Treasured Legacy Alphonse Mucha & Jarmila Mucha Plocková In Chicago

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Dear visitors of Prague Days in Chicago, lovers of Mucha’s work, dear

friends,

On behalf of the City of Prague, I am delighted to extend my greetings to all

the admirers of Art Nouveau as well as all the members of the local Czech

community and proud supporters of Bohemian and Moravian spiritual

heritage.

This exhibition features one of the greatest masters of Art Nouveau,

Alphonse Mucha, renowned for his elegant draftsmanship and meticulous

execution, delicately rendered plant and animal motifs, not only as an artist

and a great patriot but also as an inspiration for his granddaughter’s own

art work in glass and jewelry. My words of thanks go to all the organizers,

supporters and contributing artists who have dedicated their time and

creativity to making this exhibition a reality.

My best wishes for this wonderful event and unforgettable memories of our

Prague Days in Chicago festival.

Adriana Krnáčová

Mayor of the City of Prague

Adriana KrnáčováMayor of Prague

TREASURED LEGACY

ALPHONSE MUCHAHighlights of the world-renowned artist and a leading figure of Art Nouveau, including his many compelling pieces inspired by Chicago

AND JARMILA MUCHA PLOCKOVÁPresentation of Art-Nouveau jewelry, glass and sculptures as a tribute to her grandfather in Chicago, which had a profound impact on his career

Maya Polsky Gallery – 215 W Superior Street, Chicago

June 12 – July 31, 2015

CuratorRolf Achilles

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Alphonse Mucha lived, taught and worked in Chicago. His stay here had

an enormous impact on his career. Chicago philanthropist Charles R.

Crane sponsored the Slav Epic and thus helped to fulfill the artistic dream

of Mucha’s life. Five of the huge canvases (of overall 20) were on display

at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1920 to great critical and public acclaim.

During the year-long preparation of Prague Days, we have been discovering

fascinating stories associating Alphonse Mucha with Chicago and the U.S.

Midwest. You will be told about Zdeňka Černý and Leslie Carter depicted in

Mucha’s posters and much more by the curator of the exhibit, Rolf Achilles.

The choice of the central story seemed relatively easy and I think that you

will agree with us. It is the story of Mucha’s depiction of a Chicago girl,

Crane’s daughter Josephine as the goddess Slavia (goddess of Slavs) featured

on the first 100-crown note of the Czechoslovak Republic.

Charles Crane invited to Chicago not only Alponse Mucha, but also the

future President of Czechoslovakia, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk to lecture at

the University of Chicago. Later, Crane managed to arrange for a meeting

between Masaryk and President Woodrow Wilson. Czechoslovakia would

have probably not been created in 1918 without its recognition by the

United States. And there were more ways how Chicago, probably the second

largest “Czech” city at the time, significantly contributed to the creation of

Czechoslovakia. For “their” independent state, Chicago Czechs organized

financial collections and fought in the Czechoslovak legions on the fronts of

the First World War.

I am not certain if the featuring of Josephine Crane on the banknote was

a thank you by – possibly not only - Alphonse Mucha to Charles Crane

and to Chicago. Be it as it may, it certainly is a wonderful reminder of the

importance that Chicago played in our national history.

Alphonse Mucha certainly had a special relationship to Prague. The fact

that he presented the Slav Epic as a gift to the City of Prague speaks for

itself. Mucha also decorated the Lord Mayor Hall of the Municipal House,

I believe, one of the most beautiful Art-Nouveau buildings world-wide.

Dear Friends,

The exhibit of Alphonse Mucha in Chicago has been my personal dream

for a long time. I think that I first realized how much Alphonse Mucha

was popular and respected in the United States in 2003 at the University of

Cincinnati. Out of curiosity, I visited a tent offering posters with the art of

only seven world-renowned painters as possible decorations for student

housing at the beginning of the school year. Next to Pablo Picasso, Claude

Monnet, Salvator Dalí, Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Rembrandt van

Rijn, there was Alphonse Mucha.

The work of Alphonse Mucha is our national treasure. There were times

when this was perhaps more known abroad than in the Czech Republic.

However, today, the Mucha Museum Prague is one of the most visited sites

in our capital, the National Gallery in Prague hosts the permanent display

of Mucha’s monumental Slav Epic and Ivan Lendl’s collection of Alphonse

Mucha’s posters became by far the most successful exhibit in my country in

many years.

