Alphonse Maria Mucha (1860-1939)
Printemps (Spring), from the "Four Seasons" series, 1900
lithograph
32.5"x16.5" (framed)
Value: $8,000
Mucha is most often remembered for the prominent role he played in shaping the aesthetics of French Art Nouveau at the turn of the last century. As a struggling and relatively unknown artist of Czech origin living in Paris, Mucha achieved immediate fame when, in December 1894, he accepted a commission to create a poster for one of the greatest actresses of this time, Sarah Bernhardt.
"The poster craze of the 1890s, called the Belle Epoque, witnessed the rapid evolution and spread of the poster to all of Europe and America. Art Nouveau caught on quickly after Alphonse Mucha created his first masterpiece for Sarah Bernhardt in late 1894. Prominent artists included Orazi and de Feure in France, Livemont and Toussaint in Belgium, Hohenstein and Metlicovitz in Italy, Bradley and Penfield in America, Toorop and van Caspel in Holland, Beardsley in England, and Klimt and Moser in Austria.
"The poster craze of the 1890s, called the Belle Epoque, witnessed the rapid evolution and spread of the poster to all of Europe and America. Art Nouveau caught on quickly after Alphonse Mucha created his first masterpiece for Sarah Bernhardt in late 1894. Prominent artists included Orazi and de Feure in France, Livemont and Toussaint in Belgium, Hohenstein and Metlicovitz in Italy, Bradley and Penfield in America, Toorop and van Caspel in Holland, Beardsley in England, and Klimt and Moser in Austria.
Art Nouveau ultimately lost its meaning as industrial society developed in the early Twentieth Century. By World War I, the style had become a naive anachronism in a world of industrial complexities and destructive force, giving way to more relevant decorative movements. The term Art Nouveau is often used more broadly to include other related styles of the Belle Epoque, from the Rococo Revival style of Cheret, the Post-Impressionism of Toulouse-Lautrec, to the Arts and Crafts style of Roland Holst and the Amsterdam School."
