131

  • L'Estampe Moderne

  • 1898
  • Alphonse Mucha (Czech 1860-1939), published by Imprimerie Champenois, Paris
  • Lithograph in olive green and sienna
  • 38.0 x 26.3 cm., 14-15/16 x 10-1/4" image
  • Catherine Carter Goebel, Paul A. Anderson Chair in the Arts Purchase, Paul A. Anderson Art History Collection, Augustana College 2010.23

Essay by Matthew Bowman, Class of 2012

Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939) was born in Ivancice, a small town in Moravia. Today this area is part of the Czech Republic, but Mucha lived there under the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He grew up in the lower middle class from which his family experienced religious freedom to practice Catholicism and developed healthy patriotic ties to their country. As an artist, Mucha always kept his Czech identity placed firmly in the niche of his heart. In 1885 he entered the Munich Academy of Art, but after two years of study, he escaped to Paris convinced that the city of Munich had nothing more to offer him (Ellridge 25).

Working as an expatriate, Mucha brought his skills into the lively art world of late nineteenth-century Paris. Commercial artists who could create advertisements, posters, and magazines were in high demand and Mucha heeded that call. Starting in 1889, after working a series of non-art related odd jobs, Mucha started doing illustrations for books, catalogues and calendars. By 1894, he was a fully-operating freelance graphic artist.

Upon arriving in Paris, Mucha began cataloging photographs of his female models from which he drew his commercial designs. He never scoffed at "producing such objects as minor as magazines that would bring the Mucha chic into everyday life" (Ibid. 82). This cover of L'Estampe Moderne is a prime example of his use of a female model to sell a product to mass audiences. Mucha was heavily influenced by the curvilinear forms and close-up viewpoint of religious figures on Byzantine icons and one can see their haunting presence on this magazine. His curvilinear forms also reinforce the Art Nouveau movement and its naturalistic abstractions in vogue at the time. Furthermore, the British Arts and Crafts movement argued that art should be accessible to all (Ibid. 54). Since magazines were art forms accessible to ordinary people, it was possible that Mucha was adhering to the Arts and Crafts movement in utilizing the medium of the magazine cover to display his artwork for the public eye.