When I first discussed the program of Prague Days Chicago at the Prague

City Hall with the director of the department for cultural affairs František

Cipro and a co-chair of the Prague Committee of Chicago Sister Cities

International Edward Dellin last summer, I immediately suggested

Alphonse Mucha to be the highlight of the festival and I gained their

support. We all knew that we cannot wish for anything more than to have

Prague and the Czech Republic represented by him, particularly in Chicago

and during Prague Days.

Bořek LizecConsul General

of the Czech Republic in

Chicago

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another critically important breaking point. Not only did they agreed to

premiere the sculptures during the Prague Days at the Golden Prague

Gala, but also to open their collections to our curator and their friend, Rolf

Achilles.

I cannot thank enough Rolf Achilles, a great expert in Czech culture, for

accepting the uneasy role to curate the project across the Atlantic over only

few months. This certainly would have not been possible without his deep

knowledge of the work and life of Alphonse Mucha.

The exhibit would still not have been possible if it were not for Jaroslav

and Míla Kynčl. Their Archive of Czech Exile Art is an incredible result

of their decades-long dedication to Czech art. Their collections and own

publications impress everyone who is given an opportunity to see them.

However, in spite of all this great news, it was only after Maya Polsky

agreed to host the exhibit in her gallery of high reputation when I began to

believe that the exhibit would take place. Perhaps her personal passion for

Art-Nouveau jewelry helped us to get her on board and benefit from her

impressive knowledge and experience.

I appreciate your attention to the “adventure” of the preparation of the

exhibit. I enjoyed the journey thanks to many friends, who supported the

project and with whom it has been a pleasure and honor to spend time.

Apart from those already mentioned, I have to start with my personal thanks

to Ms. Klára Moldová, the project coordinator. Without her tireless efforts,

the project might have remained an interesting vision. I am sure that you will

agree with me that Karel Scherzer created beautiful designs, not only for this

catalogue, but also for other Prague Days publications. I am deeply grateful

for his exceptional dedication to the large project. I also wish to thank

Robert & Mary Edith Arnold, Mark Cresswell, Anna Dvořáková, Joyce Lee,

Helena Koenigsmarková, Jaroslav Moravec, Jana Orlíková, Karel Scherzer

and Radim Vondráček. I would also like to thank the Museum of Decorative

Arts in Prague and the Smart Museum of Art of the University of Chicago.

Lord Mayor Hall has a reputation of being chosen only for unique events

by people with exceptionally good taste. Please allow me to make a remark

completely off the topic: I married my wife Kateřina in the Hall.

I think that I have presented my case by now; Alphonse Mucha is the

best possible Ambassador of Prague in Chicago. His traces can be found

throughout the Prague Days program. A poster featuring Josephine Crane

became the logo of Prague Days; Jarmila Mucha Plocková is not only

presenting her works and the works of her grandfather at this exhibit, but

shall also unveil the “Nature” sculpture that she recently recreated at the

Golden Prague Gala; Mucha’s great granddaughters, gifted artists Barbara

and Kateřina García are going to sing at the several Prague Days events.

We might have had the right vision, however, as many reminded us, time

was against us. Let me share with you few key steps that made this exhibit

possible.

My first meeting with Ms. Jarmila Mucha Plocková in Café Imperial in

Prague was clearly the most important moment. Without hesitation,

she agreed to pay tribute to her grandfather in the city which played

such an important role in his career. Since then, we have been almost in

daily communication, searching for how to best present the legacy of her

grandfather treasured by her, her daughters and all his admirers in the Czech

Republic, in the United States and all over the world. I cannot wait to see

the chosen collection of Ms. Mucha Plocková’s jewelry, glass and sculptures

inspired by her grandfather in Chicago. For example, her vase inspired by

the Mucha’s designs for the Municipal House will be included.

It was also at the first meeting with Ms. Mucha Plocková when I was told

of a quite recent link between Prague, Chicago and Alphonse Mucha.

The sculpture Nature, originally created by her grandfather and recently

recreated by her in cooperation with Prague sculptor Peter Nižňanský was

commissioned by Chicago art collectors Richard and Inese Driehaus. The

kind agreement of Mr. and Mrs. Driehaus to support the project became

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An almost well kept secret is that acclaimed artist, Alfons (spelled Alphonse

in France and US) Maria Mucha (born, Ivancice, Moravia, 1860 – died,

Prague, 1939, today, both places are in Czech Republic), creator of the

swirling sinuous hair and rounded forms in new poses that became not only

new female forms, but essential Art Nouveau, spends significant time in

Chicago and has strong connections to the city where he is commissioned by

Armour & Co. to design containers for a line of scented soaps called “Savon

Mucha”; teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago; lectures and

exhibits extensively; is lavishly feted at social events and meets his patron of

the Slav Epic, Charles Richard Crane.

