A visit to CaixaForum - October 2008
Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939)
We will visit an exhibition of his works at the CaixaForum on Saturday, October 4.
Alfons Maria Mucha was born in the town of Moravia a region of today's Czech Republic. He was a major contributor to the Art Nouveau movement which peaked at the end of 1800's and the beginning of the last century.
This will be our first Saturday event! Here are the arrangements:
- CaixaForum, Marques de Comillas near Plaza d'Espanya.
- Saturday, October 4. We will meet in the main hall, close to the reception desk as from 11.45 for an 12.00 start.
- The visit will finish around 13.15 and it will be in English! Don't worry about English levels for anyone you want to invite. We can all help with translation.
- Early lunch in the Cafe Laie Caixaforum, menu €12.95.
Please let me know by email before Thursday, October 2, 18.00 if you will be coming.
Mucha moved to Paris in 1887, and continued his studies at Académie Julian and Académie Colarossi while also producing magazine and advertising illustrations. Around Christmas 1894, Mucha happened go into a print shop. The shop had just received a last minute order for a new poster to advertise a play starring Sarah Bernhardt, the most famous actress in Paris at the time, at the Theatre de la Renaissance.
Mucha volunteered to produce a lithographed poster within two weeks, and on 1 January 1895, the advertisement for Gismonda appeared on the streets of the city. It was an overnight sensation and announced the new artistic style and its creator to the citizens of Paris. Bernhardt was so satisfied with the success of that first poster that she entered into a 6 year contract with Mucha.
Mucha produced a huge quantity of paintings, posters, advertisements, and book illustrations, as well as designs for jewellery, carpets, wallpaper, and theatre sets in what was initially called the Mucha Style but became know as Art Nouveau.
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