Mucha. Patrick Bade

      Salon des Cent: Exposition de l’Œuvre de Mucha

      1897

      Colour lithograph, 67 × 47 cm.

      Mucha Museum, Prague.

      Even the posters of the 1890s, on which Mucha’s fame now largely rests, can be seen as reflecting this desire to decorate walls. Such a desire was common to many artists of the fin-de-siècle. The large scale decorative paintings of Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, the most widely-admired and influential artist of the period, were commonly referred to as “fresques” though they were in fact oil paintings on canvas that simulated the effect of frescoes.

      Bières de la Meuse

      1897

      Colour lithograph, 155 × 104.5 cm.

      Park South Gallery at Carnegie Hall, New York.

      The manifesto of the Symbolist “Salon de la Rose-Croix” set up in 1892 by “Sar” Joséphin Péladan, stated “The Order prefers work which has a mural-like character as being of superior essence”. The paintings of Edvard Munch’s “Frieze of Life” and the flat, stylised canvases of Gauguin could be regarded as “fresques manquées”.

      Brunette

      1897

      Colour lithograph, 34.5 × 28 cm.

      Mucha Trust.

      Albert Aurier, the very first critic who attempted to introduce Gauguin’s work to the French public wrote “You have among you a decorator of genius. Walls! Walls! Give him walls!”. We can only judge Mucha’s murals for Count Khuen from dim black and white photographs as the originals were destroyed in the final days of the Second World War but they were no doubt fairly conventional and academic as all his work would be for the next few years.

      Blond

      1897

      Colour lithograph, 56 × 34.8 cm.

      Mucha Trust.

      When the first set of murals was finished at Emmahof, Count Khuen passed Mucha on to his brother Count Egon, who lived in the ancestral castle of Gandegg in the Tyrol, who in turn sent Mucha off for a period of study in Munich.

      La Plume

      1897

      Colour lithograph, 25 × 18 cm.

      Mucha Trust.

      After Bavaria was raised to the dignity of a kingdom early in the nineteenth century, King Ludwig determined that his capital should become the cultural capital of central and German-speaking Europe. The public buildings he commissioned in Neoclassical and Neo-Renaissance style made his desire that Munich be seen as the Athens or the Florence of the North clear to the world.

      Cover for Chansons d’aïeules

      1897

      Colour lithograph, 33 × 25 cm.

      Collection of Victor Arwas, London.

      By the end of the century, Munich was regarded by many as a serious alternative to Paris. Amongst the aspiring artists who were attracted to Munich were Lovis Corinth, Wassily Kandinsky, Alexei von Jawlensky, Paul Klee and Giorgio de Chirico. Even the young Picasso briefly considered going to Munich in preference to Paris.

      Decorative Plate with Symbol of Paris