famous collection in motion

Immerse yourselves in the atmosphere of the decorative Art Nouveau style during your visit to the unique “iMucha – famous collection in motion” exhibition. The most famous collection of posters and other works by Alphonse Mucha, the foundations of which were laid by former world No. 1 tennis player Ivan Lendl, earned the title of the most-visited exhibition of fine arts in the history of the Czech Republic during its first exhibition in Prague’s Municipal House in 2013. This time it will enrich you with views of newly acquired masterpieces and, in particular, the great experience offered by digital rendering. It has breathed life into more than just the models from Mucha’s posters. We offer you a small taste of what you can look forward to at the exhibition.

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Alphonse Mucha was a world-famous Czech painter, graphic artist and designer who earned particular fame for his applied art (posters, labels, books, jewellery and furniture). He was also a key figure in the decorative Art Nouveau style, which determined the “look” of the time. Here, in this photograph, Mucha’s life is “told” by his friends, one of whom was Paul Gauguin (far left). The Czech Art Nouveau giant will also reveal something about himself in the exhibition.

Alphonse Mucha himself will speak to you from his painting at the exhibition – in the Czech version through the voice of Jiří Dvořák, and in English through the voice of Pierce Brosnan.

1860

On 24 July, Alphonse Mucha was born in Ivančice in south Moravia.

1872–1877

He studied at the Slavic (Slovanské) Grammar School in Brno.

1877–1879

He made his living as a scribe in Ivančice. He applied to the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, but without success.

1879–1881

He was employed in Vienna in the Kautsky-Brioschi-Burghardt painting workshop, which produced stage scenery and theatre curtains, and later also became the workplace of Gustav Klimt. He got acquainted with the works of Hans Makart.

1882–1885

He worked for Count Eduard Khuen-Belasi, who became his first patron. He participated in the decoration the count’s Emmahof Château near Hrušovany nad Jeviškou and Gandegg Castle in Tyrol.

1885–1887

In the autumn of 1885 he left for Munich, where he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts. In November 1885 he joined Škréta, the association of Czech art students.

1887

Thanks to the support of Count Khuen-Belasi, he travelled to Paris in the autumn, where he spent the following seventeen years. He studied at the Académie Julien.

1888

In Paris, he enrolled in the Académie Colarossi.

1889

He began to make his living as a sought-after illustrator, contributing to the magazines Zlatá Praha (Golden Prague) and Světozor.

1890

He designed envelopes for the Parisian newspaper La Vie populaire. He established extensive illustrative collaboration with French publishers. His relationship with the theatre deepened. From 1890–1891 he participated in the publication of Le Costume au Théâtre with costume drawings and drawings of theatre scenes.

1893

Mucha published his illustrations for the epic poem Adamité by Svatopluk Čech (publisher Šimáček in Prague). He created a calendar for Charles Lorilleux & Cie.

1894–1895

He started extensive collaboration with Sarah Bernhardt and designed posters, costumes, theatre stage sets and jewels for her over the next six years. In March he took part in a group exhibition in the Salon des Cent.

1896

The Paris printing house Champenois took over the execution of all Mucha commissions. Mucha became a collaborator of the La Plume arts review and its exhibition room, the Salon des Cent.

1897

Mucha’s first solo exhibition was commenced in the Galerie de la Bodinière in Paris on 15 February, and 5 June saw the commencement of Mucha’s solo exhibition in the Salon des Cent. The la Plume review published a special issue with reproductions of Mucha’s works and arranged for this exhibition to be repeated in Vienna, Prague, Munich, Brussels, London and New York. The artist’s fame grew thanks to his collaboration with Sarah Bernhardt and this travelling exhibition.

1898

Mucha was admitted to the Paris masonic lodge Les Inséparables du progrés.

1899

He travelled to the Balkans in connection with a commission of the Austro-Hungarian government to design decorations for the Pavilion of Bosnia and Herzegovina at the Paris Universal Exposition of 1900. On 20 December, Henri Piazza, in cooperation of the Champenois printing house, published the bibliophilic book Le Pater, in which Mucha rendered his own version of the textual and visual interpretation of the Lord’s Prayer. He designed the poster Paris, 1900 for the Austrian display at the Paris Universal Exposition.

1900

He carried out various commissions for the Paris Universal Exposition, within which he expressed himself as a leading personality at the turn of the century. He is the author of the overall concept of the Pavilion of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

1900–1901

He designed the interior and façade for the shop of jeweller Georges Fouquet in Rue Royale, Paris.

