Defining Art Nouveau, or Alfons Maria Mucha's le style Mucha
Seminar Paper; DECEMBER 2014
Abstract: During the 1890s, Europe saw a multitude of artistic changes all rooted in the ideas of modernity. Some of these changes found themselves tied together in the Pan-European classification of Art Nouveau. The Art Nouveau style can be defined through a study of Alfons Maria Mucha (1860-1939), paying specific attention to his various cultural art influences (Japanese, Near East, Byzantine, Czech folk tradition) that gave his work a deeper level than mere decoration and his crossover between a designer, painter, sculptor, and craftsman. By identifying Mucha as the ‘Master of Art Nouveau’ we can correct the assumption of the first Art Nouveau revival of the 1960s that this style was solely ornamental and instead give credibility to the claim that Art Nouveau contains deep symbolic and aesthetic expression.