"Alphonse Maria Mucha is most often remembered
for the prominent role he played in shaping the aesthetics of
French Art Nouveau at the turn of the century. As a struggling
and relatively unknown artist of Czech origin living in Paris,
Mucha achieved immediate fame when, in December 1894, he accepted
a commission to create a poster for one of the greatest actresses
of this time, Sarah Bernhardt. Though the printer was apprehensive
about submitting Mucha´s final design because of its new unconventional
style, Bernhardt loved it and so did the public. ´Le style Mucha´,
as Art Nouveau was known in its earliest days, was born. The success
of that first poster Gismonda
brought a 6 years contract between Bernhardt and Mucha and in
the following years his work for her and others included costumes
and stage decorations, designs for magazines and book covers,
jewellery and furniture and numerous posters. Mucha returned to
Czechoslovakia in 1910, where he dedicated the remainder of his
life to the production of a an epic series of 20 paintings depicting
the history of the Slav people, the Slav Epic"
(Mucha Museum, Prague)
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