Fans of art nouveau design may be surprised to learn that the Prints & Photographs Division has more than a dozen striking images by Czech artist Alphonse Mucha in the collections. Mucha, widely credited as an originator of the art nouveau style, was born on this date in 1860.
This 1896 poster featuring actor Sarah Bernhardt was one of several by Mucha that helped catapult the artist to fame after he had lived and worked in Paris for several years in relative obscurity.
The distinctive floral imagery, muted and metallic coloring, and rounded shape creating a halo effect above the featured figure’s head characterized many of Mucha’s designs.
With his newfound popularity, Mucha began to receive more commissions to promote commercial products with his designs. Like the Bernhardt prints, many were also in poster format, such as this one advertising Job cigarette papers produced by the French Joseph Bardou Company:
The high regard for Mucha’s work in the United States in the early twentieth century is made evident by the presence of several of his designs in the U.S. Patent Office Advertising Prints and Labels Collection.
In the case of Savon Mucha, produced by Armour & Company, the product itself is also named after the artist. The text on the soap box label features the undulating lines often used in Mucha’s lettering, and we again see botanical elements. This label and the one at the top of this post were created for a series of four different soap scents:
Commissioned by Stephen F. Whitman & Son, Inc., this design advertises Whitman’s Salmagundi Chocolates and features a reproduction of Mucha’s “Zodiaque,” but without the Zodiac signs on the product packaging. The design was first produced for a calendar in the 1890s, demonstrating the artist’s continuing influence on visual culture decades into the next century.
Learn More:
- Explore more artist posters from the collections.
- Browse images related to art nouveau design.
- See additional digitized images from the U.S. Patent Office Advertising Prints and Labels Collection.
Comments
Wonderful, informative post, thank you for bringing attention to this important artist whose work merits the increased recognition it has been receiving recently and providing another excellent example of stunning artworks to be found in the Prints & Photographs Division.