Mucha’s rise to fame began after his move to Paris in 1887, to continue his

studies at Academie Julian and Academie Colarossi, with posters for Sarah

Bernhardt, the great Parisian actress as Gismonda, 1894; Medee, 1898; La

Dame Aux Camelias, 1898. His posters immortalized her and, she in turn

made his a familiar name. These posters were life-size and successfully

translated Bernhardt the dramatic person, but also her enormous sense

of drama. Combined in one composition unlike any known before, they

caused quite a sensation throughout Paris and then around the world. Their

spontaneous success was aided in no small part by an international poster

craze that swept through Europe from the mid-1880s to the early 1900s.

With the spontaneous success of the Bernhardt posters, Mucha’s business

instincts suggested to him to produce his own poster series - the Four

Seasons of 1896. In Paris and across Europe they became instant best sellers

and were quickly adapted and copied in other media, too.

The exhibit does not cover all great stories linking Alphonse Mucha and

Chicago. In fact, it could not. I am convinced that much still remains to

be discovered. Is there a house in Chicago that was designed by Alphonse

Mucha as his son Jiří once told Jaroslav Kynčl? Let this exhibit open the

door to other Mucha projects. Perhaps even the Slav Epic will make it again

to Chicago, this time complete. What a way it would be to celebrate the

90th anniversary of its premiere and the 100th anniversary of the creation

of Czechoslovakia in 2018. Even if we have to wait longer, we certainly do

not have to worry about a decline of interest in Alphonse Mucha. Just as he

inspired the psychedelic posters of Hapshash and the Coloured Coat and

others in the 1960s, he continues to inspire today. Just google for a while and

you might discover “Mucha’s” poster of Spiderman, just as my friend, Bruce

Bendinger did.

Please allow me to conclude these remarks by expressing my special

thanks to the Mayor Adriana Krnáčová and the City of Prague for giving

me, my friends and colleagues the opportunity to present Prague and the

“Treasured Legacy” in Chicago.

AlphonseMucha

In Chicagoby Rolf

Achilles

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By 1900, Alphonse Mucha is synonymous with a new style called Art

Nouveau.

At the height of his fame in Paris, Mucha completes a poster for the

Louisiana Purchase Exposition, the St. Louis World’s Fair (April 30 –

December 1, 1904), and visits the U.S. for the first time in April and May,

seeing New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Chicago. In New York City he is

lionized by the cultural elite and receives several portrait commissions and

is made promises. He also visits Chicago, the hub of Bohemian activism and

may have entertained a hope of further artistic conquests.

Save for a brief article by Kathrine Wagner Seineke entitled

“Mucha’s Chicago Poster,” in Chicago History, Spring 1972, Mucha’s sojourn in

Chicago is little discussed and remains enigmatic in the vast literature about

him. Yet his Chicago stay is of international importance, if only as the source

of patronage for the incomparable series of paintings – the Slav Epic.

In a paper given to the Chicago Literary Club on February 23, 2004, John

Notz, a Chicago lawyer/scholar, observed, based on research into Charles

Crane Family Papers held by the Butler Library of Columbia University, and

a close reading of the 2013 biography The Life and Times of Charles R. Crane

by Norman R. Saul, that it was in 1904, that Charles R. Crane met Alphonse

Mucha. Notz tell us that Mucha wrote Crane that he had a favorable

experience at the Fair of 1893 (Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition) but

little since. In another letter we learn that Mucha met Charles R. Crane at

a political dinner in Chicago that was an un-official demonstration against

the Russo-Japanese War (February 8, 1904-September 5, 1905). This may

have been early 1904, shortly after the Japanese invasion. As a Slav, as

a supporter of the Tzar, Mucha would have been supporting the Russian

cause. As a Slav-o-file, Charles R. Crane would have shared his view. Mucha

and Crane met several more times and at one of these meetings in 1904,

Crane commissioned Mucha to paint a portrait of his oldest daughter,

Josephine (then already Mrs. Bradley). By all accounts the portrait was

successful.

The Louisiana Purchase Exposition

(Exposition de Saint-Louis)Paris, 1903, F. Champenois

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Later, according to Notz’s research and Crane family memory,

Josephine’s portrait image became for Mucha the mythic female “Slavia.”

Three years later, in Prague, Mucha created a poster entitled “Slavia” for the

Mutual Insurance Bank. He also completed an oil and tempera painting

entitled Slavia, dated 1908, now in the National Gallery in Prague. In 1920,

Slavia (i.e. Josephine Crane Bradley) was placed on the 100 korun bank

note that became currency in the newly created country, Czechoslovakia.

