slovo magazine

36
SUMMER 2012

Upload: wdg-communications-inc

Post on 02-Mar-2016

225 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

DESCRIPTION

National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library quarterly magazine

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Slovo Magazine

SUMMER 2012

12-1-4 Slovo Summer 2012_05-7-73 SlovoWinter05/06.qxd 6/12/12 1:48 PM Page B

Page 2: Slovo Magazine

Cover image: The Moon and the Stars: study for The Moon, 1902 Ink and watercolor on paper

Decorative panel by Alphonse Mucha Image courtesy of the Mucha Foundation.

12-1-4 Slovo Summer 2012_05-7-73 SlovoWinter05/06.qxd 6/12/12 1:48 PM Page C

Page 3: Slovo Magazine

VOLUME 13 ▪ NUMBER 1SUMMER 2012

Slovo is published biannually

by the National Czech & Slovak

Museum & Library. The editor

welcomes research articles and

essays written for a popular

audience that address Czech

& Slovak history and culture.

Please address inquiries to Editor,

Slovo,1400 Inspiration Place SW,

Cedar Rapids, IA 52404.

Publisher: Gail Naughton

Editor: Sher Jasperse

Curator: Stefanie Kohn

Librarian: David Muhlena

Design: WDG Communications Inc.

Slovo = Word

Slovo is available as a benefit to members of the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library. Individual memberships: $35 for one year. For information, write to the NCSML, 1400 Inspiration Place SW, Cedar Rapids,IA, 52404; call (319) 362-8500; or visit our website at www.NCSML.org.

ISSN 1545-0082

Copyright © 2012National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library

FROM THE PUBLISHER 2

CONTRIBUTORS 3

FEATURES:

Alphonse Mucha: 4Visionary Designer, Epic ArtistBy Anna M. Dvorák, Mucha author and historian

A New Spring: 9Czech Art Nouveau Architecture and Applied ArtsBy Mariana Holá, curator for design at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Eternal Seductress: 14The Enduring Appeal of Art NouveauBy Alice Jurow, Art Deco author and lecturer

Preserving Mucha’s Legacy: 16Jir í Mucha and the Mucha FoundationBy Geraldine Mucha, composer and Mucha family member

EXHIBIT SHOWCASE 18Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939): Inspirations of Art NouveauIntroduction by Tomoko Sato, Mucha Foundation curator

MUSEUM EVENTS 32

12-1-4 Slovo Summer 2012_05-7-73 SlovoWinter05/06.qxd 6/12/12 1:48 PM Page 1

Page 4: Slovo Magazine

from theP

UB

LIS

HE

R

2 | National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Gail Naughton, President/CEO of the National Czech & SlovakMuseum & Library, at the Muchahome in Prague with GeraldineMucha, the artist’s daughter-in-law,and Sue Plotz Olson, then-chair ofthe NCSML board, in October 2011.

Letters to the Editor

We encourage discussion of the issues and stories presented in Slovo.

Please send your letters to: Editor, Slovo 1400 Inspiration Place SWCedar Rapids, Iowa 52404

Or e-mail to:[email protected]

The installation of an exhibition on Alphonse Mucha at the NCSML is the realization

of a long-held dream. When we started talking about what exhibition would be worthy

to celebrate the opening of the new museum, it was first on our list. For several

months we worked with John (grandson of Alphonse) and Sarah Mucha, who head

the Mucha Foundation, on arranging a major Mucha exhibition, the first in the

United States since 1999. Nearly two years of effort will culminate with the opening

of Alphonse Mucha: Inspirations of Art Nouveau in July.

In the course of the project, NCSML Curator Stefanie Kohn went to Prague to

meet with Tomoko Sato, the curator for the Mucha Foundation collection, to discuss

the theme and choose the pieces for the exhibit. When Stefanie came home, she

positively bubbled with the story of meeting John and Sarah for lunch at the Mucha

home. Sitting at the kitchen table, she marveled at eating off a table with a top painted

by the artist. “This should be in a museum,” she remembers gasping. She was able

to choose several pieces for the exhibit from his personal possessions. It’s these types

of objects that will make this exhibition unique. While his lush posters and varied

expressions of Art Nouveau are enough to make any museum-goer ecstatic, the

personal story of Mucha’s Moravian roots, his family, his photography and his devotion

to the Slavic peoples make it even more memorable.

When I was in Prague in October 2011, my husband Denny and I, along with

Sue Plotz Olson, then the chair of the NCSML board, and her husband Ron, were

invited to tea by Geraldine Mucha, the daughter-in-law of Alphonse and mother of

John, at the Mucha home on Hradcanské námestí. It is one of those memories I will

always cherish. Ninety-four years young, Geraldine baked cookies and poured tea as

we sat by the harmonium from Mucha’s studio. We shared stories and looked at the

works covering almost every inch of the walls. He was a tortured soul, she said, who

always sought to be known for his fine art, but who succeeded so extraordinarily with

his poster art that he was never taken seriously [in his own mind] as a “real” artist.

The crowning work of his career, the Slav Epic (Slovanská epopej), was a magnificent

outcome of his quest for recognition — for himself and the Slavic people. While we

are not able to have the 20 enormous works comprised in this masterpiece hanging

in our museum gallery, the exhibit will include a projection of the epic on a large

screen, making as realistic an experience as is possible outside of Prague, where

the Slav Epic was recently unveiled in a new public exhibition.

This issue of Slovo serves as a commemorative catalog of the Mucha exhibition,

which will be on display in the United States until December 31, 2012, only at

the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library. We truly hope you enjoy this

extraordinary exhibition. On the occasion of the triumphant opening of the new

museum and library on July 14, 2012, there could hardly be a more perfect

expression of our mission of inspiring people of all backgrounds to connect

to Czech and Slovak history and culture.

12-1-4 Slovo Summer 2012_05-7-73 SlovoWinter05/06.qxd 6/12/12 1:48 PM Page 2

Page 5: Slovo Magazine

Slovo | 3

C

ON

TR

IBU

TO

RS

CONTRIBUTORS

Anna M. Dvorák (Alphonse Mucha: Visionary Designer,

Epic Artist) was born in Moravia, in former Czechoslovakia.

After graduating from the Arts College in Brno, she illustrated

children books and designed theater posters. Since 1964,

she has lived in Durham, North Carolina, where she earned

a Ph.D. at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

with the dissertation, “Alphonse Mucha: Book Illustrations

and Mural Paintings.” Dvorák further detailed Mucha’s

contributions in Alphonse Mucha: The Complete Graphic

Works (London: Academy Editions, 1980), Mucha’s Figures

Décoratives (New York: Dover Publications, 1981) and

the exhibition catalog Alphonse Mucha: Paris 1900: Le Pater

(Paris: Somogy Editions d l’Art, 2001). While working at

the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, she pursued

for nearly 20 years the idea of bringing a major traveling

exhibition of Mucha’s works to the United States; this goal

was realized with the exhibit, Alphonse Mucha: The Spirit

of Art Nouveau (Alexandria, VA: Art Services International,

1998), for which she contributed three essays to the catalog.

Mariana Holá (A New Spring: Czech Art Nouveau Architecture

and Applied Arts) was born in Prague and studied art

history at Charles University, where her graduation thesis

was on the topic, “Architectural Photography as the Means

of Promotion of a Modern Architecture in Czechoslovakia

1918-1948.” She is currently studying for her Ph.D. at

Charles University. Since 2012, she has been curator for

design at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague. Her

areas of specialization include Czech architecture, applied

arts, design and photography of the first half of the 20th

century in the wider cultural, social and international context.

Holá has published papers on modern architecture and

photography, architectural photography and design in the

Czech lands. She has also participated in research projects

dedicated to the theater architecture of Central Europe

and Czech visual art in the period 1980-2005.

Alice Jurow (Eternal Seductress: The Enduring Appeal of Art

Nouveau) has a long association with the Art Deco Society

of California as an administrator, board member and

journal editor, but professes a great fondness for many

artistic movements. She wrote the foreword for the book

Art Nouveau by Camilla de la Bedoyere and has published

articles in a number of journals. Jurow has also lectured

on art, architecture and fashion for Art Deco societies around

the world. She holds degrees in aesthetic studies and

architecture from the University of California and lives in

Berkeley, California, with her husband and enormous cat.

Geraldine Mucha née Thomsen (Preserving Mucha’s

Legacy: Jirí Mucha and the Mucha Foundation) is a Scottish

composer of Orcadian descent. She was born in London

on July 5, 1917, and studied composition and conducting

at the Royal Academy of Music. She met and married

Jirí Mucha, son of the artist Alphonse Mucha, in 1941 and

returned to Prague with him in 1945. She has set many

songs to music and written many chamber compositions.

Mucha continues to live and compose in Prague.

Tomoko Sato (Introduction to the exhibit, Alphonse

Mucha: Inspirations of Art Nouveau) is curator of the

Mucha Foundation. Born and raised in Japan, she has

lived since 1979 in the United Kingdom, where she

received her B.A. in the history of art and architecture

from Reading University and M.A. in art gallery and

museum studies from Manchester University. After

curatorial training at the Whitworth Art Gallery in

Manchester, she worked at the Barbican Art Gallery

in London as exhibition organizer and then curator.

While there she curated the first retrospective of Alphonse

Mucha presented by the Mucha Foundation (1993),

as well as wide-ranging exhibitions studying art, design

and photography of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Her publications include catalogs for the exhibitions,

Japan and Britain: An Aesthetic Dialogue 1850-1930

(Lund Humphries, London, 1991), and The Wilde Years:

Oscar Wilde and the Art of His Time (Philip Wilson, London,

2000), and the article, “Photography — the Other Side

of Mucha,” in Alphonse Mucha (Prestel, Munich, Berlin,

London and New York, 2009).

12-1-4 Slovo Summer 2012_05-7-73 SlovoWinter05/06.qxd 6/12/12 1:48 PM Page 3

Page 6: Slovo Magazine

4 | National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library

Fig. 1: Self-portrait with Palette, c. 1907. Oil on canvas, 44 x 30 cm (17 3/8 x 11 7/8 in.)

