About an Artist, You Never Heard Of, Although He Marked The Beginning Of The 20th Century
Europe would not be the same without his work.
When you google Art Nouveau, his work is among the first ones to show. But this is not the story of Klimt, Gaudí nor Tiffany.
Imagine watching The Great Gatsby. Every director wanted this painter, illustrator, and graphic artist to do the scenography for the film.
French actresses Sarah Bernhardt hired him to make a theatrical poster for her theater play Gismonda. It blew them all away! Its narrow shape, pastel colors, a halo above the girl’s head, the poster was something completely different.
I’m pretty sure you’ve seen his works. Maybe even on your grandmother’s walls or tables.
His work covered books and magazines, theatrical posters, decorative panels, calendars, postcards, and restaurant menus. He created advertising posters for cigarette brands and food companies like Nestle.
He was interested in jewelry. The famous Parisian jeweler Georges Foucault invited this artist to enhance the interior of his boutique. He designed the furniture, iron fittings, and showcases. And to bring in a dose of glamor, he placed a peacock in front of gleaming stained glass.
Although already prized in Europe and America, he has not yet made his masterpiece, a series of 20 paintings with motifs from his people’s history and mythology. To do so, he raised money in the United States by painting portraits of high-class Americans and teaching the applied arts.
He has befriended French painters Gauguin and Rodin, and the President of the US Woodrow Wilson, to whom he spoke about his people’s desire for independence. After the First World War, Wilson was one of the leading advocates for creating a peaceful Central Europe.
Austro-Hungarian empire hired him to paint the pavilion of Bosnia & Herzegovina at the world exhibition in Paris in 1900. During his stay in Bosnia, he came up with a monumental work that marked his career. He painted compositions from his most famous opus on the Croatian island of Lopud near Dubrovnik. Furthermore, he found the inspiration in the Hilandar, Serbian Orthodox monastery on Mount Athos in Greece.
When his country finally gained independence, they invited him to illustrate its banknotes. On the 10th anniversary of independence, he finally presented his masterpiece to his compatriots, 20 paintings from The Slav Epic cycle.
The paintings show prominent personalities, battles, and rituals from Slavic history and mythology. Some were dramatic and painful, and others were full of joy and hope.
When Germany occupied his country, Czechoslovakia, he was the first target. Under Gestapo’s interrogation, he fell ill and died at the age of 78.
His name was Alfons Muha. An artist whose works adorned the life of an ordinary man from the beginning of the 20th century.
