Artist:                     Alphonese Mucha (1860-1939), Czechoslovakian

Title:                       “Automne” ¹

Date:                       ca. 1900

Medium:                Engraved Printing Block

Materials:              Wood Base, Engraved Signed Image on Metal Plate, attached to the wooden base

Markings:              Signature engraved on the lower left corner

Dimensions:          5-7/16” x 2-5/16” x 15/16

Framed:                  No

Provenance:          Mr. Prince acquired the item in an Antique Store in Zagreb, Yugoslavia in 1963, during the period of when he was designing the newly Esplanada Inter-Continental Hotel in Zegreb. This item was located in a dusty, old wooden box, with other Printing Blocks, that Mr. Prince also acquired. The owner of the Store was considered these items with little or no value and did not recognize the importance of this Mucha Engraved Printing Block. As to the owner was under the consideration to discard these old, dusty blocks for fuel in his fireplace for heat.  

Footnote¹:             The Alphones Mucha Foundation has been notified of this artwork, which the Neal A. Prince Trust currently holds within its collections.

Alphones Mucha (1860-1939), Czechoslovakian Republic

Alfons Mucha was born in the town of Ivančice, Southern Moravia, a small provincial town which is now located in the Political Region known as the Czech Republic. He started his artistic career as an autodidact. Alfons Mucha had a vocational training in stage decorations in Vienna from 1879 to 1881. In the evening he attended a class in drawing. After a few occasional commissions for decorative paintings, he went to Munich in Southern Bavaria. Here he studied at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts from 1885 until 1887. After Munich, Mr. Mucha moved to the "mecca" of arts world, being Paris. Here he studied with different teachers. He lived in modest conditions and could survive with small commissions from books and newspaper illustrations. For a short period time he shared a studio, with Paul Gauguin. In December 1894 Mucha became well known with a commission for a poster for the actress, Sarah Bernard. Ms. Sarah Bernard was a celebrity of her time. His poster design for the play, “Gismonda” became a sensation in Paris. He received an exclusive contract for six consecutive years by the actress due to his deepest love for his great success for the “Gismonda” poster. In the following years, he not only designed all her posters, but her theater decorations and costumes as well. During this period, the artist was overwhelmed with commissions for various commercial print advertising, by being his “Style”. By this time, Mr. Mucha had developed his own personal artistic style - characterized by Art Nouveau elements, tender colors and bycantine decorative elements. And all his elements were ranked around images of fairy like young women with long hair and splendid, refined costumes. In the coming years, this type of female images became his trademark. Mr. Mucha began to use the lithography technology as his preferred printing technique for his posters. The posters are usually signed in the block. Some of his posters were produced as sets, like “The Four Seasons”. These complete sets represent among the most searched works of art in the world, as the public began to recognition Mr. Mucha style as it flourished. In 1890, Mr. Mucha had his first one man show in Paris, with 448 works on display from various disciplines and mannerism. His works of art were not confined to the print media. He designed tissues, stamps and even bank bills. In 1897, Mr. Mucha accepted a commission to design the famous poster today, known as the “Champagne Ruinart of Rheims”. This commercial poster was a great success. In 1899, he designed the series “The Times of the Day”, which the Trust holds the “Nocturnal Slumber” poster from the series. In 1900 he received a commission by the Austrian government to decorate the Austrian pavilion for the World Fair in Paris of 1900. Also in 1900, Mr. Mucha designed the “Automne” image, which the Neal Prince Trust holds the Engraved Print Block within its collection. He became also active in designing jewelry. Between 1904 and 1921 Mucha traveled frequently to the United States. He took commissions in the United States and taught art at art academies in New York and Chicago. Mr. Mucha also developed further relationships with American Artist and further influences such artist as Francis Luis Mora. In 1939 the German Nazis occupied Czechoslovakia. The popularity of the artist made him a serious target to attack by the German Gestapo, by which the Nazi secret police arrested him, interrogated him at length, and then released in a state of poor health. Shortly afterwards, Alphonse Mucha died on July 14, 1939 in Prague.