Alphonse Mucha
(1860 - 1939) Page One |
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Alphonse (Alfons) Mucha (1860-1939) was a prolific Moravian painter
of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries and a key figure in the Art Nouveau
movement. His style of painting influenced an entire generation of painters,
graphic artists, draughtsmen and designers and in the minds of many, his
work epitomizes the Art Nouveau. He himself came to resent his fame as
an artist of the utilitarian, believing that true art should be elevated
and epic.
Alfons Mucha was born on July 24, 1860, in the town of Ivancice, Moravia,
then part of Austro-Hungary. His father was a court usher, and the family
had but modest means. The future painter was raised in an atmosphere of
strict Roman Catholicism, and this would later be reflected in the symbolism
he employed in his work.
In 1871, Mucha joined the choir at St. Peter's Cathedral in Brno, where
he was attending grammar school. He pursued singing seriously for a while,
but was forced to abandon it after his voice started cracking in 1875.
Instead, Mucha took up drawing lessons. Soon afterwards, he returned to
Ivancice where, in the meanwhile, he found work as a municipal clerk. Continued...
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