Crane was also a friend of Thomas Masaryk, the founder and first

President of Czechoslovakia. Masaryk had come to Chicago in 1902 to

lecture at the University of Chicago as part of a series in foreign studies

endowed by Crane. Crane also underwrote the founding of a Russian

language Department at the University. Well documented is Crane’s role in

promoting Masaryk’s cause to President Wilson in Versailles and getting

the new country recognized. Before Masaryk came to Chicago he already

had strong American connections. In 1878, Thomas Masaryk had married

Charlotte Garrigue, an American Protestant with Huguenot ancestry,

raised as a Unitarian, from Brooklyn.

By 1913, Mucha had also painted Cranes’ second daughter, Frances

(Leatherbee) of Lake Forest. On February 24, 1913, an interview with

Mucha was published in the Chicago Examiner entitled, “Alphonse Mucha,

Portrait Josephine Crane-Bradley as Slavia

1908, Oil-tempera on canvas, foto © 2015 National Gallery

in Prague

Josephine (Slavia) on 100 korun banknote

that remained legal tender until 1939

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paintings then went on to the Brooklyn Museum of Art where they were

again greeted as a sensation, this time, with a poster by Mucha announcing

their presence.

Meetings with other artists or where Mucha resided and if he completed

commissions other than for Charles R. Crane in Chicago during 1904,

have not surfaced. Not siting a specific date, Mucha’s son, Jiri, a novelist,

told Dr. Kyncl that Mucha lived for a time with the Crane’s in Lake Forest,

Illinois, and that he may have even designed a house there. No evidence has

been found of a house designed by Mucha in Lake Forest.

The following year, 1905, Mucha makes two trips to the United States and is

again in Chicago where he meets A.V. Cerny, a cello player, who had come to

Chicago in 1888, and, had opened his own music school, the First Bohemian

Conservatory. Cerny had three daughters, Milada, Zdenka and Marcela –

each was a virtuoso on her instrument. Milanda, the eldest, a prodigy

on the piano, gave her first recitals at age four. At age 10, in 1903, she had

a successful concert tour of Europe. When she was 13, Mucha painted

a formal oil portrait of her that was exhibited in 1906 and 1907 at the Art

Institute of Chicago while she gave concerts with Jan Kubelik at the nearby

Auditorium. Mucha promised another of Cerny’s daughters, eight-year

old Zdenka, a prodigy on the cello, a poster for her European debut tour.

Composed and completed in 1913, the poster is of the 16 year old Zdenka

celebrating a tour that was canceled because of the outbreak of World War I.

Only a few posters were printed.

It was Mrs. Zdenka Cerny DeLacey, the former cello prodigy, whom

Kathrine Wagner Seineke interviewed over a period of several years for her

1972 article in Chicago History, p. 26-30. She writes:

A regular guest at the Cerny’s was young Rudolph Friml, then a relatively

unknown piano accompanist to violinist Jan Kubelik. It was Papa Cerny

who helped Friml sell his first piece of music, “Garden Matinee,” to Lyon

and Healy in Chicago.

World-Famed Artist, Here To Put Happiness in Mrs. Leatherbee’s Portrait.”

Mucha said little about the portrait and much about world affairs,

especially his thoughts about possible war in Europe. Frances rejected the

portrait. As an aside, in 1914 the Leatherbee property became the Great

Lakes Naval Station and the Leatherbee’s themselves moved to Boston

and Woods Hole. During World War I Frances married Jan Masaryk, son

of Thomas Masaryk. (Information from John Notz and on www.chilit.org/

Notz5.htm)

Of course it was Charles R. Crane, whose underwriting, formally announced

at a Cliff Dwellers gathering on April 6, 1913, gave the Slav Epic reality. Five

of the eventual 20 enormous paintings that would comprise the History of

the Slavs went on display June 17, 1920, at the Art Institute of Chicago. By

the time the momentous exhibition closed on November 15, some 600,000

people had seen it. By anyone’s definition, it was a blockbuster. The five

A photograph showing Mucha with Slavic Epic Murals

Exhibited in the Refectory of the Klementinum, Prague, 1919

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The Cerny’s lived on Lawndale Avenue, near Douglas Boulevard, in

a neighborhood that was predominantly Bohemian at the time.

In the fall of 1906, Mucha was in Chicago, this time with his wife, Maruska

(born Marie Chytilova, an art student of his whom he had married in

Prague on June 10, 1906). They live with the Cerny’s on Lawndale Avenue.