Alphonse Mucha, or Alfons Maria Mucha as he is known in his native country,is one of the few Czech artists whose name is familiar to wide audiences bothin Europe and the United States. Born in 1860 in the small Moravian town ofIvancice, Mucha [Fig.1] became famous literally overnight in Paris at the endof 1894, when he designed the Gismonda, his first poster for Sarah Bernhardt,the most famous French actress of the time. Both at the turn of the centuryand in subsequent years, his name was synonymous with the French ArtNouveau, and while his most popular works have always been the posters and decorative panels (panneux décoratifs) which he created between 1895 and 1905, he was also an unusually versatile designer, a gifted and innovativeillustrator, a remarkable teacher, a competent photographer, and a painter who hoped to be remembered not for the “fashionable vagaries” that were in such demand, but above all for his murals and monumental paintings. Mucha always claimed that chance, which he perceived as fate, played

an important part in his life. All the major developments or changes in hiscareer were profoundly influenced by fortuitous encounters with three widelydisparate patrons who recognized his talent and, by their support, enabledhim to develop it in a new direction. One of six children of a court usher, he loved to draw as soon as he could

crawl and was very musical, but he was an indifferent student, and when he was not accepted at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, his future as an artist was far from certain. After he was fired from a job as a court clerk in Ivancice, he secured a short apprenticeship at a Viennese firm designing theater decorations. There he learned to paint on large canvases, and life in the capital city exposed him to works by Hans Makart and other fashionable artists of the time. When his employment in Vienna came to a sudden end and

Mucha was unwillingly returning to Moravia, he met by chance his first patron, Count Eduard Belasi, who employed him to restoreseveral family portraits and paintings and create murals for a castle in Hrušovany as well as for Emmahof, a newly built château nearMikulov. A recommendation by a visiting professor from the MunichAcademy decided Mucha’s future as an artist; in 1885 Count Belasioffered him a stipend to study in Munich. According to the records of the academy, Mucha actually did not pay his tuition and was not listed as a regular student; nevertheless, in 1887 he submitted there as his final student project his first work destined for theUnited States — an altar painting of Saints Cyril and Methodius,commissioned by emigrants from Ivancice for the Catholic church in Pisek, North Dakota [Fig. 2]. In 1888, Count Belasi’s continuingpatronage enabled Mucha to study in Paris, where he finally came in touch with the latest art movements. A year later the financial support was terminated, and like other young artists Mucha had to support himself.

By Anna M. Dvorák

VISIONARY DESIGNER, EPIC ARTIST

Alphonse Mucha:

FE

AT

UR

ES

Images courtesy of the Mucha Foundation, except where noted otherwise.

Fig. 2: Design for Altarpiece with Saints Cyril and Methodius for the church of Saint John Nepomucene in Pisek, North Dakota. Oil on canvas, 85 x 45.5 cm(33 ½ x 18 in.). Collection of Jan Penáz

12-1-4 Slovo Summer 2012_05-7-73 SlovoWinter05/06.qxd 6/12/12 1:48 PM Page 4

Page 7: Slovo Magazine

Slovo | 5

He was saved from penury by his talent and exceptional draftsmanship as an illustrator of books and magazine articles. His earliest drawings, including the illustrations for the prestigiousScènes et épisodes de l’histoire d’Allemagne by Seignobos [Fig. 3], reflected the influence of established artists like Meissonier and Doré. His own personal style began to be noticeable in the charming and imaginative illustrations for Xavier Marmier’s Les Contes des grand-mères, for which he received an Honorable Mention at theSalon. Ilsée, princesse de Tripoli by Robert de Flers, published in 1897, became Mucha’s most complete statement in the Art Nouveaustyle, while Le Pater, the illustrated Lord’s Prayer exhibited with manyother designs at the 1900 World Exhibition in Paris, combined all his virtuosity in decorative design with monochrome figural scenesthat pointed to his ties with the Symbolists. Documents décoratifs(1902) and Figures décorative (1905) were textbooks for designers that summed up his complex achievements as a decorative artist in the new style [Fig.4].

‘The prince of poster artists’The patronage of Sarah Berhardt, the most admired French actress of the time, brought Mucha his fame as a poster designer. During theChristmas holidays of 1894, the publisher Lemercier asked him to deliver in a few days a new poster design for Sarah Berhardt’s theatrical production,Gismonda. Mucha created a design so unusual and so unlike other posters on public display around the city that it charmed both the famous actress and the Parisian public. He portrayed Gismonda on her way to church on Easter Sunday, dressed in rich Byzantine garments and holding a palmbranch in her hand. It was the first of Mucha’s posters designed in much more subdued coloring than was used by other poster artists including Chéret, and their pale, elongated shape made them stand out so clearly from their surroundings that they were called “white windows”[Fig. 5]. Gismonda marked the beginning of Mucha’s long cooperationwith Bernhardt in her theater productions; he created seven posters forher and cooperated on a number of designs for scenery and costumes.His fame increased with many additional posters in the Art Nouveaustyle, promoting all kinds of merchandise, as well as series of panneauxdécoratifs without text, which became a popular part of inexpensiveinterior decoration. They introduced a typical “Mucha woman,” innocently seductive, with extravangantly flowing hair [Fig.6].In 1900, at the World Exhibition in Paris, Mucha exhibited a great

number of his works, including designs for jewelry and sculpture, and decorated with murals the pavilion of Bosnia and Herzegovina.Both the Le Pater and the murals from the history of the SouthernSlavs received considerable critical acclaim and were instrumental in Mucha’s decision to seek recognition as a serious painter employinghis art in service of nationalistic and humanistic ideals. He began planning an epic series of large paintings from the history of variousSlavic nations, and since he did not want to continue in decorativedesign and did not have any financial reserves, he decided to followthe example of Sarah Bernhardt and earn the funds for his monumentalproject in America. On February 26, 1904, he sailed for the first time for New York. This trip was followed by a number of others, and his entire American experience was described in a voluminouscorrespondence that was faithfully preserved by Mucha’s young wife, Maruška.

Fig. 3: Mort de Frédéric Barberousse, c. 1894. Illustration from Scènes etépisodes de l’histoire d’ Allemandeby Charles Seignobos

Fig. 4: Documents décoratifs, Plate 29, 1902. Color lithograph, 46 x 33 cm (17 1/4 x 13 in.)

12-1-4 Slovo Summer 2012_05-7-73 SlovoWinter05/06.qxd 6/12/12 1:48 PM Page 5

Page 8: Slovo Magazine

6 | National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library

In America, newspapers welcomed Mucha as “ the prince of poster artists,”and if he had been willing to make a living by decorative design, his workwould have had considerable earning power. Unfortunately, he wanted to be recognized as a serious painter and at first refused all other commissions.He painted portraits of several wealthy patrons, but since he did not want to emulate Sargent and was not able to paint in his own decorative style inoils, his career as a portrait painter was not very successful. On his repeatedtrips to America, he was eventually forced to supplement his income bydesigns for magazines, and his main income came from teaching at the NewYork School of Applied Design for Women and the Chicago Art Institute.

Monumental ambitionsIn 1908, Mucha achieved his greatest professional and commercial successwith the complete design of the interior of the new German Theater in NewYork, but his cooperation with the actress Leslie Carter was a financial fiasco.By then it was clear that his plans for a series of monumental paintings knownas the Slav Epic depended on finding an understanding and generous patron.Mucha found his patron in Charles Richard Crane (1858-1939), a millionaireindustrialist from Chicago, an educated Slavophile and a friend of TomášGarrigue Masaryk, later the first president of the Czechoslovak Republic.Mucha painted portraits of Crane’s two daughters, portraying Josephine as the Slavic goddess Slavia, and shared with him his vision for an extensiveseries aimed at glorifying the Slavic history. In January of 1910, Crane accepted his proposal and agreed to support it financially. Together, theydecided to present the finished series to the City of Prague as a gift, under the condition that the city would build a special building for it.

Eventually, Mucha learned that unselfish work for the nation was a thankless task. The Slav Epic wastypical of his sincere and at times naive patriotic zeal;like many expatriate Czechs before and after him, he loved his country all the more because he did notlive an ordinary, everyday life there. He did not realizethat over the years the goals of the younger Czechartists had changed, and that they saw him as an outsider whose style and ideals were passé. When he returned to Bohemia and settled with his family at the castle at Zbiroh to work on the Slav Epic, theCzech art critics were vocal about their disdain for his past decorative work, and the artists were furiousabout his offer to decorate single-handedly the newlybuilt Municipal House in Prague. In the end, Muchadecorated only the Lord Mayor’s salon, which hasremained a veritable jewel of interior design [Fig. 7]. In 1910, Mucha was 50 years old and planned

to finish the 20 canvases of the Slav Epic in five years; actually, the work took 18 years, and at thetime of his death in 1939 the last painting was notyet finished to his satisfaction. One reason was theunusually large dimensions of the canvases; sevenmeasured 26.6 x 29 feet, and the smaller ones 14.4 x 13.3 feet and 15.7 x 13.3 feet [Fig. 8].

Fig. 6: Zodiac, 1896. Color lithograph,65.7 x 48.2 cm (25 ¾ x 19 in.)

Fig. 5: Poster for Gismonda, 1894. Color lithograph, 216 x 74.2 cm (85 x 29 1/8 in.)

12-1-4 Slovo Summer 2012_05-7-73 SlovoWinter05/06.qxd 6/12/12 1:48 PM Page 6

Page 9: Slovo Magazine

Slovo | 7

Painted in tempera with smaller parts in oils, they were extremely effective and proved unexpectedly durable. Mucha approached the series as a literary work, dedicating five paintings

to allegorical themes, five to religion, five to warfare and five to culture. Ten were Czech historical episodes, and 10 scenes were from the history of other Slavic nations. All the details were based on careful research and consultations with eminent historians, as well as on a number of field tripswith sketch books and a camera. Conceived over the span of 18 years, thepaintings reflect considerable stylistic differences, from an overtly symbolistapproach [Fig. 9] to scenes closer to history painting [Fig. 10]. In 1919-1921,when Mucha exhibited the first 11 canvases at the Klementinum in Prague and then at the Chicago Art Institute and the Brooklyn Museum of Art, he hoped that they would be both a national and a personal triumph. The reaction to his work from the Czech art community could not have been more different. Even though in Prague the public had nothing but praisefor the paintings, critics accused Mucha of artistic shallowness and denouncedthe Epic as a “sugary monstrosity.” At the two American venues, however,where 600,000 people came to see the exhibitions, the critics praised theseries as the greatest works in their class since the 16th century in Italy. Following the establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic, Mucha often

engaged his talent in the service of his country. He designed stamps and bank notes, posters with girls in folk costumes, and a stained glass window in St.Vitus Cathedral in Prague. He painted a number of beautiful oils withsymbolic connotations [Fig. 11], and planned a series of paintings concerningnot only his homeland but all of mankind. During his life and after his death a few canvases of the Slav Epic were periodically exhibited, but the majoritywere usually stored under poor conditions. In 1963 they found a home in the small town of Moravský Krumlov, from where they were finally brought to Prague to await the final decision about their permanent location.

