"After a big exhibition of Klimt, we are happy to be able to show a retrospective of the life works of another great master of Art Nouveau, Alfons Mucha," museum director Agnes Husslein said at the opening last week.
The exhibition shows 250 pictures, drawings, posters, books, jewellery and even furniture, said French restoration expert Jean-Louis Gaillemin. "Mucha would have wanted to show that Slavic civilization has strong ties to art, not war," he added.
Mucha's style became popular very quickly and there was much demand for his work. Biscuit and chocolate makers, and many other companies commissioned him to design their packaging. He also signed contracts to illustrate books with a number of publishers in Paris. Mucha decorated the pavilion of Bosnia and Hercegovina at the 1900 World Exposition and it took a silver medal.
Among the highlights of the exhibition is a series of 20 paintings entitled The Slavic Epic which Mucha gave to the Czech people in 1928.
Budapest's Museum of Fine Arts will open an exhibition that celebrates Mucha's interpretation of the female form on March 20, during the Budapest Spring Festival. Entitled The Woman's Praise, it shows a selection of period French, American and Czech posters, drawings, paintings and photographs that may have inspired Mucha's images of women. The exhibition's curators are Marta Sylvestrová, of the Morva Gallery in Brno and Petr Tembera, from the Museum of Applied Arts in Prague.