Immediately upon his arrival in Chicago, newspaper accounts report him

teaching at the Art Institute of Chicago where his figure drawing classes are

very popular. From October 16 to November 29, Mucha is the subject of an

exhibition at the Art Institute entitled “Works of Alphonse Mucha.” There

is no known published catalogue or list of exhibited works. Meanwhile, on

November 16, 1906, the Chicago Daily Tribune wrote that the Palette & Chisel

Club will host a “Bohemian night,” tomorrow evening at the club’s room

in the Athenaeum Building in honor of Alphonse Mucha, the Bohemian

artist.” About the same time, Mucha is commissioned by Chicago based

Armour & Co. to design soap boxes for the display of four fragrances –

violet, lilac, heliotrope and sandalwood, each personified by a beautiful

woman. The resulting “Savon Mucha,” made him the first “celebrity artists”

to become a brand name of a household product. In 1907, Mucha created

a lithograph for Jos. Triner’s Angelica Bitter Tonic, printed by the American

Lithographic Co., New York. 375 x 324 mm (14 3/4x12 3/4”). Josef Triner was

a member of the Czech community of Chicago. He started to manufacture

this tonic in 1902. The product’s name is in Mucha’s script.

At the time, Chicago was becoming his and Maruska home. Mucha moved

the entire contents of his studio in the Rue du Val-de-Grace to Chicago.

They also brought over Louise, his cook. The studio was depicted in a line

drawing on August 23, 1908, in the Chicago Daily Tribune. Its location is not

mentioned.

Maybe in late in 1906 or early 1907, four windows depicting Mucha’s 1896,

The Four Seasons were installed in a house at 6502 N. Sheridan Road, Chicago.

After several owners, the house became a residence for the Clerics of St.

Viator, one of whom, many years later, clearly remembers the four windows

The photograph and poster are of the 16 year old Zdenka

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openings are about 1 “taller and ½” wider than the outside frame dimensions

of the Seasons windows. Framing easily accounts for the size difference.

Jeremie Cerman, in a recently published article in Studies in the Decorative Arts,

(Fall-Winter 2005-2006, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 32-71, Bard Graduate Center for

Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design and Culture), mentions twelve floral

motifs and female faces painted on glass plaques, each 19.5 cm x 16 cm, by

Alphonse Mucha, from the Berger Family home now in the Collection of

the Musee de la Houille Blanche, Lancey (near Grenoble). The plaques are

more like sketches, oil on glass. The Berge home was visited several times

by Mucha in 1902 and possibly 1903. He writes the family from New York in

1904. On a plan of the house from 1904, the guest room is named the Mucha

Room. The glass panels are not signed.

Shortly after George Fouquet’s firm won great acclaim at the 1900

Exposition Universelle in Paris with jewels designed by Alphonse Mucha,

Fouquet commissioned Mucha to design every centimeter of his atelier/

shop at 6 Rue Royale, including several glass panels inside the store. These

stained glass panels, now in the Musee Carnavalet, Paris, are not signed.

in the north stair landing and told me that he was involved in their removal

to the dining room of the Province Center in Arlington Heights when the

Clerics moved there in 1966. In 2003 the Clerics of St. Viator in Arlington

Heights sold all their valuable belongings at auction, including The Four

Seasons windows.

On April 26, 1906, Joseph Downey received Chicago building permit 25140

(Book R, page 264) for a two-story residence, 40 x 60, at 7292+7294 now

6502 N. Sheridan. The architect was William Carbys Zimmerman (born of

German parents in Wisconsin, 1859 - died in San Diego, April 11, 1932),

attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was Illinois State

Architect from 1905-1913. The mason was M. F. Powers. The cost is $ 20,000.

(See: Economist, Jan-July, 1906, vol. 35, April 28, 1906, p. 829). Joseph Downey

was an Irish immigrant, arriving in the US in 1856. He seems to have been

civic minded and was well connected as a member of Board of Education,

the Commission of Public Buildings and the Commission on Public Works

during the term of Mayor George Bell Swift, 1895 to 1897. (Wikipedia: George

Bell Swift). It remains to be discovered if Downey and Mucha had any

connections. Downey’s architect, William Carbys Zimmerman may have

had Bohemian interests, or maybe he just needed a commission, because

in 1907-08 he designed the field house and bathhouse for Dvorak Park, 21st

Street and Carpenter Street. This Progressive Reform movement park was

established by the city’s West Park Commission and named for Antonin

Dvorak, the composer, the park originally covered 3.85 acres and served

upwards of 2,500 people per day its first decade. Again, as with Downey,

a closer Bohemian connection for Zimmerman remains unknown.