Fig. 7: Interior of the Lord Mayor’sSalon at the Municipal House inPrague, 1910-11

Fig. 8: Mucha sitting at the exhibition of the first 11 paintings of the Slav Epicat the Klementinum, Prague, 1919

12-1-4 Slovo Summer 2012_05-7-73 SlovoWinter05/06.qxd 6/12/12 1:48 PM Page 7

Page 10: Slovo Magazine

8 | National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library

In May 2012, the paintings went on exhibit at the National Gallery’s Veletržní palác (Trade Fair Palace). In the spring of 2014 they will be moved to Prague’s main train station, where they will go on permanent display in what once served as the old railway station’s Art Nouveau entrance hall.Hopefully, with easier accessibility, the monumental paintings will be seen in a new context. The selected episodes were not merely a means of illustratinghistory, but the symbolical scenes enabled Mucha to reveal the relationshipsbetween men, between mankind and the world, and between the world and the universe. They demonstrate his talent as a serious painter who hadearned the right to be considered a great creative spirit. ▪

RECOMMENDEDREADINGMucha, Jirí. Alfons Maria Mucha: His Life and Art (New York: Rizzoli, 1989)

Arwas, Victor; Brabcova-Orlikova, Jana; and Dvorák, Anna M. Alphonse Mucha: The Spirit of Art Nouveau (Alexandria,VA: Art Services International,1998). Catalog for a retrospective exhibition that traveled to sevenAmerican museums.

Nosek, Pavel. Alfons Mucha — Knihy a casopisy (Grafické dílo A. Muchy — cást I) (AlfonsMucha: Books and Periodicals[Graphic Work of A. Mucha,Part I]). (Prague: Zlatý kun,1993). This is a bibliography of Mucha’s works reproducedin books and periodicalsbetween 1881 and 1939. It was translated into Englishby Anna Dvorák and MichelleBrabec and into French by Christian Richet, whoenlarged the original text and created a website with an illustrated version. See:http://richet.christian.free.fr.

Fig. 9: The Slav Epic — The Slavs in Their Original Homeland, 1912. Egg tempera on canvas, 610 x 810 cm (240 x 390 in.). City of Prague Gallery

Fig. 10: The Slav Epic — The Printing of the Bible of Kralice, 1914. Egg tempera on canvas,610 x 810 cm (240 x 390 in.). City of Prague Gallery

Fig 11: Woman with a Burning Candle, 1933. Oil on canvas, 78 x 70 cm (30 ¾ x 27 5/8 in.)

12-1-4 Slovo Summer 2012_05-7-73 SlovoWinter05/06.qxd 6/12/12 1:48 PM Page 8

Page 11: Slovo Magazine

Slovo | 9

Jan Kotera, Divan, 1899: Kotera (1871-1923), considered the founding father of Czech modernarchitecture, sought to unify interiorelements such as furnishings witharchitectural design.

CZECH ART NOUVEAUARCHITECTURE ANDAPPLIED ARTS

A New Spring:

By Mariana Holá

In the late 18th century, a great artistic tradition characterized by a unity of style applied to all fields of human creativity was fading away. As a result, at the dawn of the 19th century there was a certain quandary — especially in the field of architecture, where architects had used various historical stylesaccording to the purpose of a building. This was a unique phenomenon in history; for the first time architects were completely without a framework or reference regarding what style to build. Historicism was also in conflict with rapidly developing technology and the new social order of the IndustrialRevolution. New scientific discoveries, new views and perceptions of the worldaround, as well as the fin-de-siècle atmosphere stimulated original deliberationand debate about the purpose, form and function of art, architecture, appliedarts and design. Artists and architects at the turn of the century began seeking an integrated

artistic style that would transform and “beautify” the appearance of everydayobjects. The idea of a stylistically unified, total work of art, a so-calledGesamtkunstwerk, brought a new aesthetic and strong social sensibility thatattributed to the artist an important role in the transformation of society.Artists wanted to satisfy the needs of contemporarysociety and demonstrate a new, unorthodoxattitude toward the past as well. The Czech lands presented

ideal conditions for theseemerging regenerativeefforts and their spread.Bohemia, in particular,was among the mostdeveloped lands in theAustro-Hungarian Empire.It had advanced industry,along with access to fine

All non-architectural images are from the collection of the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague.

Top: National House in Prosejov,designed by Jan Kotera. Photo by Pernak

Above: Original facade design of the National House in Prosejov by Jan Kotera, 1905

12-1-4 Slovo Summer 2012_05-7-73 SlovoWinter05/06.qxd 6/12/12 1:48 PM Page 9

Page 12: Slovo Magazine

Jan Kotera, Trmal’s Villa in Prague,1902-1903. Left photo by SJu. Right photo by FOIBOS.

10 | National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library

construction materials and quality professional education. Livelybuilding activity took place in all major Czech cities (including Plzen,Hradec Králové, Pardubice and Liberec), with new apartment housesand private villas, offices, schools, hospital buildings and factorycomplexes being built. This activity was particularly feverish in

Prague. In the 1890s, Josefov, the medieval district in the center of Prague, was “sanitized”: old houses were demolished and modern buildings went upin their place; crooked streets gave way to wide boulevards. New buildingswere constructed in Prague’s suburbs (later integrated into so-called GreatPrague), such as Vinohrady, Karlín, Smíchov, Holešovice, Žižkov or Bubenec,and the city centers were rebuilt. All these projects were opportunities for the application of the new style — Art Nouveau.

Purpose and form in the new architectureThe second half of the 19th century was marked by the opening of the Czechlands to the rest of Europe. Czech artists closely monitored art developmentsabroad. They knew of the British Arts and Crafts movement, which aimed to resurrect quality craftsmanship in the industrial age. They also kept their eyes on parallel early Art Nouveau movements in Belgium and Francecharacterized by pliant asymmetric décor with anthropomorphic and floralmotifs. After all, flatness, linearity, ornamentality, asymmetry, refracted colors,stylization and symbolic representations of youth, growth, flowering and joy were typical features of Art Nouveau architecture as well as decorative arts. These could also be found in the artistic production of one of the mostimportant European centers of Art Nouveau, which had the greatest influenceon Czech artists. It was in Vienna where a rebellious group of young artistsformed a so-called Sezession that opposed academism. Three years earlier, in 1894, architect Otto Wagner had begun teaching at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. His modern approach to architecture and his credo — purpose— construction— poetry— had a great impact on the next generation of architects, among them some from the Czech lands.“The driving forces in architectural creation are purpose, structure

and place; and form is their result,” said architect Jan Kotera (1871-1923), in agreement with his teacher Otto Wagner. Kotera, whose early workbelonged to the Art Nouveau, can be considered the founding personality of Czech modern architecture. Shortly after his arrival in Prague after hisVienna studies, at only 27 years of age, Kotera obtained a professorship at the School of Decorative Arts, where he created an important center ofCzech Art Nouveau. He drew wide attention to his own work in 1900 whenhe completed the Peterka’s House in the lower end of Wenceslas Square inPrague. Its plain façade, freed from the stylistic classical details such as columnsor cornice molding, and fine subtle decoration foreshadowed Kotera’s later

Jan Koula, Corner cabinet, c. 1890:Koula (1855–1919) and Josef Fanta(1856–1954) were leading protagonistsof the folklore movement that influenced Czech Art Nouveau.

12-1-4 Slovo Summer 2012_05-7-73 SlovoWinter05/06.qxd 6/12/12 1:48 PM Page 10

Page 13: Slovo Magazine

Slovo | 11

work, which strove to create a relationship among the specific space, construction and material. Many Czech buildings of that time had only a façade decorated in

Art Nouveau style; new forms were not often used in the houses’ floorplans. One exception was the Prague home of sculptor František Bílek(1872-1941), for which the concept was cleverly subordinate to the symbolism of a wheat field, similar to an approach used in many of the buildings of Jan Kotera. In Kotera’s National House in Prostejov(1905-1907), the shape and lines are perfectly conceptually linked with the character of the façade ornament as well as its furnishings.Complementing Kotera’s design, the leading Czech painters Jan Preisler and František Kysela and sculptors Stanislav Sucharda and Bohumil Kafkadesigned the house’s interior. The ornamental decoration includes not onlybiomorphic motifs, but also Czech folklore inspirations — an important feature of Czech (and Central European) Art Nouveau.

Search for Slavic rootsGreat exhibitions were important milestones in the development of Czecharchitecture and applied arts at end of the 19th and beginning of the 20thcenturies. After the Prague Jubilee Exhibition in 1891, more frequent use of metal structures emerged in Czech architecture. The 1895 Czech &Slavonic Ethnographic Exhibition in Prague, in turn, aroused an interest in folk culture. The folk inspirations mixed with elements of Art Nouveau can be found on many buildings or articles of daily use of that time. Along witharchitects Jan Koula (1855-1919) and Josef Fanta (1856-1954), who were the leading protagonists of the folklore movement and participants in theEthnographic Exhibition, Jan Kotera also became integrated into this stream of thought. His two villas from the beginning of the 20th century especiallyevidenced this — Fröhlich’s House in Prague-Cernošice and Trmal’s Villa in Prague-Strašnice (both 1902-1903). The villas offer unique examples of the blending of geometric Art Nouveau ornamentation, the concept of an English country house and the Slavic tradition.An unparalleled combination of the Art Nouveau movement and folklorism

in Central Europe culminated in Moravia, particularly in the works of an architect of Slovak origin, Dušan Jurkovic (1868-1947). In his Pustevny(1897-1899), tourist shelters in the Beskydy Mountains, or spa complex in Luhacovice (1901-1903), which had become a new social and cultural center for western Slavs, Jurkovic ceased his paraphrasing of rural architecturemotifs and searched for some Slavic “primordial” form of folk architecture.His awareness of the qualities of folk architecture was intermingled with his sense of function and rationality combined with emotionality. Jurkovic’sbuildings, understood as Gesamtkunstwerk, were complemented by interiors

Johann Loetz Witwe glassworks, Vase with butterfly motif, 1898

Above: In the tourist resort designedby Slovak architect Dusan Jurkovic inLuhacovice, Czech Republic, he soughtto create a “primordial” Slavic folkarchitecture. Photos by Podzemnik

12-1-4 Slovo Summer 2012_05-7-73 SlovoWinter05/06.qxd 6/12/12 1:48 PM Page 11

Page 14: Slovo Magazine

12 | National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library

in an identical style, using the stimuli of rustic furniture. He especiallyliked to use local softwood (pine, spruce) and its natural warm hue

with occasional color accents.In addition to their expressions in architecture, interior design and furniture,

folk art inspirations were most strongly applied in textile and clothing production,especially in the form of embroidered ornament on fashion clothing. Therewere also garments sewn from folk costume material or imitating its type or cut.Designs published in Náš kroj (Our Folk Costume) Magazine in 1886-1887were among the first examples of such tendencies. Among other artists, a young Alphonse Mucha published his ideas in this journal.

