Art in NYC: Art Nouveau / Nouvelle Femme Posters by Alphonse Mucha at Poster House

Art in NYC: Art Nouveau / Nouvelle Femme Posters by Alphonse Mucha at Poster House

The recently opened museum of posters presents Alfonse Mucha: Art Nouveau / Nouvelle Femme, its inaugural exhibition of posters and decorative objects; on view from June 20-October 6, 2019

Basking in the luxurious decorations, femininity, and beauty of Art Nouveau style of the belle époque Europe, the exhibition of about 80 works by Alphonse Mucha aims to bring back the history and the glory the poster-art. Mucha was a Czech artist who became famous overnight when he designed a poster for Sarah Bernhardt’s play Gismonda in 1894. As the legend goes, on Christmas Day in 1894, Mucha was doing the proofs at the printing house when an urgent  request for a poster came from none other than Sarah Bernhardt herself for a reopening of her play on January 1. Because of the holiday downtime, Mucha was the only one available to do the job. Mucha’s innovative design, subtle colors, and new accents impressed Bernhardt and his new poster style captivated Paris for the next two decades. Mucha’s signature halo-over-the-head design, intricate details and adornments, soft colors, and the double-length layout were perfect for storefront and street advertisement.

The exhibition of Mucha’s major works presents his art in two galleries. One gallery is dedicated to the advertising posters, which include designs for theaters, cookie brands, the beer-producing region, and bicycles and spirit companies among others. The second gallery shows the posters made for decorative purposes.

The exhibition curators rightfully credit Mucha with revolutionizing the world of advertising by placing la femme nouvelle, confident and adventurous in her choices, at the center of his compositions. His collaboration with Sarah Bernhardt, the most famous actress of her time, who herself was a strong, independent, and entrepreneurial person, resulted in such celebrated works as Gismonda, La Tosca, Hamlet, Medee, and other posters. Created for theater plays staring Bernhardt, these works demonstrate “le style Mucha” which dominated the art world from the early 1890s to 1910.  All the works in the exhibition are on loan from Richard Fuxa Foundation in Prague. Alphonse Mucha: Art Nouveau / Nouvelle Femme is on view until October 6, 2019.

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Born in 1860 in Moravia then part of Austro-Hungarian Empire, Alphonse Mucha spent his formative years in Vienna working as an apprentice scenery painter for theater. Vienna with its rich cultural life of music, theater, museums, and vibrant artist movements made a lasting impression on Mucha’s style. He was influenced by the works of Hans Makart, an academic painter of high prominence. Makart’s murals decorated many palaces and government buildings in the city. His large historical paintings and lavish portraits were in high demand and influenced many of the young artists. Klimt was a big admirer of Maker’s art, as was Mucha.

The work for the Viennese theater stopped short when the fire had destroyed the building and led Mucha to look for jobs in lettering and decorative art. He found a rich sponsor Count Belasi who for a limited time supported his studies in Munich and later in Paris. Left on his own in Paris, Mucha earned a living as an illustrator and a designer at the printing house bringing with him a female-centered style of the Viennese art.

While working at the printing house on that fateful Christmas day, a request for a poster came from Bernhardt and started a new chapter in Mucha’s career. Bernhardt was very pleased with Mucha’s poster and signed a contract with him for six years. The collaboration brought to life the famous posters for the major theater productions starting Sarah Bernhardt in Medee, La Tosca, and Hamlet. Orders from other companies followed.

Mucha’s skills in lettering came in handy for the development of his decorative style. Imitating the calligraphy of the handwritten texts going back to Ancient Rome and Biblical time, he drew the letters in a style appropriate for the epoch and place. The technique of Hebrew letter stylizing, for example, is vividly displayed in the poster for La Samaritaine play written by E. Rostand for Bernhardt who loved to portray Jewish characters on stage.

Between 1996 and 1902, Mucha used his belief in Nouvelle Femme and the image of confident and independent women for the advertisements of consumer products from cookies to cigarette paper. His clever observation that female beauty will catch the eyes regardless of the subject of the promotion was hugely successful and widely used since then. Employing the rich elements of the art nouveau in his posters with sumptuous decorations and only fleeting mention of the product in question was a bold move at the time. Mucha was also the first to introduce a celebrity endorsement for products. One of the posters for the Lefevre-Utile (LU) cookie brand with a beautiful image of Bernhardt in a costume of La Princesse Lointaine, has her signed testimonial “I haven’t found anything better than a little LU – oh, yes, two little LU”. The abbreviation LU was also suggested by Mucha, which is still in use. In the words of the exhibition curators “A design revolution was underway.”

The second part of the exhibition is dedicated to the decorative works subtitled in the exhibition as Allegories. They are on view in the gallery downstairs. Contracted by the printing firm Champenois, Mucha created the series of panels of dreamy women. They are masterfully done and highly pleasing to the eyes, but when displayed in the same gallery are overly repetitive. The firm was eager to capitalize on the success of Mucha’s style and mass market the designs. Created for decorative purposes only, the endless variations on poses, colors, costumes, and themes such as seasons, flowers, jewels, etc. “captured the mood of the belle époque.”(NYT).

The Poster House opened its doors in June of this year. This is the first museum dedicated to poster art in the United States. As posters democratized art and brought it to the wider public, the Poster House is striving to exhibit a diversity of styles to educate its visitors about the historical and current trends.

Alphonse Mucha: Art Nouveau / Nouvelle Femme is on view until October 6, 2019.

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Dates: June 20 – October 6, 2019

Venue: Poster House, 119 W 23rd St, New York, NY 10011