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.
$51,295
Job
By Alphonse Mucha
Located in PARIS, FR
Job by Alfons MUCHA (1860-1939) Original lithograph Signed " Mucha " at the lower part of the plate. printed by " F. Champenois, Paris " France 1896 measurements of the lithograph...
Paper
Morning Awakening
By Alphonse Mucha
Located in PARIS, FR
"Morning Awakening" from the series "The Times of the Day" Original lithograph Signed "Mucha" and dated "99" for 1899, at the lower part of the plate. There is no hand-written signa...
Paper
Night's Rest
By Alphonse Mucha
Located in PARIS, FR
"Night's Rest" from the series "The Times of the Day" Original lithograph Signed "Mucha" and dated "99" for 1899, at the lower part of the plate. There is no hand-written signature ...
Paper
Morning Awakening
By Alphonse Mucha
Located in PARIS, FR
Morning Awakening by Alfons MUCHA (1860-1939) "Morning Awakening" from the series "The Times of the Day" Variant 1 Original lithograph Signed "Mucha" and dated "99" for 1899, at t...
Lithograph
Flowers
By Alphonse Mucha
Located in PARIS, FR
"Flowers " Variante 2 by Alphonse MUCHA (1860-1939) Rare original lithograph Each flower, carnation, iris, lily and rose, is signed at the lower part of the plate "Mucha". This lith...
Lithograph
The Seasons
By Alphonse Mucha
Located in PARIS, FR
Alphonse MUCHA (1860-1939) "The Seasons" Variante 3 Rare original lithograph Each Season is signed at the lower part of the plate "Mucha". This lithograph is rare, since it was neve...
Lithograph
Flowers
By Alphonse Mucha
Located in PARIS, FR
Alphonse MUCHA (1860-1939) "Flowers" Variante 2 Rare original lithograph Each flower, carnation, iris, lily and rose, is signed at the lower part of the plate "Mucha". This lithogra...
Handmade Paper
$720
H 39.5 in W 15.5 in
La Dame aux Camelias - Sarah Bernhardt (after) Alphonse Mucha, 1969
By Alphonse Mucha
Located in New York, NY
These beautiful and colorful lithographic posters were hand reproduced by the Mourlot Studio's Master Printer Henri Deschamps in 1969. They are not to be mistaken with later cheap digital and giclée reproductions. Ed. 1,500 In December of 1894, Mucha visited a print shop contracted to create a new advertising poster for a play featuring Sarah Bernhardt, the most famous actress in Paris at the time. Mucha volunteered to produce a lithographic poster within two weeks, and on January 1, 1895, the advertisement for the play Gismonda by Victorien Sardou was posted in the city, where it attracted much attention. Bernhardt was so satisfied with the success of this first poster that she signed a six-year contract with the artist. Written by Alexandre Dumas (son) when he was 23 years old, and first published in 1848, "La Dame aux Camélias...
Lithograph
$650
H 58 in W 40 in
CLINIQUE CHÉRON Lithograph, Girl, Cats, Dogs, Vintage French Advertising 58 in.
By Théophile Alexandre Steinlen
Located in Union City, NJ
CLINIQUE CHÉRON is a fine art lithographic re-creation after the original 1905 vintage French advertising poster created by Théophile Steinlen for the veterinary CLINIQUE CHÉRON Fran...
Lithograph
Coenties Slip
By Charles Frederick William Mielatz
Located in Middletown, NY
Lower Manhattan and the Seaport as the artist imagined it would have appeared before 1835. New York: 1907. Etching with drypoint on Japon paper, 13 7/8 x 9 3/4 inches (353 x 248 mm...
Etching, Drypoint, Handmade Paper
$300
H 14.06 in W 9.93 in
Morningside Park and St. Luke's Hospital
By Charles Frederick William Mielatz
Located in Middletown, NY
A bucolic late 19th century image of upper Manhattan. New York: 1898. Lithograph on tissue-thin Japon paper with a deckle edge, 14 1/8 x 10 inches (357 x 252 mm), the full sheet. Tit...
Lithograph, Handmade Paper
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
$1,000
H 39.5 in W 15.5 in
Lorenzaccio - Sarah Bernhardt (after) Alphonse Mucha Poster, 1969
By Alphonse Mucha
Located in New York, NY
These beautiful and colorful lithographic posters were hand reproduced by the Mourlot Studio's Master Printer Henri Deschamps in 1969. They are not to be mistaken with later cheap di...
Lithograph
Medee - Sarah Bernhardt (after) Alphonse Mucha, 1969
By Alphonse Mucha
Located in New York, NY
These beautiful and colorful lithographic posters were hand reproduced by the Mourlot Studio's Master Printer Henri Deschamps in 1969. They are not to be mistaken with later cheap di...
Lithograph
$720
H 39.5 in W 15.5 in
Hamlet - Theatre Sarah Bernhardt (after) Alphonse Mucha, 1969
By Alphonse Mucha
Located in New York, NY
These beautiful and colorful lithographic posters were hand reproduced by the Mourlot Studio's Master Printer Henri Deschamps in 1969. They are not to be mistaken with later cheap di...
Lithograph
$2,100
H 22.5 in W 17.75 in D 1.5 in
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
Alcazar d'Eté, Lidia (Plate 25)
By Jules Chéret
Located in Greenwich, CT
Alcazar d'Eté, Lidia (Plate 25) is an 1886 lithograph of Jules Chéret's poster, printed at Imprimerie Chaix by Jules Chéret and included in the famed collection of Belle Époque poste...
Paper, Lithograph
$4,245Sale Price|20% Off
H 12.6 in W 9.06 in
Portrait of Philip Andreevich Malavin.1899.Paper, lithography, 32x23 cm with def
By Leon Bakst
Located in Riga, LV
Portrait of Philip Andreevich Malavin.1899.Paper, lithography, 32x23 cm, restored: professionally reinforced edges. Leon Bakst. (1866-1924)
Paper, Lithograph
$8,500
H 82.25 in W 32 in D 2 in
Alphonse Mucha 1896 Lorenzaccio Theatre De La Renaissance Lithograph Poster
By Alphonse Mucha
Located in Dallas, TX
Alphonse Mucha (Czech, 1860-1939) Lorenzaccio Theatre De La Renaissance. Printed: 1896 Printed By: F. Champenois, Paris Signed in plate; Mucha, F. Champenois, Paris Lithograph paper ...
Archival Paper, Lithograph