Trend-setting glass and ceramicsAlphonse Mucha (1860-1939) is the best knownCzech representative of the Art Nouveau style,not only in the field of graphic design, but also in other areas. In his interior designed for the Fouquet Jewelry Shop in Paris (1901),Mucha showed his versatility (he also designedjewelry for this company), and through the use

of various materials — stone, wood, glass, bronze and textile — he gave Art Nouveau particularly beautiful

expression. His influence is also evident from the fact that severalCzech artists who passed through his Paris studio later becameleaders of Czech Art Nouveau (primarily the graphic designerVojtech Preissig).

But many other artists and producers of Czech Art Nouveau(or Art Nouveau in the Czech lands, including many of Germanorigin) were able to make an impact on the broader world stage. Two expositions of the Prague School of Decorative Arts at the World’s Fairs in Paris (1900) and St. Louis (1904) drewparticular attention. However, Czech Art Nouveau won its greatestfame thanks to glass and ceramics.

Already in the 1890s, Art Nouveau forms — depicting the movement of organic life forces — prevailed in factoryproduction. The organically shaped bodies of vases

and other vessels eluded rational formalization. In the Czech lands, glass manufacturing became the domain of these art forms. The Czech glassworks

Wilhelm Kralik Sohn glassworks,Bowl, after 1900

George Fouquet’s jewelry shopin Paris was designed by AlphonseMucha in 1901. Photo by O. Taris

12-1-4 Slovo Summer 2012_05-7-73 SlovoWinter05/06.qxd 6/12/12 1:48 PM Page 12

Page 15: Slovo Magazine

Slovo | 13

won unambiguous acclaim north of the Alps and, together with glassmakers in France (especially Emil Gallé) and the U.S. (Louis C. Tiffany), became one of the three most important centers and exporters of Art Nouveau glass.The glassworks Loetz in Klášterský Mlýn in the Šumava Mountains was

one of the leading companies. After a short initial period of Tiffany imitation,the glassworks developed its own repertoire of forms and decorations. Diversetypes of products inspired by the undersea world or exotic flora (e.g. blossoms of the water lily, calla or orchid) were created. The vessels were wrapped by dynamic spatial elements in the form of ribs, handles and the like. The glassworks was awarded top prizes at the World’s Fairs in Paris (1889),Chicago (1893) and above all in Paris in 1900, where Loetz (together with Tiffany and some French glassworks) won the Grand Prize. Hence the company had representation and storehouses throughout Europe (Vienna, Berlin, Hamburg, Paris, Madrid, London) and its fame attracted some Viennese artists as well (e. g. Koloman Moser and Josef Hoffmann). In addition, other glassworks in the Czech lands adopted the Art Nouveaumorphology — among them Wilhelm Kralik Sohn, Pallme König & Habel and Graf Harrach.Sculpturally modeled organic motifs also found application in ceramics,

with ceramic schools playing a considerable role in the spread of the Art Nouveau style in the field of Czech ceramics production. Works by modellers (skilled pottery artists) in the Ceramics Vocational School in Teplice in North Bohemia achieved recognition throughout Europe. These ceramic pieces excelled in live plasticity, high-quality glaze and impressive modeling often inspired by flora (orchid, mistletoe, gingko biloba, etc.). Production at the ceramics factory Amphora in Trnovany near Teplice, with which the vocational school cooperated, was characterized by similarly high quality. It produced amphora vases in countless variations of organic shapes (suggestive of roots, sediments,igneous rock, slime and other “fluid” structures), expressive glazes and floral decorative motifs.

Far-reaching impactAlong with the above-mentioned artists, firms and media, Czech Art Nouveau evolved into many additional forms and fields at the turn of the 20th century. It became an embracing style that affected all areas of artisticexpression and production. Especially after 1900, the Art Nouveau movementbecame a powerful influence — with Art Nouveau elements found even in the works of more conservative architects and artists who combined themwith historical motifs. Among the contributions that can only be mentioned here were important

achievements in the field of architecture, including Corso Palace in Prague by Friedrich Ohmann, 1897-1898; U Nováku Department Store and TopicHouse in Prague by Osvald Polívka, 1902-1903 and 1905; Prague’s MainRailway Station by Josef Fanta, 1901-1909; the church in Štechovice by Kamil Hilbert, 1906; and Prague’s Municipal House by Antonín Balšánek and Osvald Polívka, 1903-1912; significant applied arts include the works of ceramists Celda Kloucek and Anna Boudová-Suchardová, the jeweler FrantaAnýž, glassmakers Zdenka Braunerová and Maria Kirchner, and many others.As these and others demonstrate, the Czech lands were unquestionably one of the most important centers of Art Nouveau in Europe, with the abilitynot only to respond to external stimuli, but to create a distinctive expressionthat merged with and reshaped the foreign perspective. ▪

Ceramics Vocational School inTeplice, Vase with skate fish motif

Kamil Hilbert, Church in Štechovice, 1906

Johann Loetz Witwe glassworks, Vase, 1902-1903

12-1-4 Slovo Summer 2012_05-7-73 SlovoWinter05/06.qxd 6/12/12 1:48 PM Page 13

Page 16: Slovo Magazine

14 | National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library

I like to think of Art Nouveau as one of the legendary great courtesans of the Belle Époque.Like theirs, her fashionable career spanned

about 30 years, from fresh nubile youth in the late 1880s to elegant middle age about 1915. Art Nouveau

was notorious in her day: reviled by some as decadent andgrotesque, embraced by others as seductive and exquisite. By the end of World War I, her style was considered distinctly old-fashioned — overheated and outlandish by comparisonwith the cool jazzy flapper of Art Deco. Yet we’ve never forgotten this seductive style, and there are good reasons to continue revisiting the beautiful creations of this period.

Art Nouveau, Jugendstil, Sezession: all the names for this style (and these are just a few) suggest that it was new, young and a departurefrom the mainstream. It was an art of rebellion, but a delicate, aestheticrebellion, compared with the much more political and serious-mindedrevolution of the Arts and Crafts movement. Shaped by philosophicalartists like William Morris and beginning around 1860, the Arts and

Crafts movement had already done the heavy lifting, as it were: rejecting the historicism, grandiosity and industrial production of mainstream 19th-century style. Art Nouveau did not flow directly from Arts and Crafts, but there was

some overlap, as craft-minded artists like Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Glasgow School, and Joseph Hoffman and the Wiener Werkstatte, movedthe earthy handcrafted ethos in a direction of greater refinement, delicacy and freedom. Other influences on Art Nouveau included the arts of Japan,particularly ceramics, lacquer, textiles and woodcuts, which were being introduced into Europe by the 1870s.Art Nouveau comprises decorative arts in all media (furniture, glassware,

metalwork, jewelry, textiles and so forth), as well as graphics for advertisingand posters. It was a highly commercial and fashionable style, but despite its concern with beautiful surfaces, it cannot be seen as shallow. It drew fromthe roots of its zeitgeist: elegance, decadence, symbolism, sexuality and thedepths of the unconscious (as newly articulated by Freud in the same period).Seeking a fresh, true source of inspiration, Art Nouveau artists turned to

the natural world, but in their own way. Art Nouveau artists don’t show ussweeping landscapes, as a rule: no sublime mountains or misty effects of light.The natural world of Art Nouveau is marked by peculiarity and particularity:glistening scales, petals and feathers; curiosities dredged from the depths of the sea or brought from faraway exotic forests. Throughout Art Nouveauiconography, tendrils, tentacles, wings, leaves, carapaces and seedpods are inescapable. Figures of women are, of course, ubiquitous in Art Nouveau — hardly

surprising given the emphasis on fashion, ornament and curves, as well as adeep fascination with the femme fatale and mythic archetypes. Female figuresare often turned into purely decorative objects, but the depiction of women

By Alice Jurow

THE ENDURING APPEAL OF ART NOUVEAU

Eternal Seductress:

Art Nouveau jewelry allowed women to adorn themselves in the style that notably idealized the feminine. This gold, turquoise and opal pendant by an unknown designer features both sinuous symmetry and a slightly irregular handcrafted setting of the stones. Photo by Cole Bybee, courtesy of Langantiques.com

A violet-strewn label for an ordinarytoiletry illustrates the way ArtNouveau permeated commercialdesign, bringing a touch of elegance to the average household.

