Alphonse Mucha: In the Quest of Beauty

Delightful exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool looking at the life and work of Aphonse Mucha the illustrator and artist.

These works are so over the top Art Nouveau that it is easy to forget that Mucha was a pioneer and inspirer of the style not the clichéd follower we tend to view his as now. I loved the section looking at his early work designing posters for Sarah Bernardt which became so famous they were stolen from hoardings. I liked the rather Norse poster for Hamlet.

There was also a good section on his advertising work with lovely examples of packaging and posters. He was a pioneer of brand recognition through his work with the biscuit maker Lefvre-Utile creating biscuit tins, labels and boxes. The show stresses that he was an egalitarian artist as his work was see by everyone in the streets so it had a wide influence.

The show looked at Mucha’s influence across with a heavy emphasis on the local Della Robbia Pottery Company based in Birkenhead. It also looked at his friendships with Rodin and Gaugin and included a wonderful photograph of Gaugin playing the harmonium with no trousers on.

The last section looked at his political work after he returned to Bohemia in 1910 using his art to campaign for the country’s political freedom including his designs for a fresco for the municipal house in Prague.

Closed on 29 October 2017

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