Alphonse Mucha. The Complete Posters and Panels

Year: 1984
Place: Boston
Publisher: G.K. Hall & Co
Edition: 1st
Language: EN-FR-GE
Pages: 408
Condition: VG, Name previous owner inscribed
Cover condition: G
Binding: HC
Illustrated: 172 color plates, 103 black/white reproductions.

The Complete Posters and Panels by Jack Rennert and Alain Weill. Preface by Jirl Mucha.

Paris at the turn of the century: a kaleidoscope of images, a city of contrasts, strait-laced Victorian decorum giving way to the free-wheeling abandon of the cancan.
Among the many artists who tried to capture its unique flavor, Alphonse Mucha(1860-1939) enjoys a singufar prominence. Although a Czech by birth, he nevertheless gives us one of the most penetrating portrayals of the Parisian atmosphere in the 1890s in his gentle pastel-colored lithographs.
His was truly a people's art: most of it appeared on posters and calendars, and even his "originals" were marketed from the start in mass-produced versions as inexpensive decorations for the average home. It was art for the streets, for the walls of a midinette's tiny room, for the pages of popular magazines; a thoroughly democratic, applied art for the working class consumer. It was a new trend, and it was called a "new art" - art nouveau or, as it was known in Paris at the time, le style Mucha.
But while it was inexpensively produced and sold, Mucha's work has nothing tawdry about it. His draftsmanship was impeccable: this was a man who could draw with precision, and design compositions with elegant authority. He was brimming with decorative ideas: with nature as his inspiration-leaves, vine tendrils, flowers, birds, stars-he fills every available space with ornate borders, dividers, and background patterns.
He was a worshipper of Beauty, which to him invariably meant Woman, whom he portrayed as an idealized, divine being. Perhaps by divine providence, he was led to meet Sarah Bernhardt, who as the leading actress of her day was the most popular embodiment of beauty in the eyes of the general public. Mucha reverentially captured her larger-than-life personal magnetism in his posters of her, both justifying and enhancing the adulation that Parisian audiences bestowed on her.
Therein lies the secret of Mucha's art: he instinctively seizes the emotions of his time and expresses them in skillful design. It's all there: the Victorian deference to women, the emphasis on decorative elements which could be found in every overstuffed drawing room in Paris, and at the same time the awakening of a sense of the commercial use of art. Mucha is not just a typical representative of art nouveau; he personifies it at its very best.
This book is the complete catalog of Mucha's posters, calendars, and decorative panels-many of them only recently discovered after a world-wide search by the authors, and reproduced here for the first time.
This compendium goes far beyond merely reproducing the works: each item has been painstakingly researched and fully annotated. Much of the background has been supplied by the artist's son, Jiri Mucha, who for the first time granted full access to the world's most complete Mucha collection, as well as to his personal archives. As a result, the capsule biography of the artist includes many new facts and fascinating details authenticated from original correspondence and memorabilia.
The book covers all three periods of Mucha's artistic activity: French (1893-1903); American (1904-1912), and Czech (1912-1939). During his stay in the United States, he created a lasting impression on all segments of society, from the highest social circles of New York and Chicago, among whom he moved with a great deal of style and personal charm, to the poor art students whom he tutored and befriended with equal ease. His artistic integrity earned him the admiration of some of the most prominent Americans-from the Tiffanys, the Goulds, and the Theodore Roosevelts, who played host to him, to stage personalities like Ethel Barrymore, Maude Adams, and Mrs. Leslie Carter, who had portraits done by him.
Mucha's art is very much alive today. Temporarily obscured in the tumult of the world wars and new art trends, it was gradually rediscovered by connoisseurs and ordinary people at the same time; today, knowledgeable collectors bid high prices for his original lithographs while students buy inexpensive reproductions for the walls of their rooms. Exhibitions devoted entirely to Mucha have been held in recent years in Paris, Tokyo, Darmstadt, and London, with great success. Mucha is an easily acquired taste-and this book the ideal means to acquire it.

JACK RENNERT is recognized throughout the world as the foremost authority in the field of poster art. Rennert has written many books on the subject (The Poster Art of Tomi Ungerer, 100 Years of Bicycle Posters, 100 Years of Circus Posters, 100 Posters of Paul Colin, 100 Posters of Buffalo Bill's Wild West, 100 Years of Dance Posters, etc. ). He is currently at work on two large studies which will be the definitive books on the graphics of Edward Penfield and the posters of Leonetto Cappiello. Rennert has organized exhibitions of posters in many museums and institutions in the United States and he lectures extensively on the subject of poster art. He inaugurated and organized the allposter auctions at Phillips in New York and the catalogues he has produced for them have become highly prized reference works for collectors. His overriding concern at the present is the establishment of The International Poster Museum in the City of New York.

ALAIN WEILL, born in 1946, studied law and then the history of art. In the early 1970s, he was appointed head of the poster collection of the Decorative Arts Museum (Musee des Arts Decoratifs) of Paris. Largely through his efforts, the Poster Museum (Musee de I' Affiche) was opened in 1978, and he became its curator, organizing all the major exhibitions and writing their catalogues. He has written numerous articles and books on the history of advertising art, including the catalogue raisonne of Alphonse Mucha's postcards (Alphonse Mucha: All the Postcards, published by Hjert & Hjert, Uppsala, Sweden) and is now at work on the catalogue raisonne of the posters of Jules Cheret. He is presently consultant ("expert") to the French auctioneers and advisor to various galleries and state agencies, as well as remaining a consultant, responsible for major exhibitions, to the new museum, now renamed the Advertising Museum (Musee de la Publicite).