Obviously Mucha’s acclaimed posters of The Four Seasons (1896), was the

immediate source of the windows. Each poster measures about 45”(104 cm)

tall and 21”(55 cm) wide. Dimensions may vary by edition or printing. The

artist’s signature is in the stone on the print. Each window is 48” tall and 18”

wide. Without ornament the Seasons dimensions are about 34” tall and 14”

wide. There is not artist’s signature. Each window opening is 52” tall and

20” wide with a small notch in the upper left and right corners. The window

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter Mucha Four Seasons, 1907

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On November 15, Mucha is again in the Chicago Daily Tribune reporting how

impressed he is by an arm belonging to Miss Emelia Rose.

“It is a great study,” says Alphonse Mucha, the Bohemian artist who

declares that he has found the perfect arm in that of Miss Amelia Rose,

his new model. Some little time ago Miss Rose took part in a contest in

Paris among the most famous of all those who have achieved distinction

in that city, and the artistic and sculptural committee decided that her

arm was the most beautiful and the most shapely and conformed the

nearest to types of true feminine beauty that the world has ever seen.

Miss Rose is 5 feet tall and these are her measurements: circumference of

upper arm, 13 inches; circumference of fore arm, 9 inches; circumference

of wrist, 6 inches.

A highpoint for Mucha is to be asked to give the Scammon Lecture for 1908

at the Art Institute. He accepts. The President’s Report for the year states:

The subject was treated under three heads, “Harmony of Line,” “Harmony

of Proportion” and “Harmony of Color” and was profusely illustrated by

sketches in black-and-white and color, executed upon gray paper, during

the lecture. Mr. Mucha’s authoritative position as an artist and designer, his

definite principles of composition and design, and his charm as a lecturer,

attracted audiences which crowded Fullerton Hall, composed in great part

of students eager for instruction of the master. The average attendance,

553, was quite unprecedented. The lectures will be published in book

form, with illustrations.

Sad to say, no record has been found of this publication.

On page 52, in the Report of the Director of the Art Institute, June, 1907 –

May 31, 1908 it is reported that:

“Mr. Alphonse Mucha also visited the school again in March and April,

during the period of the Scammon Lectures, and gave class lectures on

It is possible that Alphonse Mucha did not paint the Berger or Fouquet

panels himself, but the Downey House panels are so close in line and color

to the posters that only an artists with comparable drawing skill could have

done them. There was only one artist in Chicago in 1907 with such skill –

Alphonse Mucha.

As in New York, Mucha was also in Chicago’s society when on the last day

of March 1908, the Chicago Daily Tribune reported that “Mr. and Mrs. Ernest

Jacoby, 4215 Vincennes Ave., gave an artist’s luncheon last Friday in honor of

Alphonse Mucha of Paris.” Among the guests were Miss Myrlie Elwyn, Mr.

and Mrs. Henlot Levy, Mme. Zukowskaja and Dr. Kurt Donuth.

This social news is followed on August 23, 1908 by a headline in the Chicago

Daily Tribune that informs the reader that “American Shop Girls More

Beautiful Than The Famous Models of Paris Says Alphonse Mucha, Artist.”

Several photogravure portraits support the claim and a text explaining

Mucha’s observation. There is also an engraving of “Alphonse Mucha at

work in His Studio.” This studio may have been in the Fine Arts Building

(410 S. Michigan, Solon S. Beman, 1885). The article also reproduced

Mucha’s poster, “Pole (or North) Star,” here titled “The Lady of the Stars.”

Meanwhile, Mucha is also trying to win commissions in New York. When

Caroline Dudley (born 1857, in Lexington, Kentucky – died 1937, Santa

Barbara, California), better known by her stage name Leslie Carter, a widely

acclaimed actress popularly called the American Sarah Bernhardt, asks him

to contribute stage, costume and scenery designs and to created a poster for

her New York theatrical production of Kassa, he accepts. Jiri Mucha, relates

that his father made some 250 designs for the play. Caroline Dudley had

married Chicago lawyer and millionaire, Leslie Carter in 1880, and used his

name after their divorce resulted in front page scandal and helped her to

become her generation’s greatest American dramatic actress with hit after hit

beginning in 1895. Then came Kassa. The poster was printed in Cincinnati in

1908, by Strobridge Litho. Co. Kassa was a failure! Carter went bankrupt and

Mucha never received his honorarium.

Leslie Carter poster, 1908, Cincinnati, Strobridge Litho. Co.

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Alphonse Mucha visited Chicago again in 1921, but was mostly in New York

seeking and completing portrait commissions.