1902

He accompanied August Rodin on his journey to Prague and to Moravian Slovakia. He published his essential work Documents décoratifs, a pattern book with new decorative art.

1903

He designed the stage set for the opera Libuše by Bedřich Smetana for the National Theatre in Prague.

1904

In March and April, he undertook his first journey to the United States. He met Charles Richard Crane, a future patron of the Slav Epic, for the first time.

1905

In January he departed aboard a ship to the United States, where he worked in short intervals until 1910. Figures décoratives, which were a follow-up to Documents décoratifs, came out in Paris. They brought examples of the involvement of the female figure in a geometrically defined area. In America he made his living by portraiture and teaching.

1906

Mucha’s travelling exhibition took place in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and Boston.

1908

In October he produced designs for the German Theater in New York. When listening to the symphonic poem Vltava (The Moldau) by Bedřich Smetana at a concert of the Boston Philharmonic in the autumn, he decided to occupy himself with the significance of Slavic mutuality, the history of the Slavs and their position vis-à-vis other cultures.

1909

He received an offer to decorate the Municipal House in Prague, which had been built based on the design of Antonín Balšánek and Osvald Polívka. At Christmas, Charles R. Crane agreed to finance the Slav Epic.

1910

He returned to Bohemia, where he decorated the Mayor’s Hall of the Municipal House in Prague. He rented a flat and a studio in Zbiroh Castle from Count Hieronymus Colloredo-Mansfeld, where he painted a substantial part of the Slav Epic.

1911

After finishing the Municipal House paintings, he started working on his first canvases of the Slav Epic.

1912

He designed a poster for the 6th Sokol Festival (Slet) of the Czech Sokol Organisation. At the same time, it was the first festival of the Federation of Slavic Sokols.

1918–1919

He designed the first stamps, national coat-of-arms and a number of banknotes of the new state.

1919

An exhibition of the first eleven canvases of the Slav Epic opened in the refectory of the Clementinum in Prague on 27 April.

1920

The Art Institute in Chicago hosted an exhibition of the Slav Epic (15 June – 1 September).

1921

An exhibition of the Slav Epic was held in the Brooklyn Museum.

1922

Mucha contributed to a notable achievement of the Czech Masons at a meeting in Lausanne – establishment of the Supreme Council for Czechoslovakia. Mucha became “Sovereign Grand Commander”.

1923

25 February saw the foundation meeting of the “Supreme Grand Lodge of Czechoslovakia” in Prague. Mucha published the book Zásady a cíle svobodného zednářství (“Principles and Objectives of Freemasonry”).

1924

Mucha published the book Svobodné zednářství (“Freemasonry”).

1926

On the occasion of the 8th Sokol Festival he prepared the festive play Slavic Brethren on the Vltava, containing some motifs from the Slav Epic.

1928

Mucha moved with his family into a newly built villa in Prague-Bubeneč. On 21 September he handed the Slav Epic to Prague. It was displayed in the great hall of the Prague Sample Trade Fairs company.

1931

Commissioned by the Slavia Bank, Mucha designed a window for Hora’s Chapel of St Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle.

1934

He published the book O lásce, rozumu a moudrosti (“On Love, Reason and Wisdom”). He made the painting Píseň (Song) for Prague’s Hlahol Society. The French government promoted him to Officer of the Order of the Legion of Honour.

1936

The Jeu de Paume in Paris witnessed a joint retrospective exhibition of Alphonse Mucha and František Kupka. He published Tři projevy o životě a díle (“Three Talks on Life and Work”) as private printed matter.

1938

He fell ill with pneumonia.

1939

He died on 4 July after interrogation at the hands of the Gestapo. He is buried in the Slavín tomb at Vyšehrad Cemetery.

Without exaggeration, French actress Sarah Bernhardt was Mucha’s femme fatale. He not only rose to fame in France but also in the US by creating a poster, which was absolutely innovative at that time, for her theatrical play Gismonda. This marked a turning point in his career. He managed to render the same motif sensitively for different audiences for both Paris and US productions of the play in diverse forms.

Following the creation of the Paris poster, Sarah Bernhardt established a collaboration with Mucha which lasted for 10 years. He created posters for successful plays at her Théâtre de la Renaissance, as well as stage designs, costumes, jewels and costume designs.

Paris / 1894

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Mucha’s fame spread overseas within a very short period. Notable dailies such as The New York Daily News and The New York Herald celebrated his stay on the American mainland in their front pages. They branded him as the “world’s greatest living decorative artist”.

