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Alphonse MuchaOriginal cover for Alphonse Mucha's Le Pater, Symbolist letterpress, 18991899
1899
About the Item
“Humankind rests safely in the hand of an androgynous God, dreamlike and powerful; Mucha’s Byzantine tresses are replaced here with hair personifying the wind of the vast cosmos, unfolding amidst an expanding circle of stars representing the expanding universe.
Seven symbols borrowing from Rosicrucian, Masonic, Gnostic and Neoplatonic sources; each will correlate with one of seven verses of The Lord’s Prayer…”
“Le Pater is the perfect convergence of three important movements at the close of the 19th century: Art Nouveau, Mysticism, and Religion. Art Nouveau, through its respect and honor of Nature, promotes the idea of a spirit of energy coursing through all things–a tenet of Mysticism–that finds foundation in the traditions of Mucha's personal relationship with the imagery of Religion. Le Pater gave Mucha a venue to communicate his beliefs specifically through his unique approach to Art and the coded language he had been learning through his devotion to Masonic teachings. He combined the aesthetics of Medieval manuscripts with Moorish arabesques, Byzantine mandalas, and Classical Renaissance melodrama to create a body of work that guided viewers across the gap between the ancient and the modern.
The published plates for Le Pater were struck by Champenois on December 20, 1899 in an edition of 510 copies with the express agreement that they never be reprinted. As much of Mucha's work had been commercialized by Champenois due to numerous printings across multiple mediums, by this point he felt he had earned the right to insist on this deeply personal work existing only in the original release he had envisioned.”
- Quoted from Thomas Negovan’s Le Pater: Alphonse Mucha's Symbolist Masterpiece and the Lineage of Mysticism (2019)
Original letterpress cover for Alphonse Mucha’s masterpiece of mysticism, Le Pater. Printed by F. Champenois, published by Henri Piazza in Paris in an edition of 510, 1899. This piece is pictured in an archival rag mat and arrives accompanied by a dossier containing extensive academic information about the artist and this artwork.
Notable museum collections include: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Notable museum collections featuring works by Alphonse Mucha include: Musée d'Orsay, Paris; Louvre Museum Graphic Art Database, Paris; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City; Museum of Modern Art, New York City; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Mucha Museum, Prague, Czech Republic; and more.
- Creator:Alphonse Mucha (1860 - 1930, Czech)
- Creation Year:1899
- Dimensions:Height: 15.19 in (38.59 cm)Width: 10.94 in (27.79 cm)Depth: 0.2 in (5.08 mm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:Exceptional condition commensurate with age and use as an original period folio cover. Minor surface abrasion, some discoloration. Image and inks intact. Will frame beautifully.
- Gallery Location:Chicago, IL
- Reference Number:
Alphonse Mucha
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.
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