Mucha returns to Chicago:In Paris, in 1899/1900, Alphonse Mucha designed a bust he named, La

Nature. Two are in Museum collections. One is in Karlsruhe, Badisches

Landesmuseum and another is in Richmond, The Virginia Museum of Fine

Art. Both are of silver, bronze, and gilding on a spiraling bronze pedestal.

Originally La Nature was probably intended as the mantle piece of the

Fouquet jewelry atelier and shop.

In 2013, Richard H. Driehaus commissioned an estate approved

posthumous cast in bronze and silver, adding several La Nature busts

with various glass and crystal finials to Mucha’s oeuvre. The busts

are fabricated by Prague sculptor Peter Nižňanský and overseen by

Mucha’s granddaughter Jarmila Mucha Plocková.

Rolf Achilles, 19 May 2015

composition, and also conducted classes in drawing from life. No teacher

has ever excited more interest in the school than Mr. Mucha.”

A year later, on May 16, 1909, The Chicago Daily Tribune printed a photograph

of Mucha standing at an easel and drawing a female face, but mostly we see

hair. The caption reads “Famous Artist at Art Institute” and the text under

the image states:

Alphonse Maria Mucha, the celebrated Bohemian artist, is now in Chicago

lecturing to the students at the Art Institute. He is an acknowledged master

in poster and decorative work, having leaped into fame at a single bound

a few years ago by a poster of Sarah Bernhardt.

This is Mucha’s second visit to Chicago and he is receiving the warmest

welcome not only by the artists who know him but by the art loving public,

which knows and appreciates his work.

M. Mucha is delighted with Chicago. During his visit here two years ago he

was so much struck with the artistic influence and atmosphere of the city

where he had expected to find only the commercial spirit. That he seriously

considered making his home here. He finds now that there has been

a distinct growth in the work of Chicago artists since his last visit. He believes

that nowhere in America are the possibilities of artistic development so

great as in this city.

A little over a year later, the same paper reported on November 16, 1910,

that “Alphonse Mucha, the painter, who recently visited Chicago, said he

considered the school (Art Institute) of art and design the most completely

equipped institution of its kind in the world.”

On February 12, 1912, Mucha is mentioned again in the context of “Chicago

Girl Perfect Type of Beauty.”

John Notz has an unconfirmed note that during his 1912 visit to Chicago

Mucha may also have given a lecture at the newly formed Three-Arts Club

(the Club was founded in 1912 and has no record of a lecture by Mucha).

La Nature, 2010–2013Silver and gold-plated bronze,

rock crystalJarmila Mucha Plocková

and Peter NižňanskýThe Richard H. Driehaus

Collection Photo John Faier

24

In 1988 her father - the sole heir of the copyright to Alfons Mucha’s works –

gave her the exclusive right to create objects of art based on Alfons

Mucha’s work.

Ms. Plockova prepares her designs with precise drawings, transforming

Mucha’s two-dimensional designs into three-dimensional models. She does

this with a designer’s proficiency, reminiscent of her grandfather’s talent.

She uses motives from posters, decorative panneaux, and some of

Mucha’s realized works sensitively, without overly complicated decoration,

with a distinct sense for the use of the beautiful Art Nouveau sinuosity

and ornament on a simple form and background. Her sensitivity to

the presentation of Mucha’s motives is the reason why Jarmila Mucha

Plockova’s works give the impression of being absolutely contemporary,

while at the same time they display a respect for their historical source. This

is determined by her choice and her artistic perceptiveness.

Her first commission was from the renowned glass manufacturer Moser,

but it was never realized. However, in collaboration with her father, she did

realize several other commissions. First of all she worked for the Circle Fine

Art Corporation in New York (1986-1992), for which she designed jewels,

metal vases, clocks and number of other objects that were sold in museum

shops all over the USA. She designed jewels for the Honorato Gallery in

Milan, furniture for the Doi Museum in Japan, and was to participate in

the construction of the museum building. Kimio Doi, a distinguished

Japanese businessman, assembled the second largest collection of Alfons

Mucha’s works in the world, and intended to build a museum for it, but his

premature death put an end to these plans. However, thanks to Mr. Doi,

several impressive exhibitions of Mucha’s works were held in Japan, and

there are striking catalogues of these. Within a few years Mr. Doi managed

to collect a great number of Alfons Mucha’s most significant works,

buying them all around the world. He did this in close collaboration with

Mucha’s son Jiří. His family has donated part of this collection to the Sakai

Museum. The Christofle Company in Paris, commissioned Ms. Plocková to

design dishes. She also designed jewels, an egg- cup and a candlestick for the

was born in Prague. She graduated in architecture at the University

of Technology and the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. In 1981 she

followed her Spanish husband to Barcelona, where she studied painting

for two more years at the Massana Academy. She took up work at the

studio of Jauma Freixa, student of the outstanding Spanish architect

Josep Lluis Sert. She took part in the completion of the building of Joan

Miró’s Museum in Barcelona. From Jauma Freixa her path led her to

a brief spell at the studio of Oriol Bohigas, who participated in the building

of the pavilion Expo 92 in Seville.

