Alphonse Maria Mucha is most often remembered for
the prominent role he played in shaping the aesthetics of French Art
Nouveau at the turn of the century. As a struggling and relatively
unknown artist of Czech origin living in Paris, Mucha achieved
immediate fame when, in December 1894, he accepted a commission to
create a poster for one of the greatest actresses of this time, Sarah
Bernhardt. Though the printer was apprehensive about submitting
Mucha´s final design because of its new unconventional style,
Bernhardt loved it and so did the public. ´Le style Mucha´,
as Art Nouveau was known in its earliest days, was born. The success of
that first poster brought a 6 years contract between Bernhardt and
Mucha and in the following years his work for her and others included
costumes and stage decorations, designs for magazines and book covers,
jewellery and furniture and numerous posters. Mucha returned to
Czechoslovakia in 1910, where he dedicated the remainder of his life to
the production of a an epic series of 20 paintings depicting the
history of the Slav people, the Slav Epic.
