An exhibition on Alphonse Mucha in Bologna, with works coming to Italy for the first time

The Alphonse Mucha exhibition, entirely dedicated to the great artist Alphonse Mucha (Ivančice, 1860 - Prague, 1939), is on view from September 29, 2018 to January 20, 2019 in Bologna’s Palazzo Pallavicini, showcasing eighty of his works, twenty-seven of which are being exhibited in Italy for the first time. The exhibition, curated by Tomoko Sato (who is curator of the Mucha Foundation) is organized by Chiara Campagnoli, Rubens Fogacci and Deborah Petroni of Pallavicini srl in collaboration with the Mucha Foundation. The idea of the exhibition is to offer a glimpse into the work of Mucha, one of the most celebrated artists of fin-de-siècle Paris, known to most for his graphic works and for his style, known as the “Mucha style,” characterized by harmonious compositions, sinuous forms, references to nature and calm colors, which soon became one of the most recognizable symbols of Art Nouveau.

The Bologna exhibition, with works selected from those of the Mucha Foundation, includes some of the artist’s most iconic works, such as posters and billboards from his Parisian period, and also aims to delve into the artistic language with which Alphonse Mucha expressed his nationalism once he returned to his homeland in the last years of his life. Three sections make up the exhibition: Women - Icons and Muses, The Style Mucha - A Visual Language, Beauty - The Power of Inspiration.

Women - Iconsand Muses, opens with Gismonda, the first real poster designed by Mucha for Sarah Bernhardt. In his depiction of the greatest French actress of the period, the Czech artist transformed the “divine Sarah” into a Byzantine goddess. The poster received immediate praise as soon as it appeared on billboards in Paris on January 1, 1895: its visual impact, with its elegant elongated shape and delicate pastel tones that made the actress’s image sublime and its balance between simplicity and detail, was impressive in its originality. Delighted by the success of this poster, Bernhardt offered Mucha a contract to produce the stage sets and costumes, as well as all the posters for her plays. During this contract, which lasted from 1895 to 1900, Mucha produced six more posters for Bernhardt’s plays, including The Lady of the Camellias (1896), Lorenzaccio (1896), and The Samaritan Woman (1897). The success of Gismonda also brought Mucha numerous commissions to design advertising posters, including those for famous brands such as JOB (cigarette paper), Lefèvre-Utile (cookies) and Waverley (American bicycles). The section mainly includes two groups of works: theatrical posters about Sarah Bernhardt and advertising posters for commercial products. Close study of these works explores Mucha’s artistic strategies, especially his use of beautiful women as icons and vehicles for commercial messages. The exhibition also includes some packaging and magazine covers.

The second section delves into Mucha’s style: during his era, the concept of “art” underwent profound transformations with the advent of modernism, and so did the classical notion of “beauty,” one of the foundations of art, which was tested and mutated to embrace new ideas and forms. At such a time of turmoil, Mucha began his research into the universal and immutable value of art and came to the conclusion that the ultimate goal of art was the expression of beauty, which he believed could only be achieved through harmony between internal content (ideas, messages) and external forms. As he wrote in his professor’s notes, which were published posthumously as Lectures on Art (1975), the artist’s role is to inspire people through the harmonious beauty of his works and to elevate their quality of life through his art. To achieve this goal, Mucha developed a particular and characteristic artistic formula, a new communicative language, which used the image of a woman, a symbol of his message of beauty, together with flowers and other decorative elements, drawn from the Czech folkloric tradition and other exotic cultures. For Mucha, ornamental posters(panneaux décoratifs) were the ideal medium to realize his aspiration. First introduced by Mucha and his publisher Champenois, these posters were for the most part textless and made for purely decorative purposes; produced in large quantities they were soon available to a wide segment of the public, thus becoming an alternative art form that could be sported by even the most ordinary families. Of these posters, Mucha later wrote, “I was happy to be involved in an art form intended for the people and not just for elegant drawing rooms. Inexpensive art, accessible to the general public and which found a home in the poorest homes as well as in the most influential circles.” The section presents some of Mucha’s decorative posters and explores the ideas behind these works, studying the characteristics of his stylistic signature. It also includes Mucha’s seminal decoration manuals, Documents Décoratifs (1902) and Figures Décoratives (1905).

Closing the exhibition is the section on Beauty: Mucha returned to his homeland in 1910 to realize his dream of actively working for the political freedom of his country, a commitment that culminated in the creation of his artwork, Epopea Slava (1912-1926) and other works intended to inspire the spiritual unity of the Slavic peoples. The final section shows examples of Mucha’s later works, exploring how Mucha’s style had evolved into the art of message creation. Works on display in the latter section include studies for the decoration of the then-new Prague City Hall, as well as the poster for the Slavic Epic exhibition held in Prague and Brno on the tenth anniversary of the birth of Czechoslovakia.

Exhibition opening hours: Thursday through Sunday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. (closed Monday through Wednesday). The ticket office closes one hour earlier. Special openings on Dec. 26, Dec. 31 (last admission at 4 p.m.), Jan. 1 (opening at 2 p.m.), Jan. 2. Tickets: full 13 euros, concessions 11 euros (children and young people aged 6 to 18 years and under, over 65 with ID, students up to 26 years and under with ID, military personnel with ID, tour guides with ID, practicing journalists and publicists with ID regularly registered with theOrder, disabled companions in the company of the disabled, ICOM members with card), reduced groups (minimum 15 people) 10 euros, reduced schools 5 euros, free for one companion per group, two companions per school group, children under 6, disabled. Conventions: 9 euros for Bologna Welcome and Bologna Card Musei holders, university students on Thursdays. Ticket for parents with children aged 6 to 18: 10 euros.

Image: Alphonse Mucha, Reverie (1897; © 2018 Mucha Foundation)

An exhibition on Alphonse Mucha in Bologna, with works coming to Italy for the first time

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