12-1-4 Slovo Summer 2012_05-7-73 SlovoWinter05/06.qxd 6/12/12 1:48 PM Page 14

Page 17: Slovo Magazine

Slovo | 15

also draws on a tradition in Western art that links women tonature or to symbolic stature. Thus female figures can be depictedwith meta-human significance and are seen as reflecting nature’smoods, from tranquil to malevolent, as well as mythical or mystical concepts. This is particularly evident in the work of Alphonse Mucha — the women who inhabit almost all hiswork are not just lavishly lovely, but embody ideas ranging fromfertility to fate. Even the most innocuously pretty blossoms decorating their coiffures were freighted with symbolism: roses,poppies, lilies were messages of love and death. In a world newly alert to Freudian secrets, the décor might be vegetal, but animal passions lay just below the surface.Art Nouveau designers sought to create interiors with a

sense of harmony and serenity, and many embraced the idea of a totally designed environment, where each element contributedto the whole. Arising in the era of the telegraph, the illustratednewspaper and the high-quality art journal, Art Nouveau wasreally the first design style to reap the benefits of rapid masscommunications and publicity. This gave it a trajectory that hasbeen familiar ever since: early adoption by an intellectual, aesthetic-mindedavant-garde; rapid appropriation by a wealthy, ultra-fashionable elite; a spreadinto mainstream popularity, devolving eventually to diluted, lower-qualitydown-market versions; and a fall from fashion, as the ‘next big thing’ comes along.But the products of this style were too distinctive, too finely made and simply

too beautiful to be discarded for long. After a relatively brief out-of-favor period, Art Nouveau was ripe for both scholarly and popular reassessment.Scholarly works on the style date back to as early as the 1940s. In the popularimagination, Art Nouveau struck a particular chord with the counter-culture ofthe 1960s, when Mucha’s flamboyantly nonchalant cigarette-smoking beautiesbecame icons of rebellious and lavish-tressed youth. Psychedelic poster artadopted an idiom of dead-on Art Nouveau homage, replete with serpentinelines and reviving a host of sinuous or bulbous typefaces. As the colorful,eclectic qualities of the hippie aesthetic began to influence the mainstream,reproduction Tiffany lamps and more-or-less skillful neo-Nouveau handicraftsbecame widely popular — and led many back to the source, to a rediscoveryof the incomparable originality of the period. All periods consider themselves modern, but Art Nouveau was perhaps

the first aesthetic idiom of our modernity, the world we still live in — a worldof ever-accelerating technological change, a largely man-made environment, aninternational culture. This style, which bears a French name (possibly because of a Parisian shop opened by a German connoisseur) is truly international. It has roots in Japanese aesthetics, English philosophy and central-Europeancraftsmanship, while some of its most distinguished works were produced in Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Spain, Scotland and the U.S. Art Nouveauwas the first style to be promoted through the sort of “lifestyle marketing” that is now so ubiquitous. Its philosophy of taste dictated that harmonious,aesthetically excellent interiors were within the reach of anyone willing to make an effort. Like Arts and Crafts before it and Art Deco afterward, Art Nouveau rises to the challenge of making visual sense of modernity, andmeeting that challenge with spirit, elegance and freshness. It is not surprisingthat this style still speaks to us so eloquently today. ▪ The ironwork adorning the Paris

Metro entrances firmly allied Art Nouveau with urban modernity.Photo courtesy of Karen Geer

F. Champenois, Imprimeur — Editeur,1897, by Alphonse Mucha: The graphicartist designed a stylish poster for theprinter, Champenois, who producedmuch of his work.

Advertisement, 1896, by Henri Privat-Livemont, a Belgian contemporary of Alphonse Mucha: Art Nouveau tilework similar to that in the background can still be found today.

Felix Potin imperial plums: An unknown French artist used the occasion of a simple fruit crate label to introduce a stylish taste of the “new art.”

12-1-4 Slovo Summer 2012_05-7-73 SlovoWinter05/06.qxd 6/12/12 1:48 PM Page 15

Page 18: Slovo Magazine

16 | National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library

Alphonse Mucha was 55 years old when his son, Jirí, was born. Jirí was destined to become his father’s biographer and also the means by whichMucha’s reputation as an artist became established after his death. The Czech art establishment had always considered Alphonse Mucha as only a posterartist. During his lifetime all his other work was deemed old-fashioned, out of touch, uninteresting. Alphonse Mucha wanted his son to be a painter like himself and even

taught him how to draw. But in fact it was Alphonse’s daughter, Jaroslava, who inherited her parents’ artistic skills; she became a picture conservatorand, with her husband, Vladimír Terš, was responsible for the conservation of the Slav Epic canvases in the 1960s. The 20 large canvases had been hidden to protect them from the Nazis and the Communists and they werefound by chance in the 1950s, rolled up and lying among heaps of coal in a semi-derelict castle in the Moravian countryside. The villagers sorted themwith the help of Jaroslava and her husband, and since 1964, they have beenexhibited every summer in the castle in Moravský Krumlov. The artistic talent of the family was handed down to Jirí in a different

medium, writing. Jirí’s first publication appeared when he was still at schoolunder the pseudonym “Klacek.” In 1938, in orderto support his studies at the Sorbonne in Paris,he became a regular correspondent of the prestigious newspaper Lidove Noviny. Germantroops occupied Czechoslovakia in 1939; Jiríreturned briefly to Prague that year to attend his father’s funeral. Back in France, he joined the newly formed Czech army and, when Francefell, made his way to England, joined the RoyalAir Force and became a war correspondent forthe BBC. It was in 1941, while he was posted at Cholmondley Park, close to the English townof Leamington Spa, that I met him. We marriedsix months later and, when the war ended in1945, we returned to Prague.During the wave of arbitrary mass arrests

that afflicted the Communist countries of CentralEurope under Stalin in the early 1950s, Jirí, by then one of his country’s best-known authors,suddenly found himself arrested for alleged espionage. The State Prosecutor demanded thedeath penalty, but he was eventually sentenced to hard labor in the Jáchymov uranium mines.His book, Living and Partly Living, is a record of the first four years of his sentence; he wrote it on scraps of paper smuggled out piecemeal by a friendly miner. Jirí was released in 1954 and continued to pursue his career as an author.

By Geraldine Mucha

J IRÍ MUCHA AND THEMUCHA FOUNDATION

Preserving Mucha’s Legacy:

ˇ

Geraldine Mucha at her home in Prague

Mucha with his son Jirí, Cape Cod,Massachusetts, 1920

12-1-4 Slovo Summer 2012_05-7-73 SlovoWinter05/06.qxd 6/12/12 1:49 PM Page 16

Page 19: Slovo Magazine

Slovo | 17

Above: Alphonse Mucha’s children,Jaroslava and Jirí Mucha, circa 1926

Below: Jirí Mucha, son of the artist, posing for his portrait with paintbrushes, 1925

Jirí and Geraldine Mucha, 1941

In the 1960s, Jirí was approached byBrian Reade, a curator at the Victoria andAlbert Museum in London. The museumhad decided to mount an exhibition of Mucha posters and Reade wanted to know where examples could be found.Only after endless wrangling with theCommunist authorities was our entire collection of posters and panels sent to London. The exhibition was a phenomenal success, and London wassuddenly flooded with copies of Muchaposters and panels. As the family members were all behind the IronCurtain, no copyright was paid. However, Jirí took it as free publicity.When everything was safely back in

Prague, the Communists totally ignoredthe whole event; they regarded the posters as degenerate and bourgeois.However Jirí determined not to let the interest die down and decided to organize further exhibitions on his own. He got a friend in London to collectthe copyright and the Communists turned a blind eye because, as everyoneknows, anything that made hard currency was allowed. The exhibitions could only be small-scale because Jirí had no support from the authorities,who continued to express no interest in Mucha’s art. Thanks to his singlehanded efforts, interest abroad was kept alive and gradually increased.Eventually he found a wealthy Japanese businessman who sponsored

the first Mucha exhibition in Tokyo. The success of the Tokyo exhibition was sufficiently impressive to alert the Czech authorities, and one of their arthistorians, employed at the Prague Ministry of Culture, was made responsiblefor Mucha. Fortunately the only thing that the art historian did was to get sent on holiday to Japan. Jirí’s work continued with the exception that it hadnow become official. He could organize large-scale exhibitions; one even tookplace in the Grand Palais in Paris.Jirí died suddenly at the age of only 76, and his entire inheritance fell

on the shoulders of his son, John. John had been born in London in 1948,shortly before the Communist coup, and we had returned to Czechoslovakiawhen he was about four months old. At the age of 18, John had returned to London where he had built a highly successful career in banking. Despitehis banking career, he decided to take an active responsibility for managingthe Mucha inheritance. He realized that it was important to establish a foundation to preserve Mucha’s artistic heritage and also to promote his work.In 1992 the Mucha Foundation was established. Since that time it has presentedmore than 60 exhibitions devoted to Mucha’s work worldwide. In 1998, theMucha Museum in Prague was started; it has become the most visited museumin the Czech Republic.An important celebration for the Foundation was the 150th anniversary

of Mucha’s birth, celebrated with special exhibitions in Prague, Kutná Horaand Ostrava. And now we are very honored to be celebrating this grand opening of the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library with the AmericanCzech and Slovak community, a community that welcomed Mucha when he was living in America during the early part of the last century and to whom we are happy to say “thank you” with this exhibition. ▪

12-1-4 Slovo Summer 2012_05-7-73 SlovoWinter05/06.qxd 6/12/12 1:49 PM Page 17

Page 20: Slovo Magazine

18 | National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library

exhi

bit S

HO

WC

AS

E

AL

PH

ON

SE

MU

CH

A (

18

60

-19

39

)

An Introduction to the ExhibitionThe exhibition, Inspirations of Art Nouveau, brings a new perspective to the workof Alphonse Mucha (or AlfonsMucha), who is best known as a creator of the styleknown as Art Nouveau,throwing new light on his Moravian roots. Showingmore than 230 works fromthe Mucha Trust Collection,encompassing not only hisfamed fin-de-siècle postersand decorative works but alsohis lesser-known paintings,drawings and photographs,the exhibition explores hiscontribution to the ArtNouveau style and how hisCzech background influencedhis art and philosophy. This exhibition also uncoversMucha’s personal life and the thinking behind his work,displaying for the first time his manuscripts, personaleffects and a selection of traditional folk costumes,which he collected as a source material for his work.

The display is divided into sixsections. The first two sectionslook at a series of Mucha’sself-portraits and family portraits, as well as the worksassociated with Ivancice, his hometown. These worksreveal the importance of

By Tomoko Sato

‘The purpose

of my work was…

to construct,

to unite people;…

we must all hope

that humanity

will draw together

and this will be

easier the more

people understand

each other.’

– Alphonse Mucha, 1928

Self-portrait wearing a rubashka, Paris, early 1890s

Presented by his Russianpainter friend DavidWidhopff, the rubashkawas a symbol of Slav unityfor Mucha. He appears in the Russian shirt inmany of his self-portraits.

12-1-4 Slovo Summer 2012_05-7-73 SlovoWinter05/06.qxd 6/12/12 1:49 PM Page 18

Page 21: Slovo Magazine

Slovo | 19

Slavic identity in Mucha’s life and his strong ties with his homeland. The third section concentrates onMucha’s work in Paris, wherehe gained overnight successwith the appearance of his first poster for SarahBernhardt in 1895. While his iconic Parisian posters and decorative designs areshowcased here, the fourthsection examines Mucha’sideas behind his work, especially his concept of‘beauty,’ a core value in his art, and the use of motifsfrom Moravian folk art. By 1900, Mucha’s distinctivestyle, which the French called ‘Le style Mucha,’had become synonymous with the new decorative style spreading across Europe and the United States. The final two sectionshighlight Mucha’s magnumopus, the Slav Epic (1911-28),and his final, unfinished project, a triptych of the Three Ages: Reason, Wisdom and Love (1936-38).Conceived as monuments for the Slavs and mankind,respectively, both worksembody Mucha’s vision to‘unite people’ with his art.

