Art Nouveau Artist Alphonse Mucha: Google Homepage Logo Celebrates His 150th Birthday (video) « Frugal Café Blog Zone

Art Nouveau Artist Alphonse Mucha: Google Homepage Logo Celebrates His 150th Birthday (video)

Posted By on July 24, 2010

Google homepage celebrates Art Nouveau artist Alphonse Mucha's 150th birthday

Revolutionary Czech Art Nouveau artist Alphonse Maria Mucha was born at Ivancice in South Moravia on July 24, 1860 to the family of Ondfiej Mucha, who was a court usher. Today, Google celebrates on its homepage Mucha’s 150th birthday with a Google logo drawn in his distinctive, hauntingly beautiful and sensuous art style.

Alphonse Mucha's 'Moon'

From Olga’s Gallery, Alphonse Mucha Biography:

Alphonse (Alfons) Mucha (1860-1939) was a prolific Moravian painter of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries and a key figure in the Art Nouveau movement. His style of painting influenced an entire generation of painters, graphic artists, draughtsmen and designers and in the minds of many, his work epitomizes the Art Nouveau. He himself came to resent his fame as an artist of the utilitarian, believing that true art should be elevated and epic.

Alfons Mucha was born on July 24, 1860, in the town of Ivancice, Moravia, then part of Austro-Hungary. His father was a court usher, and the family had but modest means. The future painter was raised in an atmosphere of strict Roman Catholicism, and this would later be reflected in the symbolism he employed in his work.

From Wikipedia:

…Mucha produced a flurry 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 known as Art Nouveau (French for ‘new art’). Mucha’s works frequently featured beautiful, robust young women in flowing vaguely Neoclassical looking robes, often surrounded by lush flowers which sometimes formed haloes behind the women’s heads. In contrast with contemporary poster makers he used pale pastel colors. The 1900 Universal Exhibition in Paris spread the “Mucha style” internationally, of which Mucha said “I think [the Exposition Universelle] made some contribution toward bringing aesthetic values into arts and crafts.” He decorated the Bosnia and Herzegovina Pavilion and collaborated in the Austrian Pavilion. His Art Nouveau style was often imitated. The Art Nouveau style however, was one that Mucha attempted to distance himself from throughout his life; he always insisted that rather than adhering to any fashionable stylistic form, his paintings came purely from within and Czech art.

He declared that art existed only to communicate a spiritual message, and nothing more; hence his frustration at the fame he gained through commercial art, when he most wanted to concentrate on more lofty projects that would ennoble art and his birthplace.

Alphonse Mucha – Art Nouveau Visionary (Trailer)

 

Alphonse (Alfons) Maria Mucha

 

Mucha – A Tribute

 

From BPIB, Mucha Biography:

…Living above a Cremerie that catered to art students, drawing illustrations for popular (ie. low-paying) magazines, getting deathly ill and living on lentils and borrowed money, Mucha met all the criteria. It was everything an artist’s life was supposed to be. Some success, some failure. Friends abounded and art flourished. It was the height of Impressionism and the beginnings of the Symbolists and Decadents. He shared a studio with Gauguin for a bit after his first trip to the south seas. Mucha gave impromptu art lessons in the Cremerie and helped start a traditional artists ball, Bal des Quat’z Arts. All the while he was formulating his own theories and precepts of what he wanted his art to be.

On January 1, 1895, he presented his new style to the citizens of Paris. Called upon over the Christmas holidays to created a poster for Sarah Bernhardt’s play, Gismonda, he put his precepts to the test. The poster, (see below), was the declaration of his new art. Spurning the bright colors and the more squarish shape of the more popular poster artists, the near life-size design was a sensation.

Art Nouveau (“New Art” in French) can trace its beginnings to about this time. Based on precepts akin to William Morris’ Arts and Crafts movement in England, the attempt was to eradicate the dividing line between art and audience. Everything could and should be art. Burne-Jones designed wallpaper, Hector Guimard designed metro stations, and Mucha designed champagne advertising (at right) and stage sets. Each country had its own name for the new approach and artists of incredible skill and vision flocked to the movement.

Overnight, Mucha’s name became a household word and, though his name is often used synonymously with the new movement in art, he disavowed the connection. Like Sinatra, he merely did it “my way.” His way was based on a strong composition, sensuous curves derived from nature, refined decorative elements and natural colors. The Art Nouveau precepts were used, too, but never at the expense of his vision. Bernhardt signed him to a six year contract to design her posters and sets and costumes for her plays. Mucha was an overnight success at the age of 34, after seven years of hard work in Paris.

Alphonse Mucha's 'Spring' -- painted in 1896

 

Close-up and full-length Mucha print of his celebrated 1895 poster for actress Sarah Bernhardt's play 'Gismonda'

 

Alphonse Mucha's 'Poetry,' from the Arts Series -- painted in 1898

 

Mucha's 'Dance' - painted in 1898

 

Mucha's 'The Abolition of Serfdom in Russia (1861)' -- painted in 1914

 

Assortment of previous Google home page doodle logos:

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I'm a conservative frugalist. My priorities: Watchdogging the government, making sure our tax dollars are spent wisely, living within our budgets (at home and in Washington, DC), and adhering to our Constitution and the conservative principles upon which it was developed by our founding fathers. Also, loving God, my family, and my country. Be wise, be frugal. God bless America!      

Comments

3 Responses to “Art Nouveau Artist Alphonse Mucha: Google Homepage Logo Celebrates His 150th Birthday (video)”

  1. All Around the World News says:
    July 24, 2010 at 9:12 AM

    Art Nouveau Artist Alphonse Mucha: Google Homepage Logo Celebrates ……

  2. Art Nouveau Artist Alphonse Mucha: Google Homepage Logo Celebrates … | the Day after Buzz says:
    July 24, 2010 at 11:22 AM

    [...] Follow this link: Art Nouveau Artist Alphonse Mucha: Google Homepage Logo Celebrates … [...]

  3. Larry says:
    July 24, 2010 at 1:59 PM

    Very interesting post. Worth seeing and learning.

    Thanks!

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