Alphonse Mucha

Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939), Czech poster designer and painter, one of the leading artists of the Art Nouveau period. He created poster designs characterized by sinuous “whiplash” lines, flowers on thin, twining stems, women with long, flowing hair, and elegantly attenuated lettering. His earliest work as an artist was as a scene painter in Vienna. He later studied art in Prague, Munich, and Paris. In Paris, where he spent much of his working life, Mucha was a regular poster designer for the French actress Sarah Bernhardt. In the 1890s he designed posters for theatrical productions in which she appeared, and also produced advertisements for commercial products, such as Job cigarettes, and for exhibitions. He also designed window displays and exotic interiors. Between 1903 and 1922, Mucha visited the United States four times. Under the patronage of Charles Richard Crane, a Chicago industrialist, he painted The Epic of the Slavic People (1912-1930), a series of 20 large paintings that he later presented to the city of Prague. He returned to the Czech Republic in 1922, and worked on the design of stamps and banknotes. The Alphonse Mucha Museum was opened in Prague in 1998.