Inspirations of Art Nouveaureappraises Mucha’s achievements in the broadercontext of his life and work as a Czech and visionary artist. ▪

INS

PIR

AT

ION

S O

F A

RT

NO

UV

EA

U

Salon des Cent Mucha Exhibition, 1897Color lithograph, 66.2 x 46 cm

Mucha’s artistic fame in the Parisian art world was consolidated with this solo exhibition at the Salon des Cent, showing 448 works. Designing this exhibition poster, Mucha incorporated Moravianelements in his sinuous decorative style, such as the embroidered folk cap worn by the girl and her daisy crown evoking the meadows of his homeland.

12-1-4 Slovo Summer 2012_05-7-73 SlovoWinter05/06.qxd 6/12/12 1:49 PM Page 19

Page 22: Slovo Magazine

20 | National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library

A.

M

UC

HA

| P

OR

TR

AIT

S

OF

T

HE

F

AM

ILY

Maruska with Jaroslava and Jirí at Zbiroh Castle, West Bohemia, circa 1917

Jaroslava and Jirí spent a large part of their formative years at Zbiroh Castle,where Mucha worked on the Slav Epic canvases for nearly 20 years. Theyoften posed as models for their father’s paintings. Jaroslava also helped herfather as a studio assistant, and later she became a painting restorer. Jiríbecame a prominent writer and his father’s biographer.

Portrait of Angela, circa 1880Oil on canvas, 50 x 39.5 cm

Mucha had two younger sisters, Anna and Angela, as well as three half-siblings from his father’s previous marriage. After leaving home at the age of 19, he maintained strong ties with his family and friends in Moravia. Anna was particularly close to Mucha, regularly exchanging letters with him. In 1885 she married his friend Filip Kubr, Czech patriot, writer and publisher, and Mucha made many illustrations for his brother-in-law’s satiricalmagazines, Slon and Krokodíl.

Portrait of Maruska, circa 1908-17Oil on canvas, 105 x 90cm

Twenty-two years his junior, Maruska (MarieChytilová) was an art student from Prague when she met Mucha in Paris in 1903. The couple married in Prague in 1906, and their daughter Jaroslava was born in 1909, followed by the son Jirí in 1915.Maruška posed for many of Mucha’s works, and her unflagging support was a source of inspirationwhile he was engaged in the Slav Epic project.

Portrait of Anna, circa 1885Oil on canvas, 55 x 34.5 cm

12-1-4 Slovo Summer 2012_05-7-73 SlovoWinter05/06.qxd 6/12/12 1:49 PM Page 20

Page 23: Slovo Magazine

Slovo | 21

A.

M

UC

HA

| IVA

NC

ICE

A

ND

C

ZE

CH

M

OT

IFS

ˇ

Regional Exhibition at Ivancice, 1903Color Lithograph, 93 x 59 cm

The motif of the church tower reappears in this poster, which was designed for a 1913 trade fair at Ivancice, as well as in one of the Slav Epic canvases produced in 1914, The Printing of the Bible of Kralice (see Fig. 10 on page 8),which celebrated the event of 1578.In these works the tower of Ivancicestands as a timeless symbol ofMucha’s spiritual home.

Still Life, circa 1920sOil on canvas, 35.7 x 25.5 cm

As Mucha wrote later, the floral patterns decoratingMoravian folk crafts and village embroideries were a source of inspiration for his design. While in Paris, he aspired to incorporate such Slavic elements into his style, with flowers and plantsbecoming important components.

Study for Savon Notre Dame, circa 1896Pencil and watercolor on paper, 52 x 37 cm

This design shows one of the prototypes of le styleMucha, with a single figure of the Madonna against an ornamental circular backdrop. For this figure,Mucha was probably inspired by a traditional image of the Virgin and Child from his childhood. Mucha saw this type of image in many variations at the pilgrim fairs to which he was taken as a boy.

Study for Memory of Ivancice, 1903Charcoal and pastel on grey paper, 45 x 27 cm

Ivancice, and especially its church tower, is a recurring motif in Mucha’s work. The church (the Assumption of the Virgin Mary Parish Church) was a landmark of his hometown and the subject of one of his earliest watercolors made in1878. In 1903, at the height of his career in Paris, Mucha revisited this subjectwith Memory of Ivancice, which featured the swallows (symbolizing home) flying round the church tower in the background.

12-1-4 Slovo Summer 2012_05-7-73 SlovoWinter05/06.qxd 6/12/12 1:49 PM Page 21

Page 24: Slovo Magazine

22 | National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library

A.

MU

CH

A|

LE

ST

YL

E M

UC

HA

AN

D A

RT

NO

UV

EA

U

Rêverie, 1897Color lithograph, 72.7 x 55.2 cm

This was originally designed as an in-house calendar for theprinting company Champenois, but its great popularity led to its swift publication as a decorative panel. Here, Mucha used a composition similar to Savon Notre Dame, with a dreamyyoung woman in a beautifully embroidered gown, set against a halo decorated with an elaborate floral pattern.

Lorenzaccio, 1896Color lithograph, 203.7 x 76 cm

The third in a series of seven posters produced for SarahBernhardt, this poster advertises her production of a play by Alfred de Musset. In the play, Bernhardt performed the role of the male hero, Lorenzo de’ Medici, whose silhouetted figureagainst the arched window forms an elegant S-curve in thisposter. Mucha designed all the Bernhardt posters in a consistentstyle — a tall format with the prominent standing figure of theactress placed in a raised ‘niche’ like a saint, and his postershelped to promote the image of the ‘Divine Sarah.’

Design for a fan with poppy and ivy motifs, circa 1899Pencil, watercolor and gold on paper, 38 x 25 cm

12-1-4 Slovo Summer 2012_05-7-73 SlovoWinter05/06.qxd 6/12/12 1:49 PM Page 22

Page 25: Slovo Magazine

Slovo | 23

A. M

UC

HA

| L

E S

TY

LE

MU

CH

A A

ND

AR

T N

OU

VE

AU

Moët & Chandon: Champagne White Star, 1899Color lithograph, 60 x 20 cm

The style developed from the Sarah Bernhardt posters is applied to this poster, advertising Moët & Chandon’s ‘White Star’ champagne,which is still on the market today. Here, its elegant aroma is symbolized by the figure of a beautiful woman holding a plate ofgrapes, intertwined with swirling vine tendrils and stems of flowers.Mucha produced several designs for this distinguished company,which were used on other posters, menus and postcards.

Woman with a Daisy, circa 1900Printed upholstery fabric, 60 x 78.5 cm

Mucha’s fame as a poster artist led him to commissions for designing a wide range of objects, including textiles, biscuit tins and wrappers, as well as everyday domestic utensils and fixtures.Like many other Art Nouveau artists, Mucha wished to producebeautiful, yet practical and affordable objects for ordinary people in order to improve the quality of their life. Therefore, in 1902, he published Documents décoratifs, a ‘handbook’ for craftsmenand art students that would offer a variety of design ideas to create an Art Nouveau lifestyle. It was sold to schools andlibraries throughout Europe and helped to promote le style Mucha internationally.

Box for Lefèvre-Utilebiscuits: GaufrettesVanille, circa 1900Tin box covered withlithographed label,19.3 x 18.3 x 17.5 cm

12-1-4 Slovo Summer 2012_05-7-73 SlovoWinter05/06.qxd 6/12/12 1:49 PM Page 23

Page 26: Slovo Magazine

24 | National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library

A.

MU

CH

A|

LE

ST

YL

E M

UC

HA

AN

D A

RT

NO

UV

EA

U

Job, 1896Color lithograph, 66.7 x 46.4 cm

An advertisement for Job (a trademark for the Joseph Bardou Company) cigarette papers,this poster shows the prominent figure of a sensuous woman against a background featuringJob monograms. In this design, the arabesquesformed by the woman’s abundant hair and the swirling smoke rising from her cigarette create a rich decorative effect. Here, Mucha also introduced a Byzantine effect with the border decoration inspired by mosaic work,which adds an air of dignity to a commercialposter. He regarded Byzantine art as providingthe spiritual roots of Slavic civilization.

The Moon and the Stars: study for The Moon, 1902Ink and watercolor on paper, 56 x 21 cm

Decorative panels were posters without text,which Mucha innovated purely for decorativepurposes. In this series, however, Mucha elevated them to a higher level of art, expressinghis philosophical idea about the mysteriouspower of the universe, rather than producingmere ornaments. Here, the Moon is personifiedas a contemplative young woman floating in the sky, illuminated by a mysterious light.

The Arts: Dance, 1898Color lithograph, 60 x 38 cm

Dance is part of a set of four decorative panels(panneaux décoratifs), called The Arts, that alsoincludes, Painting, Poetry and Music. Each art is represented by a female figure against an ornamental circular backdrop framing a motif from nature at a particular time of day, which would evoke the creative inspiration. Here, Danceis depicted with falling leaves blown by a morning breeze. The flowing curves and swirls of the figure’s hair and drapery indicate the lightness and the smoothness of her movement.

12-1-4 Slovo Summer 2012_05-7-73 SlovoWinter05/06.qxd 6/12/12 1:49 PM Page 24

Page 27: Slovo Magazine

Slovo | 25

A. M

UC

HA

| LE

ST

YL

E M

UC

HA

AN

D A

RT

NO

UV

EA

U

Madonna of the Lilies, 1905Tempera on canvas, 247 x 182 cm

In 1902, Mucha was commissioned to decorate a church in Jerusalem dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Madonna of the Lilieswas painted as one of the murals for the church but the project was cancelled later for unknown reasons. According to Mucha’s letter to Maruska,he conceived the subject as ‘Virgo purissima,’ which is here depicted as the heavenly vision of the Madonna, surrounded by a mass of lilies, symbol of purity. The seated young girl in Slavic folk costume carries a wreath of ivy leaves, symbol of remembrance. Contrastingwith her strong physical presence, Mucha portrayed the Virgin as a spiritual being, who is radiant with her mystical power and illuminates the girl with her light.

