Appreciating Alphons Mucha

By Sophia La Fleur

I'm not sure when I first discovered Alfons Maria Mucha, but I do remember my freshman year of high school being a whirlwind of Hans Christian Anderson, Gerda Wegner, Geoffery Chaucer, and Mucha. These four people inspired me more than any other (super dead) person at the time. They stuck with me.

Before I left for Prague I started an oil painting inspired by the work of Alfons Mucha, and now, as I walk through an exhibit full of him and his work, I can feel what first drew him to me again. People have always inspired me more than any other subject.  I think that's how Mucha felt too.  He understood that people are the most expressive tool to convey a message to his audience. There's nothing like it. In his work, spring is a woman. Sorrow is a woman. We feel what she feels when we look into her eyes, when we see her hands and her body. In his advertising work the eyes draw people in, they tempt the onlooker with a mischievous and knowing smile. Some depict the time of day only with a woman peacefully drifting off into slumber or a pair of softly closing eyes and a blanket being pulled on. One says, "Russia Must Recover", but proves this with a single griefstricken woman cradling her child. What else is there but people?

None of that is to mention how exciting his work is. Every composition is packed full with detail, but it never distracts from his main subject. The background is a frame for his subject, beautiful and intricate but still only an accent. Every poster is a portal. To a world. To a feeling. To a season or time. He was one of the most sought after graphic designers because his work showed people a world where they wanted to be and a product that could get them there. He was sought after for the interior of many buildings in Prague for the same reason. It's what made him a fantastic historical painter as well. 

The exhibit itself shows his work in a different way than many galleries would and includes korunas he designed, his postcards, stamps, posters, (my personal favorite) the photographs he worked from. I would still recommend the St. Vitus Cathedral for any true Mucha fan as well as the gallery. The gallery also contains two other floors with the work of Andy Warhol and Salvador Dali.