New York / 1904

An advertising poster created for the Paris – Lyon – Marseille railway company ranked among the most popular and best-known Mucha works. The fitting expression of the depicted woman became a summarising emblem of that period. Owing to being strikingly colourful, it is a popular motif even today and it looks brilliant in a broad range of adaptations.

A reproduction of the Monaco – Monte Carlo poster

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A silk scarf with the Monaco – Monte Carlo motif

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The Slav Epic is undoubtedly the most monumental work of Alphonse Mucha. It is admired by millions of people all around the world. Twenty large-format canvases in which the master of the Art Nouveau style imprinted the history of the Bohemian Slavs and other Slavic peoples. When viewing parts of the Slav Epic that are put in motion and connected into a single unit complemented with story music, you will literary be drawn into a piece of our history.

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Models from posters in motion, the amazing revived storyline of the Slav Epic, Alphonse Mucha speaking from his self-portrait. All of this turns a standard exhibition into unrepeatable moments. Although the enumeration is not complete. In 550 square metres you will find more than two hundred original works by Alphonse Mucha. Most of them will literally draw you into times of more than one hundred years ago.

The use of state-of-the-art technology has literally breathed life into more than one hundred years old posters. Both the models and the other parts of the motifs come alive. Have a look what magic tricks the creators managed to perform using conveniences from the 21st century, and imagine what a lively impression they will give in their original size in the display.

The Precious Stones (1900)

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The Precious Stones (1900)

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The Precious Stones (1900)

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The Precious Stones (1900)

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The Precious Stones (1900)

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The Precious Stones (1900)

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The Precious Stones (1900)

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The Precious Stones (1900)

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unknown

Symphony No. 9 in E minor, "From the New World", Op. 95

Má vlast / Vltava

At Twilight, Idyl

Even though Alphonse Mucha was a master of the pen and brush, he was greatly influenced by the art of music as well. It is not by chance that he handcrafted the painting Pantheon of Czech music, which depicts no less than six notable musical composers. Their selection was associated with the National Revival, the origins of Czech national music and with its success in the United States of America. Let’s remind ourselves who the authors of the timeless and unforgettable compositions are.

One of the most frequent commissions of Alphonse Mucha related to alcoholic drinks, Champagne (Champagne Ruinart, 1896, Moët & Chandon, 1899, Heidsieck & Co, 1901), rum (Fox-Land rhum, 1897), cognac (Cognac Bisquit, 1899), various liquors (La Trappistine, 1897, Bénédictine, 1898), and beer (Bieres de la Meuse, 1897). He devoted some of his best-thought-out posters to them, within which he elaborated on his own version of the transition between the earthly and heavenly spheres, mediated by a slender female figure bringing an effervescent drink to the visitor. Her bent body under the weight of Mucha’s knowledge of medieval art such as Madonnas of the Beautiful style and Madonnas standing on a crescent moon, and Baroque sculpture, especially plague columns (Champagne Ruinart, 1896).

Impérial Brut

Rosé Impérial

Silk scarf with motif of Alfons Muchaʹs artwork – The Precious Stones – Ruby.

110 EUR

Elegant dress made of a very comfortable and soft stretch material.

196 EUR

Silk shawl with motif of Alfons Mucha’s artwork – Monaco Monte-Carlo.

98 EUR

Silk shawl with motif of Alfons Mucha’s artwork – Femmes avec fleurs.

180 EUR

Cappuccino cup with the Job motif.

15 EUR

Silk shawl with motif of Alfons Mucha’s artwork – Zodiac.

98 EUR

The original poster reproduction by Alphonse Mucha - The Arts – Poetry.

27 EUR

The original poster reproduction by Alphonse Mucha - The Arts – Music (1898)

27 EUR

9 August 2020

Work on the world premiere of the “iMucha – famous collection in motion” exhibition at Municipal House is approaching completion. You can look forward to the novel design of both the exhibition rooms and Mucha works in a form in which they have never been on public display before.

31 July 2020

Don’t miss out on the opening of the world premiere of an exhibition that will offer a look at the works of the Czech giant of the Art Nouveau style, Alphonse Mucha, in a unique design. Be among the first visitors, we open on 21 August 2020!

13 July 2020

The amazing and most comprehensive global collection, the foundations of which were laid by Ivan Lendl, a tennis player of Czech origin, attracted an unbelievable 180,000 visitors when being displayed for the first time in Prague in 2013. It has also met with huge success abroad, and has thus far been exhibited in the Italian cities of Milan and Genoa, in New York in the USA and in the South Korean capital of Seoul. More than half a million of people have viewed the collection throughout the world.