12-1-4 Slovo Summer 2012_05-7-73 SlovoWinter05/06.qxd 6/12/12 1:49 PM Page 25

Page 28: Slovo Magazine

Maude Adams as Joan of Arc, 1909Lithograph, hand-colored with watercolor and gouache, 63 x 23 cm

This is a print version of the oil portrait of Maude Adams in the role of Joan of Arc (owned by the Metropolitan Museum ofArt, New York). The portrait was commissioned to commemoratea single performance of Schiller’s play, The Maid of Orleans, on June 21, 1909, at the Harvard University stadium. For thiswork, Mucha applied the same design formula as that used for the Sarah Bernhardt posters.

26 | National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library

A.

MU

CH

A|

MU

CH

A

IN

AM

ER

ICA

Mrs. Frances Crane Leatherbee with her son Charles, Lake Forest, U.S.A., 1909

The Mucha family (left to right: Jirí, Jaroslava, Maruska, Alphonse) at Cape Cod, 1920

Mrs. Frances Crane Leatherbee was one of the daughters of CharlesRichard Crane, a Slavophile and wealthy businessman from Chicago. Here she is posing for Mucha, who was commissioned by Crane to make her portrait in 1908. Crane agreed to sponsor Mucha’s Slav Epic project on Christmas Day, 1909. Ten years later, Mucha revisited the United Stateswith his family for the exhibition of five Slav Epic canvases, which touredto the Art Institute of Chicago (1920) and the Brooklyn Museum (1921).

Savon Mucha, 1906Color lithograph, 41.9 x 61.2 cm

Between 1904 and 1909, Mucha visited the United States five times.On his first visit, he received a hero’s welcome, introduced as ‘thegreatest decorative artist in the world’ (New York Daily News, 1904). In 1906, during his third stay, he was commissioned to design soapboxes for Armour & Co in Chicago. The soap was named ‘SavonMucha,’ and he was the first ‘celebrity artist’ who became a brandname for a household product. This folding-screen-shaped panel wasused in shops as a point-of-sale display, featuring the four fragrances of the soap — violet, lilac, heliotrope and sandalwood — personified by a beautiful woman in each panel.

12-1-4 Slovo Summer 2012_05-7-73 SlovoWinter05/06.qxd 6/12/12 1:49 PM Page 26

Page 29: Slovo Magazine

Slovo | 27

A. M

UC

HA

| IS

PIR

AT

ION

S

FO

R

SL

AV

IC

UN

ITY

‘Accept Love and Enthusiasm from Your Son, Mother of the Holy Nation’: study for a mural for the Lord Mayor’s Hall,Obecní Dum, Prague, 1910-11Pencil and charcoal on canvas, 130 x 90 cm

On his return to Bohemia in 1910, Mucha undertook his firstmajor project in his home country: the decoration of the LordMayor’s Hall in the newly built Obecní Dum (Municipal House) in Prague. This charcoal study was made for one of the threewall panels that depicted the representatives of Slavic youthsswearing their allegiance to the mother nation. (See photos of the finished hall on page 7.)

Above right: Moravian Teachers’ Choir, 1911Color lithograph, 106 x 77 cm

Founded in 1903, the Moravian Teachers’ Choir was a male-voice ensemble, particularly known for its mission to promotecontemporary national music. The Moravian composer LeosJanácek, who was inspired by Moravian speech and folk music,contributed a number of works to the choir. In this poster, Mucha, who had known Janácek from his youth, featured a Moravian girl in a folk costume from the town of Kyjov. Her gesture, listening to the music sung by the blackbird in the dimlight of dawn, and the motif of a dead tree, evoking the witheredstate of national culture under foreign occupation, seem to convey the poster’s message for hope and national renewal.

Song of Bohemia, 1918Oil on canvas, 100 x 138 cm

A musical theme is depicted also in this painting, which was reproduced in the Zlatá Prahamagazine in 1918 (10 July issue)with the title ‘Our Song [Nase písen].’ Three girls in national costumes are resting on a hilltop overlooking a great expanse of Bohemian countryside. The ecstatic expression of the girl in the foreground evokes a song that would unite the Czech people. Later that year, Mucha’s homeland regained independence; it was reborn as Czechoslovakia.

Slavia, circa 1920Oil on canvas, 80 x 76 cm

Slavia is a personification of the Slavs. Mucha explored this motif as a symbol of Slavic unity in many of his later works. The prototype of his ‘Slavia’ image was created by two works featuring Charles Crane’sdaughter, Josephine Crane Bradley, as Slavia: a poster for the SlaviaInsurance Company (1907) and Josephine’s portrait (1908: National Gallery in Prague). In both works, she is depicted as a majestic, seated figure in a ceremonial white gown, against an ornamental circular backdrop,a trademark of his decorative style from Paris. In this version, Slavia is placed in a less decorative setting, but Mucha rendered the patterns of blue embroidery on her gown with delicate brush works.

12-1-4 Slovo Summer 2012_05-7-73 SlovoWinter05/06.qxd 6/12/12 1:49 PM Page 27

Page 30: Slovo Magazine

28 | National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library

Mucha directing a group of models posing for The Slav Epic(cycle No.20): The Apotheosis of the Slavs

Models posing as struggling figures for The Slav Epic(cycle No.2): The Celebration of Svantovít, 1911-12

Before working on each canvas of the Slav Epic, Mucha producednumerous staged photographs, documenting costumed modelsposing under his ‘theatre’ directions. From these photographs he selected appropriate images and synthesized them to create a complicated historical event on a single canvas. Although theimages were intended as studies for his final paintings, Mucha’sapproach to image-making has much in common with filmmaking.

A.

MU

CH

A|

TH

E

SL

AV

E

PIC

The Slav Epic (cycle No.20): The Apotheosis of the Slavs — Slavs for Humanity, 1926Egg tempera and oil on canvas, 480 x 405 cmCity of Prague Gallery

The idea of Slavic unity was the theme that Mucha pursuedthroughout his career. With The Apotheosis of the Slavs,the last painting of the SlavEpic cycle, Mucha expressed his view of Slavic history and its future. While celebrating the liberation of the Slavs after1918 as its apotheosis in thecenter of the composition, hesurrounded this contemporaryevent with a spiral of past history from the ancient timesthrough the joys and sorrows ofthe Slavic peoples. Furthermore,he included in the center of the picture the tiny figure of a girl holding the light of hopefor the future of the Slavs andhumanity, a motif that he wouldrevisit in the early 1930s.

Study for The Slav Epic (cycle No.6): The Coronation of the Serbian Tsar Stepán Dusan as East Roman Emperor, 1924Pen and ink and watercolor on paper, 44 x 39 cm

This study was made for the sixth painting of the Slav Epic cycle, depicting the procession of the Serbian King Stepán Dusan, following his coronation as the Emperor of the Serbs and the Greeks on Easter of 1346. The detailed depiction of the crowd in folk costumes and thedome of the cathedral show an influence from Mucha’s trip to the Balkans and Greece earlier in 1924.

12-1-4 Slovo Summer 2012_05-7-73 SlovoWinter05/06.qxd 6/12/12 1:49 PM Page 28

Page 31: Slovo Magazine

Slovo | 29

Lottery of the Union of Southwestern Moravia, 1912Color lithograph, 128 x 95 cm

Under the Austrian regime’s ruthless policy ofGermanization, the Czech language could only betaught in private schools run by local communities.Mucha designed this poster to promote a lottery forraising funds for those schools in SouthwesternMoravia. The poster features a young schoolgirl star-ing accusingly at the viewers and, behind her, Slaviacrouching in despair on a dead tree, symbolizing thepitiful state of Czech culture. Together, they make anemotional appeal to the public to buy lottery ticketsto support her education and ailing Slavia.

A. M

UC

HA

| V

ISIO

NS

F

OR

H

UM

AN

ITY

Study for the poster Russia Restituenda(Russia Must Recover), 1922Pen and ink and watercolor on paper, 52.2 x 30.2 cm

This poster served as a plea for help for starving children during the aftermath of the Russian Civil War (1917-22), whichparalyzed the country’s economy and killed millions throughwidespread disease and starvation, in addition to the casualtiesof war. The situation was worsened further by a catastrophicfamine, which broke out in the Volga-Ural region in 1921.International relief efforts began that year. Mucha’s poster conveys a compassionate message eloquently with the imageof a distressed peasant woman holding a dying child, drawnfrom the Christian iconography of the Virgin and Child.

War, 1916Pencil and wash heightened with white on paper, 36 x 47.5 cm

This is one of a series of visionary drawings that Mucha made in response to the First World War. The picture depicts the ghastly destructive power of war, with numerous naked emancipated bodies piled up in heaps, in the desolate burning landscape.

12-1-4 Slovo Summer 2012_05-7-73 SlovoWinter05/06.qxd 6/12/12 1:49 PM Page 29

Page 32: Slovo Magazine

30 | National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library

In his final years, under the growing menace of another war, Mucha launched an ambitious new project, a triptych, The Age of Reason, The Age of Wisdom, and The Age of Love, which was intended to be a monument for all mankind. The themes addressed here — reason,wisdom and love – were for Mucha the fundamental building blocks of mankind. According to his notes, he considered reason and love to be two extremes that could only be united through wisdom, and he believed the harmonious working of the three elements would contributeto the progress of mankind. When Mucha died in 1939, the triptych was still in a preliminary stage, but through these surviving studies, one can glimpse Mucha’s message of hope.

France Embraces Bohemia, 1918Oil on canvas, 122 x 105 cm

The naked woman standing at the cross embodies Bohemia; she wears a white headdress hanging over her shoulder, the end of which bears the crest of the double-tailed lion, the symbol of Prague. The red-capped male figure bending over her is theSpirit of the French Revolution. Here, the Spirit has just releasedthe ropes that were binding her to the cross; these allude to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He is now giving her a kiss of encouragement. The painting celebrates a spiritual bond between the two countries through their aspirations to liberty.

A.

MU

CH

A|

VIS

ION

S

FO

R

HU

MA

NIT

Y

The Light of Hope, 1933Oil on canvas, 96.2 x 90.7 cm

The 15th anniversary of the independence of Czechoslovakia wasshrouded by a sense of foreboding as news of Hitler’s rise to powerspread. It was in this ominous atmosphere that Mucha decided to make a large oil painting depicting the horrors of war. This painting is believedto be a study for a work that never came to fruition. The picture features a girl dressed in white, protecting the light of hope with her hands —the motif is taken from The Apotheosis of the Slavs (1926). Her figurestands out from the darkness, within which terrified people run toescape the horrors of war.

