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ALPHONSE MUCHA (1860-1939)
110
●
ACADEMIE COLAROSSI / COURS MUCHA. 1900.
27
1
/
4
x13 inches, 69
1
/
2
x33 cm.
Condition B: replaced losses in margins, affecting upper text; minor creases and abrasions at edges; small
stain in upper left corner. Mounted on paper. Matted and framed. Unexamined out of frame.
Amongst Mucha’s other varied traits resided a love of teaching, as can be seen in a photograph from
La
Plume
in the special issue devoted to his work (p. 78), where he is found surrounded by students in his
studio. He briefly taught a drawing course at James Whistler’s Académie Carmen and then began a
course on the composition of decorative art. He even designed a poster, which was never printed,
advertising that these classes would be in his studio (see Mucha Grand Palais 27). Perhaps because there
wasn’t enough room in his studio, he wound up teaching his class at the Academie Colarossi, where he
himself had been a student. To advertise the classes, he designed a small poster in two colors depicting
a face in profile, with thick outlines evoking a stained glass design, similar to those he created for the
jeweler Fouquet. Mucha did not design the typography in the bottom text panel.
RARE
. We have found
no other copy at auction since 1988. Lendl p. 145, Brno 24, Rennert / Weill 75, Mucha Grand Palais
183, Darmstadt 219, Mucha / Henderson 67, Mucha / Bridges A18.
[1,500/2,000]
ALPHONSE MUCHA (1860-1939)
111
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DOCUMENTS DÉCORATIFS. Group of 10 plates. 1902.
Sizes vary. [Emile Levy, Paris.]
Condition varies, generally A. Matted and framed. Unexamined out of frames.
Mucha had a privileged relationship with the Librairie Centrale des Beaux-Arts, the publishers of the
Documents Décoratifs
. When he arrived in Paris in 1890, they were among the first to give him commissions
for illustrations. They also published his key theoretical essays, the
Documents Lithographiques
and the
Combinaisons Ornementales
, which is rightly considered to be the bible of Art Nouveau decorative
elements. In this portfolio, Mucha, who was at the height of his artistic career, shows examples of jewelry,
furniture and silverware, and illustrates how to draw women and flowers, in all cases brilliantly
demonstrating his stylistic prowess. It “authoritatively set down the precepts of Art Nouveau and its
decorative elements” (Rennert / Weill p. 288). Includes pl. 3, 19, 30, 31, 32, 33, 36, 40, 41 and 45.
Mucha Grand Palais no. 281-297, Spirit of Art Nouveau 123, Lendl p. 247-250.
[1,000/1,500]
111