Later she continued working in Ricardo Boffil’s prestigious studio Taller

de Arquitectura. At that time Bofill was working not only in Spain, but also

in France, as well as in other European countries and overseas. Jarmila

Plocková participated in designing buildings for the 1992 Olympic games

in Barcelona and, besides other structures, also in the completion of the

Queen Sophia Auditorium in Madrid.

On the occasion of its opening, a color drawing of the Auditorium by Jarmila

Mucha Plocková was presented to the royal family. She also designed the

graphics for the presentation of all the projects for the studio. She continued

her collaboration with Bofill’s studio after 1992 until, when for family

reasons, she resettle in Prague. The long distance activity proved too difficult

to manage so she left Bofill’s studio and began to devote her time to designs

for applied and decorative art, which, since 1988, constitute a significant

component of her work.

Respect for the family tradition and a remarkable feeling for fine arts,

together with her appreciation of craftsmanship have led her to create works

of first rate artistic quality, respecting the various characteristic of each

material used in her arts and crafts.

JARMILAMUCHA

PLOCKOVÁ

CockleMotif from Documents décoratifs, Paris, 1902

HandsDesign from

Documents décoratifs, Alfons Mucha, Paris, 1902

26

Kunstforum; the Réunion des Musées Nationaux in Paris also accepted her

works for its shops.

Over the years, the artist has built a network of collaborators whose level

of craftsmanship meets her strict demands. These are given not only

by the meticulous quality of her work, but also by her respect for her

grandfather’s heritage, which, thanks to her contribution, still addresses

us today. At a time favorably inclined to the development of arts and crafts,

her activities perpetuate a tradition, preserving a knowledge that might

otherwise fall into oblivion.

After resettling in Prague in 1992, she founded the Atelier Mucha JP Praha

here, and continued her collaboration with most of the companies. the chain

of shops Art décoratif. Her design of the exterior of this chain’s first store

was inspired by Mucha’s façade of Fouquet’s jeweler’s shop in Paris. Her

works sold in the Museum of Decorative Arts, in J. and M. Mládek’s Kampa

Museum, and in the Modernista shop, all in Prague. The copyright question

was finally resolved in 2007, and now her works may be sold anywhere in

the world.

Her vases and bowls, a combination of blown glass in pure form and silver-

plated metal, are of extraordinary beauty. For instance, the vase Hands,

though derived from Mucha’s drawing in the Documents décoratifs,

nevertheless, in its simplicity and purity of form, gives the impression

of being a genuinely contemporary product of creativity, enlightened by

surrealism. She paints glass, etched vases and bowls, porcelain jardinières,

metal egg-cups, letter knives and a number of other objects, are just as

striking. Her textile designs represent a specific part of her work. Above

all, it’s the new designs on fabrics and a series of silk scarves, with some of

Mucha’s motives used freely, and creatively transformed, which her admirers

are always eager to see.

Written by Jana Orlíková, Prague, January 2008

updated and edited by Rolf Achilles, Chicago 2015

Lily of the Valleybrooch, Au 585/000, pearls

Design for the jeweller‘s Georges Fouquet, Alfons Mucha, Paris

Dovebrooch, Au 750/000,

almandines, corneliansElement from a wedding

necklace of Maruška Mucha, designed by Alfons Mucha

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSEditor and Curator of the ExhibitRolf Achilles

Special thanks to

Maya PolskyRichard and Inese DriehausThe Archive of Czech Exile Art of Míla and Jaroslav KynčlJana OrlíkováBarbara and Kateřina García The Museum of Decorative Arts in PragueSmart Museum of Art, University of ChicagoNational Gallery in PragueNational Museum

Robert & Mary Edith Arnold, Mark Cresswell, Anna Dvořáková, Jiří Fajt, Marek Junek, Helena Koenigsmarková, Patrik Košický, Joyce Lee, Kateřina Lizcová Kulhánková, Michal Lukeš, Klára Moldová, Jaroslav Moravec, Martin Sekera, Karel Scherzer, Radim Vondráček

English translation of the article by Jana Orlíková: Inka Vostřezová

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