$3,245.00
– Sold OutA beautiful antique color lithograph [F. Champenois, Paris] by Alphonse Mucha, The Father of Art Nouveau and Pioneer of Art Deco. This piece "Byzantine Heads: 'Brunette' ", circa 1897, is signed in the plate. The image measures 13 1/4" x 11", paper size is 19 1/4" x 17 1/4" with the frame measuring at 21 1/2" in diameter. Condition: the margin is scraped in the lower center of the plate, not sure if the hair has been trimmed since this piece has been laid down also some discoloration in several sections of the margin. This piece has been professionally restored. Reference: Rennert/Weill "Alphonse Mucha; The Complete Posters and Panels": #40, page #168.
Partial bio:
Alfons Maria Mucha (Czech: 24 July 1860 – 14 July 1939), known internationally as Alphonse Mucha, was a Czech painter, illustrator, and graphic artist. Living in Paris during the Art Nouveau period, he was widely known for his distinctly stylized and decorative theatrical posters, particularly those of Sarah Bernhardt. He produced illustrations, advertisements, decorative panels, as well as designs, which became among the best-known images of the period. In the second part of his career, at the age of 57, he returned to his homeland and devoted himself to a series of twenty monumental symbolist canvases known as The Slav Epic, depicting the history of all the Slavic peoples of the world, which he painted between 1912 and 1926. In 1928, on the 10th anniversary of the independence of Czechoslovakia, he presented the series to the Czech nation. He considered it his most important work.
Mucha leapt to fame in Paris in 1895 when his poster Gismonda (1894) for the superstar Sarah Bernhardt heralded the birth of the distinctive ‘Style Mucha’ and established him as the pre-eminent exponent of French Art Nouveau. Education: Munich Academy of Fine Arts; Académie Julian ; Académie Colarossi. Ref: Wikipedia
