1902
Alphonse Mucha is acclaimed for his distinctly stylized and decorative Art Nouveau illustrated posters and prints — particularly those depicting beautiful French actress and famous artists’ muse Sarah Bernhardt. His work remains widely loved by everyone from bohemian students to serious collectors.
Mucha and his contemporaries treated femininity as the antidote to the impersonal, masculine world of the industrial revolution — it was to be celebrated and embraced. He fervently believed that art is a crucial, enjoyable benefit to humankind, and it should be accessible to as many people as possible.
Mucha showed an early talent for drawing. Rejected when he applied to the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague in 1878, he traveled to Vienna — two years later at the age of 19 — and found work painting theater backdrops. After a tragic fire that destroyed the theater that employed him, he returned home and began painting portraits. Count Eduard Khuen Belasi hired Mucha to paint a series of murals for his residence.
In 1885, the Count sent Mucha to the Munich Academy of Fine Arts — paying his tuition and living expenses. Mucha moved to Paris in 1888 to continue his studies, where he shared a studio with Paul Gauguin. There, he became enamored with the nude female form and allegorical studies. He enjoyed some financial success with magazine illustration work, which led to lucrative book illustration commissions. One of Mucha’s illustrations for the book Scenes and Episodes of German History received a medal of honor at the 1894 Paris Salon of Artists.
In 1894, Mucha began a six-year contract for the acclaimed stage actress Sarah Bernhardt, creating posters for her shows and tours. His first poster was an immediate sensation and cemented his fame in the Art Nouveau poster artist community.
Mucha designed some of the most famous posters of the era — a time when these works were key to the fabric of the cosmopolitan thoroughfare in the French capital. He created advertisements for JOB cigarette papers, Ruinart champagne, Lefèvre-Utile biscuits and Moët-Chandon champagne. Although Mucha is renowned for his posters, he spent the latter half of his life on decorative panel works and Czech nationalist artworks — many of them in the collection at the Mucha Museum in Prague.
Find original Alphonse Mucha nude prints, figurative prints, wall decorations and other art on 1stDibs.
Alphonse Mucha Figures Decoratives Plate 4
By Alphonse Mucha
Located in Dallas, TX
A framed Art Nouveau lithograph collotype poster by Alphone Mucha from 1905 representing the artist’s sketches of nudes, women and beautiful ladies in blacks and white pigments on ve...
Paper
Four Alphonse Mucha Lithographs The Times Of The Day
By Alphonse Mucha
Located in Dallas, TX
Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939) Four lithographs on wove paper For serious collectors and museum collections. A full set of Mucha’s iconic period lithographs representing The Times Of Th...
Lithograph
Alphonse Mucha JOB Original Lithograph
By Alphonse Mucha
Located in Dallas, TX
Alphonse Mucha OriginalJOB Lithograph Paris, France 1898 Condition: (B+) condition. Linen Backed with beautiful frame under plexiglass ready to hang. No Issues. Poster: 60.85 x 4...
Ink, Archival Paper
Alphonse Mucha Figures Decoratives Plate 30
By Alphonse Mucha
Located in Dallas, TX
A framed Art Nouveau lithograph collotype poster by Alphone Mucha from 1905 representing the artist’s sketches of nudes, women and beautiful ladies in blues and white pigments on vel...
Paper
Alphonse Mucha Figures Decoratives Poster Plate 29
By Alphonse Mucha
Located in Dallas, TX
A framed Art Nouveau lithograph collotype poster by Alphone Mucha from 1905 representing the artist’s sketches of nudes, women and beautiful ladies in blacks and white pigments on ve...
Paper
Alphonse Mucha Figures Decoratives Poster Plate 7
By Alphonse Mucha
Located in Dallas, TX
A framed Art Nouveau lithograph collotype poster by Alphone Mucha from 1905 representing the artist’s sketches of nudes, women and beautiful ladies in red umber and white pigments on...
Paper
Alphonse Mucha's "Figures Decoratives" 1905 Art Nouveau Lithograph, Plate 37
By Alphonse Mucha
Located in Chicago, IL
Plate 37 from Alphonse Mucha's Figures Decoratives, a folio of forty color lithographic plates published by Librairie centrale des beaux-arts in 1905. Issued during a period of incr...
Lithograph
Alphonse Mucha's 1902 Documents décoratifs - Planche 40
By Alphonse Mucha
Located in PARIS, FR
Alphonse Mucha's name shines like that of a visionary artist who left an indelible mark on the aesthetics of the early 20th century. The year 1902 saw the publication of "Documents d...
Paper, Lithograph
Late 19th century color lithograph art nouveau ornate bookplate figures
By Alphonse Mucha
Located in Milwaukee, WI
"Student and Teacher" and "Jaufre in Nature" are two sides of one double-sided original lithograph by Art Nouveau master Alphonse Mucha. These illustrations were pages 13 & 14 of...
Lithograph
Late 19th century color lithograph art nouveau ornate bookplate figures floral
By Alphonse Mucha
Located in Milwaukee, WI
"Dream Weavers" and "Soul of the Land" are two sides of a double-sided lithograph by Alphonse Mucha. These illustrations were created for "Ilsee, Princess of Tripoli" and are the rare proofs before the text. These artworks were for pages 31 and 32. 8" x 6 1/4" art 19 1/4" x 17 1/8" frame Alphonse Mucha was born in 1860 in the small town of Ivancice, Monrovia. Though it is rumored that Mucha was drawing before he was walking, his early years were spent as a choirboy and amateur musician. It wasn’t until after he finished high school that he came to realize that living people were responsible for the art that he admired in the local churches. That epiphany made him determined to become a painter. He was soon sent off to Paris, where he studied at the Academie Julian. On January 1, 1985, he presented his own new style to the citizens of Paris. Spurning the bright colors and the more square-like shape of the more popular poster artists, the design was a sensation. Art Nouveau can...
Lithograph
Late 19th century color lithograph art nouveau bookplate figure ornate text
By Alphonse Mucha
Located in Milwaukee, WI
"From: Ilsée, Princess of Tripoli Ilsee's Vision" is an original color lithograph by Alphonse Mucha. Exquisite double-sided color lithographs from "Ilsee, Princesse de Tripoli," a ra...
Lithograph
Alphonse Mucha -- Vérola, Paul. Rama: Poème dramatique en trois Actes.
By Alphonse Mucha
Located in BRUCE, ACT
Alphonse Mucha Vérola, Paul. Rama: Poème dramatique en trois Actes., 1898 5 full-page color plates by Alphonse Mucha, hand-colored First edition of this dramatic poem in three acts ...
Lithograph
