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.
French Moderne Aubusson Tapestry - The Young Woman after Alfons Mucha -N 1623
By Aubusson Manufacture, Alphonse Mucha
Located in Paris, FR
No. 1623 – Aubusson tapestry, circa 1960 – The Young Woman after Alfons Mucha – 146 W × 113 H cm Artist / Manufacturer: Aubusson Manufacture, after Alfons Mucha Period: Circa 1960 S...
Wool
19th Century French Handwoven Aubusson Verdure Wall Tapestry
By Aubusson Manufacture
Located in Dallas, TX
This antique French Aubusson verdure tapestry was handwoven circa 1870 and depicts a lush wooded landscape animated by birds perched among twisting tree branches. Rendered in a class...
Tapestry
19th Century French Aubusson Verdure Tapestry
By Aubusson Manufacture
Located in New York, NY
Place this long and narrow antique tapestry in a staircase or in between two windows for a pop of color. Handwoven in Aubusson, France in the 19th Century, this lovely verdure wall p...
Tapestry, Wool, Silk
19th Century French Aubusson Tapestry
By Aubusson Manufacture
Located in New York, NY
Handwoven in Aubusson, France in the 19th Century, this lovely Tapestry features a pair of lovers in a classic Rococo vinyet and has its original fruit and floral border. It measures...
Tapestry, Wool, Silk
Monumental 18th Century Aubusson Verdure Tapestry, France
By Aubusson Manufacture
Located in Miami, FL
Monumental 18th Century Aubusson Verdure Tapestry From the historical residence Chateau de Nernier, situated on the French side of Lake Geneva: A magnificent French verdure tapestry, woven in wool and silk at the renowned Aubusson workshops in the early 18th century. This richly detailed piece features a lush woodland landscape with delicate architectural elements and meandering waterways inhabited by elegant wading birds. The composition is framed by an intricately woven floral border that enhances the tapestry’s pastoral...
Wool, Silk
Aubusson wall tapestry, Hedva Ser, Signed, France, 1980
By Hedva Ser, atelier robert four, Aubusson Manufacture
Located in L’ISLE-SUR-LA-SORGUE, FR
Aubusson tapestry entitled “Pradera,” woven in low-warp technique with passages reworked in high-warp to achieve relief effects, using several types of wool, after a work by the Isra...
Wool
French Tapestry Aubusson Style, 1880
By Aubusson Manufacture
Located in Saarbruecken, DE
Original French tapestry Aubusson style, France, 1880. Wall decoration (machine) woven, no print. good vintage condition. Free shipping quote with...
Tapestry
Vintage Aubusson Style French Jacquard Halluin Tapestry c1940s
By Gobelins Royal Manufactory, Aubusson Manufacture
Located in Bad Säckingen, DE
This vintage French jacquard tapestry, probably crafted in the 1940s in the Aubusson style, showcases a richly detailed hunting scene. Woven in Halluin, a region renowned for its tex...
Wool
Large 19th Century French Aubusson Floral Tapestry Fragment
By Aubusson Manufacture
Located in New York, NY
Handwoven in Aubusson, France in the 19th Century, this lovely silk and wool piece was originally the setback of a loveseat. It measures 2 x 5.3 ft. It is in pristine condition and ...
Tapestry, Wool, Silk
French AUBUSSON Tapestry
By Aubusson Manufacture
Located in Alessandria, Piemonte
nr. 688 - An interesting antique French Aubusson tapestry, with non-binding sizes, therefore easy to fit into a modern home: perhaps a sliding door (wh...
Wool, Canvas
Nice modern French Aubusson Tapestry
By Aubusson Manufacture
Located in Saint Ouen, FR
Vintage 20th-century wall aubusson tapestry featuring a striking modernist design with birds in flight above stylized ocean waves.A bold and dynamic composition with vibrant contrast...
Wool, Cotton
Beautiful antique fine french handwoven Aubusson tapestry
By Aubusson Manufacture
Located in Saint Ouen, FR
Impressive early 20th-century Aubusson tapestry depicting a lively pastoral hunting scene, rich in detail and color. At the center, an elegant château rises in the background, surrou...
Wool, Cotton, Silk
Antique 19th Century French Aubusson Rococo Tapestry
By Aubusson Manufacture
Located in New York, NY
This is a lovely antique 19th century square French Aubusson tapestry depicting a on a beautiful spring day in the countryside with lush trees and vegetation with a woman on a swing and her husband and two children beside her. It is a lovely silk and wool tapestry with in the classic Rocco style...
Tapestry, Wool, Silk