Mucha

For my project on religion and art in Prague, I took the class to the Alfonse Mucha Gallery. Incredible. I absolutely loved the museum, and read every word on every single description beside each piece displayed. I went through the gallery more slowly than usual, and really enjoyed soaking in his work. I loved it all.

Doing background research on Mucha greatly added to my enjoyment of the visit. I do not think I would have spent nearly as much time in the gallery if I hadn’t researched him before, and would certainly not have appreciated it as much. What stuck out to me from my prior research was his dedication to his country and the Slav culture all throughout his life. Even when he was the “talk of the town” in Paris with his newly acquired fame, he never forgot his people or his nation. After he went to America, he didn’t want his country to think he had sold out to fame and fortune, so worked hard to raise money to return to Bohemia and work on his dream project: the Slav Epic. He was forever devoted to his homeland.

I thought it was really neat that he played a large part in the newly established country of Czechoslovakia, and designed some of their new currency and stamps. The Slavs should be very proud of him, and the fact that he designed one of the stained-glass windows in St. Vitus’ Cathedral is a great tribute to him. I like the fact that his newer, modern work has been placed in such a great, old basilica. It helps combine the old and the new.

I was also enchanted by the novelty of his work. He was one of the forefront artists in the Art Nouveau movement, and I have never seen work quite like his before. I loved the way he captures the softness of beauty and grace in his models, and couples it with multitudes of leaves and flowers.

And lastly, I was really interested in the later work he did after returning to his homeland. I had never even heard of the mythic “Slavia” and “Czechnia” figures that he portrayed, but found them entrancing. He used them to revive the nationalism in his nation, and remind his people of their past. The labels beside these later works talked about the way he combined the mythic with the real. In the forefront of these pieces, he would draw a girl in a traditional Slavic dress or an athletic boy participating in athletic games, and behind them the mythic “goddesses” overlooking their people. He used a lot of symbolism, particularly a flat leafed tree which is apparently the national tree of Bohemia. I found it interesting that these posters had so much to say, and contained so much more than just art. It reminded me of a quote I read about him that said “He declared that art existed only to communicate a spiritual message, and nothing more…”

Mucha was a very talented artist and obviously a deep thinker as well. He worked hard to combine his natural talent with a desire to help and shape the people in his homeland, and I think the results are excellent.

eks