporter of important campaigns, from biscuits to beer, from perfumes to chocolate (Nestlé and Moët & Chandon, just to name a few), ennobling the genre of commercial posters.

Work by Alphonse Mucha

   

Moments of the Press Conference

Proponent of posters and illustrations with a strong communicative impact, but also of street furniture, jewellery, interior decorator, an all-round artist, a forerunner of modern themes. His flower girls are beautiful and mix the sacred with the profane, voluptuous and seductive (for the time) but also sacred, almost mythological goddesses.

   

Moments of the Press Conference

   

Ceramics by Alphonse Mucha

In 1910 he returned to Prague (he died here in 1939) where for over twenty years he dedicated himself to what was defined as his greatest masterpiece: the Slavic Epic, a monumental work, composed of twenty enormous canvases, which recounts the main events of Slavic history. Because this great artist never forgot his patriotic and social commitment towards his native country.

A work by Alphonse Mucha

A preparatory drawing by Alphonse Mucha

Art Nouveau (New Art), the French name for what in Italy would be called Liberty style, developed between the end of the 1800s and the beginning of the 1900s, characterized by sinuous and elegant shapes and by a stylization of natural forms such as flowers or leaves. Style that will influence all applied arts, from architecture to ceramics.

A self-portrait by Alphonse Mucha

The main part of this extraordinary exhibition consists of over one hundred works from the Mucha Trust Collection in Prague, including the famous posters and some decorative works, as well as those of his political commitment created after his return home.

Mucha’s fame was so explosive that people bribed poster hangers to get them, or they were taken down from posters.

A panel by Alphonse Mucha

Mucha exhibition banner

It is an unmissable exhibition, if you love this genre you will be enchanted and enraptured, but even if your taste is more contemporary and minimal, you will not be able to help but admit that these are extraordinary works of art. From posters, to designs for jewellery, from calendars to postcards, Mucha was able to represent his time with elegance and sensuality, creating the “Mucha style”.

Alphonse Mucha in a photo from the time

Alphonse Mucha in his atelier

It is said that he influenced Joe Quesada and Stan Lee, comic book artists who created Marvel’s greatest hits. Certainly his competitive style rich in details and details, in which the protagonist is at the center of the scene, could have inspired superheroes.

“Antoine” by Beatrice Brandini, homage to the wonderful Mucha

Good life to everyone!

Beatrice