Biography

ALPHONSE MUCHA (1860-1939)

1860	Born on July 24 in Ivančice, South Moravia.
1879	Mucha left for Vienna to work as a scene painter.
1883	He was invited by Count Khuen Belasi to create decorations for the Emmahof Chateau.
1885	Mucha, sponsored by Count Khuen Belasi, started studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich.
1887	Mucha left for Paris to pursue studies at Académie Julian in Paris.
1892	Mucha was commissioned to illustrate Charles Seignobos’s Scènes et épisodes de l’histoire d’Allemagne.
1894	Mucha designed his first poster for Sarah Bernhardt starring as Gismonda in Vic-tor Sardou’s drama. This success led to a 6-year contract with “the divine Sarah”.
1896	Mucha’s first decorative panels – The Four Seasons – were printed.
1897	In February, his first solo exhibition in Bodinière Gallery in Paris took place, presenting 107 Mucha’s works, which was followed, in May, by an exhibition in Salon de Cent, exhibiting 448 works. A selection from the latter exhibition was presented in the Topič Salon in Prague.
1899	Mucha accepted the Austro-Hungarian government’s commission to participate in the Exposition Universelle of 1900 in Paris.
1900	Mucha started his work on the design for the Fouquet Jewellery Shop in Paris, producing one of the most outstanding Art-Nouveau interiors.
1902	Documents Décoratifs, an artist handbook, was published.
1905	Figures Décoratifs were published.
1906	Mucha left for the United States where he worked as a teacher and at the same time painted a number of portraits.
1910	Mucha returned to Prague to work on his Slav Epic.
1911	Mucha completed the decoration of the Mayor’s Hall in Prague’s Municipal House, which was the last significant work of art in the Art-Nouveau style in Prague.
1918	Mucha designed postage stamps and banknotes for the newly established Czechoslovak Republic.
1921	A successful exhibition of Mucha’s works in the Brooklyn Museum in New York.
1928	The completed Slav Epic cycle was officially presented to the Czech people and the City of Prague.
1931	Mucha designed a stained-glass window for St. Vitus’ Cathedral in Prague.
1939	After the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, Mucha was one of the first arrested by the Gestapo. Although he was allowed to return home, his state of health deteriorated rapidly and on July 14, 1939, he died in Prague. Mucha was buried in the Vyšehrad cemetery Slavín.