Study for The Age of Reason, 1936-38Pencil and watercolor on paper, 30.5 x 35.5 cm

Study for The Age of Wisdom, 1936-38Pencil and watercolor on paper, 35 x 32 cm

Study for The Age of Love, 1936-38Pencil and watercolor on paper, 30.5 x 35.5 cm

12-1-4 Slovo Summer 2012_05-7-73 SlovoWinter05/06.qxd 6/12/12 1:49 PM Page 30

Page 33: Slovo Magazine

Slovo | 31

A. M

UC

HA

| M

UC

HA

&

P

HO

TO

GR

AP

HY

Mucha’s photographic practice spanned more than 50 years. From his youth in the 1880s he continued to take photographs throughout his life. His photographs in the Mucha Trust Collection, surviving in the form of glass/celluloid negatives and vintage prints, cover a wide range of subjects and genres, such as portraits, documentary shots of his surroundings and street life, studies of models and staged photographs, as well as landscapes, nature and architectural studies. Mucha did not consider his photographs works of art, leaving them without alteration or embellishment, unlike other photographers of that time. However, Mucha’s free, uncalculated approach to this medium makes his photographs look surprisingly fresh, a unique example of modern photography.

Dome of the Chilandar Monastery, MountAthos, from his research trip to the Balkansand Greece for the Slav Epic project, 1924

Karel Václav Masek, Czech painter as a student at the Munich Academy of Art, circa 1886

St. Basil’s Cathedral and Red Square,Moscow, from his research trip to Russia for the Slav Epic project, 1913

Mucha and Jaroslava posing for the poster De Forest Phonofilm (1927), Zbiroh Castle, West Bohemia, 1927

Mucha with his friends in the studio, Rue de la Grande Chaumière, Paris: (left to right) Paul Gauguin, Mucha, Czechpainter Ludek Marold and Gauguin’s mistress‘Anna the Javanaise,’ circa 1893-94

Model posing in the studio, Rue du Val deGrâce, Paris, circa 1902

12-1-4 Slovo Summer 2012_05-7-73 SlovoWinter05/06.qxd 6/12/12 1:49 PM Page 31

Page 34: Slovo Magazine

32 | National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library

CA

LE

ND

AR

MUSEUMEVENTSHours:

Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Sunday Noon to 4 p.m.

Holidays:

Closed Thanksgiving Day,Christmas Day, New Year’s Day,and Easter Sunday.

Open Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day.

Mucha Special Exhibition Admission:

Members . . . . . . . . . . . . .FREEAdults . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$12 Seniors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$10 Students 13 & above (with ID), active military . . . .$5 Children 6-12 . . . . . . . . . . .$3 5 & Under . . . . . . . . . . . .FREE

Admission includes all museum exhibits,including Rising Above: The Story of a People and the Flood at the Kosek Building, 87 Sixteenth Avenue SW.

Starting January 2, 2013Regular Admission:

Members . . . . . . . . . . . . .FREEAdults . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$10 Seniors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$8 Students 14 & above (with ID), active military . . . .$3 Children 13 & Under . . . .FREE

Grand Opening of the National Czech & Slovak Museum & LibrarySaturday and Sunday, July 14 & 15Join in the celebration of the NCSML’s recovery from the Flood of 2008. Tour the restored and expanded museum and library and view three exceptional new exhibits and the restoredSlegar Immigrant Home. The weekend-long grand opening festival will include music, films, a parade, puppetry, a light show, live musical entertainment, food and beverages.

Alphonse Mucha: Inspirations of Art NouveauJuly 14 through December 31, Jiruska GalleryDirect from Prague and London, this stunning exhibition features more than 230 exquisite works by one of the world’s most well-known 19th-century artists, a leading light of the Art Nouveau movement. Alphonse Mucha: Inspirations of Art Nouveau includes paintings, jewelry, sculptures and lithographs from the Mucha Foundation. Not since 1998 has an exhibit of this size and caliber appeared in the United States. Don’t miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to view the lush beauty of Mucha’s flowing, elegant art, recognized and cherished by people all over the world.

Weird & Wonderful: Award-Winning Art for Children’s BooksJuly 14 – October 7, Petrik GallerySeventy-three award-winning illustrations from the famed Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava (BIB) are sure to enchant both the young and the young-at-heart.

It All Comes Out in the WashSmith GalleryEmbellished textiles damaged in the Flood of 2008 will be on view for the first time after four years of restoration. Visitors will be thrilled to see the vibrant colors and workmanship of these painstakingly restored treasures.

Rising Above: The Story of a People and the FloodOngoing, Kosek Building in Czech Village, 87 Sixteenth Ave. SWThis permanent exhibition tells the story of the Czechs and Slovaks who came to Cedar Rapidsand overcame wave after wave of adversity as they forged their destinies in the U.S. Utilizingmultimedia, the exhibit takes visitors through the settlement years and the establishment of a thriving ethnic community. The devastating Flood of 2008 is now a part of this history, told through news stories, video and eyewitness accounts, culminating with a walk-in model of a flooded home.

A Night with Emil Viklicky and Special Guest Petr CancuraFriday, August 3, 7:30 p.m., Rozek Grand HallEnjoy an evening of Moravian jazz music with the renowned Emil Viklický and guest musicianPetr Cancura. $12 for museum members, $14 for non-members. Beverages and appetizer plates available for purchase.

Who Is Saint Nicholas? Advent and Christmas SaintPetrik Gallery, October 19, 2012 – January 6, 2013On loan from the St. Nicholas Center in Holland, Michigan, this exhibit tells the St. Nicholas story, using artifacts and images to illustrate his life, his relationship to Christian tradition, and St. Nicholas-related customs around the world. It’s festive, fun and educational for all ages.

BrewNost! An International Beer TastingFriday, October 26, 6-9:30 p.m., Museum campus Raise your glass in a toast to BrewNost!, the area’s finest beer-sipping extravaganza held everyfall to benefit the NCSML. Guests will enjoy a worldwide selection of premium beers paired with hors d’oeuvres created by area chefs. Call Kecia, 319-362-8500, X205, to reserve ticketsfor this special night out! Presenting Sponsors: CRST International and Rockwell Collins

Old Prague Christmas MarketFriday & Saturday, November 30, December 1Enjoy the magical experience of an old-world Christmas market with hand-crafted artisan gifts and traditional treasures, the NCSML Guild’s Annual Cookie Walk, holiday music, caroling and food.

Visit our website(www.ncsml.org) for more information and updates.

12-1-4 Slovo Summer 2012_05-7-73 SlovoWinter05/06.qxd 6/12/12 1:49 PM Page 32

Page 35: Slovo Magazine

For more than 35 years, the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library has collected, preserved and interpreted the stories of Czechs and Slovaks.Today, the NCSML is a national museum where anyone from anywhere canappreciate the stories, experiences and contributions of Czechs and Slovaks. In learning about others, they will learn about themselves, inspired to question:Who am I? Where did I come from? What do we have in common?

A new strategic plan focuses our efforts…Goal I Open a world-class museum and library in 2012.Goal II Be the leading educational resource in the United States

on the history and culture of the Czechs and Slovaks.Goal III Engage diverse nation-wide audiences.Goal IV Provide visitors with an inspiring, participatory experience.Goal V Grow current and add new resources to ensure our future

as a thriving institution.

How can you help?A gift to the Exhibit Fund will:▪ Create dynamic and relevant temporary exhibitions ▪ Grow the collection with the acquisition of select artifacts

A gift to the Permanent Exhibition will:▪ Allow the NCSML to create a signature, modern and interactive interpretive experience. Special commemorative opportunities are available for gifts beginning at $10,000.

A gift to the Traveling Exhibit Fund will help the NCSML reach new destinations!

A gift to the Library Fund will:▪ Allow the NCSML to add critical volumes and primary source material to its inventory.

▪ Permit the national Oral History program to continue its important work in documenting the memories of Czech- and Slovak-Americans.

A gift to the Educational Program will:▪ Provide necessary scholarship opportunities for visiting schoolchildren.▪ Help the NCSML develop online curricula that will become invaluable tools to educators throughout the world when teaching about the immigrant experience, the heritage and culture of Czech- and Slovak-Americans, and much more!

A Slovo Sponsorship gift will:▪ Support the journal you have in your hands right now; additional funding will bring two full-color issues per year to eager readers everywhere.

A gift to the General Fund will:▪ Support the entire NCSML operation. This is the most valuable type of financial gift you can provide: It goes to where we need it most.

Support the NCSML and sustain what moves you.

“Capturing what is beautiful and noble is important to me and that is certainly why I support the museum.”

~ Katherine Svoboda, Aurora, Colorado

For more information on any of these gifting opportunities, please contact the NCSML development team at 319-362-8500. Or, visit www.NCSML.org and click the “support” button.

WHAT MOVES YOU?

1400 Inspiration Place SWCedar Rapids, Iowa 52404(319) 362-8500www.NCSML.org

MISSIONWe inspire people from every background to connect to Czech and Slovak history and culture.

VISIONWe are a museum that celebrates life. Czech life. Slovak life.American life. We are a museum thatencourages self-discovery, a museum that askswhat it means to be free. Through extraordinary exhibitionsand experiences, we tell stories of freedom and identity, family and community, humanrights and dignity. Our stories connect yesterday with today and tomorrow.

12-1-4 Slovo Summer 2012_05-7-73 SlovoWinter05/06.qxd 6/12/12 1:49 PM Page D

Page 36: Slovo Magazine

1400 Inspiration Place SW ▪ Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52404 ▪ (319) 362-8500 ▪ www.NCSML.org

With more than 85,000 members, the First Catholic Slovak Ladies Association (FCSLA) is a fraternal benefit society that

ranks among the top fraternal societies active in the United Statestoday. Since its founding in 1892 in Cleveland, Ohio, FCSLA hasgrown to provide licensed financial products in 47 states and

Washington, D.C. Membership and its benefits are available to men,women and children of Slav descent living in the United States.

Discover the fraternal advantage — discover the FCSLA!

For more information visit www.fcsla.org.

This issue of

Slovo is made possible

by a very generous

gift from the

12-1-4 Slovo Summer 2012_05-7-73 SlovoWinter05/06.qxd 6/12/12 1:48 PM Page A