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      The Spirit of Art Nouveau Awakens in Australia’s Biggest Alphonse Mucha Exhibition

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      Organic, sinuous lines, with vines snaking around stylized letters, ethereal women with flowing tresses, and botanical borders characterize the style of Art Nouveau, the enduringly popular movement that to this day adorns drawings, posters, notebook covers, and even tarot card decks. But where does the  style come from and why is it still so enduringly popular today?
      The answer can be found In the new exhibition, “Alphonse Mucha: Spirit of Art Nouveau,” on view through September 22 at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. Billed as one of the most comprehensive presentations of Mucha’s art to date, the show features more than 200 works from drawings and photography to lithographs, sculptures, and paintings drawn from the Mucha Family Collection through the Mucha Foundation in Prague.
      Self-portrait with posters for Sarah Bernhardt at Mucha’s studio in rue du Val-de-Grâce, Paris, c1901 © Mucha Trust 2024
      Born in 1860 in Ivančice in South Moravia in today’s Czech Republic, the Czech artist rose to fame at the turn of the 20th century in his adopted home in Paris, where he arrived in 1887 as a student at the Académe Julian. He began working as an illustrator in 1889 for publishers in Paris and Prague, while dapping into designing posters, stage, and costumes.
      In 1895, Mucha’s poster for the play Gismonda starring celebrated French actress Sarah Bernhardt brought him instant stardom. Bernhardt reportedly loved the poster and exclaimed: “Monsieur Mucha, you have made me immortal.”
      Alphonse Mucha, Gismonda (1894) colour lithograph, 216 x 74.2 cm © Mucha Trust 2024.
      The work made Mucha immortal, too. The distinctive drawing style and shape of the work was hailed as the birth of “Style Mucha,” characterized by the tendril-like lines and soft pastel colors. “The purpose of my work was never to destroy but always to create, to construct bridges,” he once said. The invention of a new visual language seen in his Art Nouveau posters, illustrations, and decorative panels, made Mucha a central figure of the art movement.
      Throughout his eventful life, Mucha encountered many other key cultural figures at the time. He was friends with Paul Gauguin, with whom he said a studio, and Swedish playwright August Strindberg, with whom he practiced occult ceremonies. He also journeyed to the U.S., taught at the Art Institute of Chicago until 1909 before returning to his home country and started working on his The Slav Epic project.
      Alphonse Mucha, The Slav Epic XX: Apotheosis Slavs for Humanity (1926) (detail) egg tempera and oil on canvas, 480 x 405 cm © Mucha Trust 2024
      Considered to be the most important work by Mucha, The Slav Epic consists of a series of 20 monumental canvases measured by 19 feet x 26 feet depicting the history and civilization of the Slav people. From conceiving the idea in 1899  to its final completion in 1926, Mucha dedicated his career to the project, which was a symbol of his devotion to the culture and his people. The series was gifted to the nation in 1928 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Czechoslovakia’s independence from the Austria-Hungary Empire.
      In 1939, he was arrested and interrogated by the Gestapo over his alleged Masonic and Slavic nationalist activities when Germany invaded Czechoslovakia. He was released but died shortly afterwards.
      More images from the exhibition below.
      Installation view of the “Alphonse Mucha: Spirit of Art Nouveau” exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, 15 June 22 September 2024, photo © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Diana Panuccio
      Alphonse Mucha, The Seasons: Summer (1896), color lithograph, 103 x 54 cm © Mucha Trust 2024.
      Installation view of the “Alphonse Mucha: Spirit of Art Nouveau” exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, 15 June 22 September 2024, photo © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Diana Panuccio
      Alphonse Mucha, Poster for JOB cigarette papers (1896), colour lithograph, 66.7 x 46.4 cm © Mucha Trust 2024
      Installation view of the “Alphonse Mucha: Spirit of Art Nouveau” exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, 15 June 22 September 2024, photo © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Diana Panuccio
      Alphonse Mucha, Reverie (1898), color lithograph, 72.7 x 55.2 cm © Mucha Trust 2024
      Alphonse Mucha, Princess Hyacinth (1911), color lithograph 125.5 x 83.5 cm © Mucha Trust 2024
      Alphonse Mucha, La Nature’c1900, patinated bronze and malachite, 70 x 27 x 28 cm © Mucha Trust 2024

      Alphonse Mucha, Poster for Slavia Mutual Saving Bank, Prague (1907), color lithograph, 54 x 36 cm © Mucha Trust
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      in Exhibitions

      A New Show of Collage by African-American Artists Finds Multiplicity in Black Identity

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      A museum exhibition opening in the nation’s capital this summer explores the ways that Black artists use the century-old medium of collage to treat subjects ranging from national heritage to sexual orientation, from notions of beauty to fragmentation and reconstruction. 
      “Multiplicity: Blackness in Contemporary American Collage” is billed as the first major museum exhibition devoted to contemporary collage and exploring the wide range of Black experience and identity in the U.S.
      Paul Anthony Smith, The Tales of Tourism (2022-2023). Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, © Paul Anthony Smith.
      Taking place at the Phillips Collection, in Washington, D.C., it comprises more than 60 works by a multigenerational cohort of some 45 artists. The show was organized by the Frist Art Museum, in Nashville, Tennessee.
      Derek Fordjour, Airborne Double (2022). Courtesy of the artist, David Kordansky Gallery, and Petzel Gallery. Photo: Daniel Greer. © Derek Fordjour.
      “Multiplicity” includes a pantheon of stars including Sanford Biggers, Mark Bradford, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Lauren Halsey, Rashid Johnson, Kerry James Marshall, Wangechi Mutu, Howardena Pindell, Lorna Simpson, Mickalene Thomas, and Kara Walker. 
      Lester Julian Merriweather, Moment (from #BetterGardensAndJungles) (2017). Courtesy of the artist, © Lester Julian Merriweather.
      “Twenty-first-century collage is an arguably understudied and undervalued medium, especially in museum exhibitions,” explained Katie Delmez, senior curator at the Frist Art Museum and the exhibition’s curator. “‘Multiplicity’ is an opportunity to spotlight the formal complexity and vibrancy of the technique and to assert its contributions to the field through the lens of some of today’s leading artists.”
      Kara Walker, Divining Rod (2007). Courtesy Sikkema Jenkins & Co., © Kara Walker.
      Collage originated with French Cubists and German Dada artists a century ago, and the tradition has been taken up in innovative ways by African-American artists such as Romare Bearden, David C. Driskell, Jacob Lawrence, and Faith Ringgold. Some of the artists in “Multiplicity,” like Mutu and Deborah Roberts, principally work in collage, while it’s just a part of the practice of many of the others. 
      Howardena Pindell, Untitled #3C (2009). Courtesy of the artist and Garth Greenan Gallery, © Howardena Pindell.
      “The exhibition asserts that collage parallels how identity is constructed with a multitude of elements that create a singular whole,” said Adrienne L. Childs, senior consulting curator at the Phillips Collection and organizing curator for the presentation in Washington. “The process of merging form and content aptly represents Black life. The artists create multifaceted works through the meaningful use of objects from their own lives that reflect their experiences and concerns.”
      Lorna Simpson, 4 Walls (2023). Courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth, © Lorna Simpson.
      A catalog further explores some of the ideas in the exhibition and includes essays by contributors such as UCLA African art assistant professor Tiffany Barber, Boston University art historian emerita Patricia Hills, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts curator Valerie Cassel Oliver, and Duke University art historian Richard J. Powell.
      “Multiplicity: Blackness in Contemporary American Collage” will be on view at the Phillips Collection, 1600 21st Street, NW, Washington, D.C.m July 6–September 22.
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