MA Thesis: Alfons Mucha's le style Mucha: A Secessionist Style Built on National Messianism

The ethnic groups of Austria-Hungary in 1910. Based on "Distribution of Races in Austria-Hungary" from the Historical Atlas by William R. Shepherd, 1911

Alfons Mucha, The Seasons: Summer, 1896

Alfons Mucha, Poster for Job Cigarette Paper, 1896

Mikoláš Aleš, Design for the Title Page of the Old Czech Manuscript Královédvorský, 1883

Alfons Mucha, Slet Všesokolský (Poster for the Sixth Annual Sokol Festival), 1912

Alfons Mucha, Loterie Národní Jednoty pro Jihozápadní Moravu (Poster for the Lottery of the Union of Southwestern Moravia), 1912

Alfons Mucha, Poster for Slavia Mutual Insurance Bank, 1907

Alfons Mucha, Jarní Slavnosti Pěvecké a Hudební Praze (Spring Festival of Song and Music at Prague), 1914

Stanisław Wyspiański, Polonia, 1894

Osvald Polívka and Antonín Balšánek, Obecní Dům (Municipal House) Exterior, 1910-12

Alfons Mucha, Primátorský sál (The Lord Mayor's Hall) ceiling view, in Obecní Dům (The Municipal House), 1911

Alfons Mucha, Study for Allegory of Prague: Prague Subjugated, in Primátorský Sál (The Lord Mayor’s Hall) in Obecní Dům (The Municipal House), 1911

Alfons Mucha, Ostražitost (Vigilance) – Chodové, in Primátorský Sál (The Lord Mayor’s Hall) in Obecní Dům (The Municipal House), 1911

Alfons Mucha, Three Murals in Primátorský sál (The Lord Mayor's Hall), in Obecní Dům (The Municipal House), 1911

Alfons Mucha, The Slav Epic Cycle No.1: The Slavs in Their Original Homeland, 1912

Alfons Mucha, Le Pater, Title Page, 1899

Alfons Mucha, Bosnia Offers Her Products to the World Exhibition, 1900

Alfons Mucha, The Slav Epic Cycle No.5: The Bohemian King Přemysl Otakar II: The Union of the Slavic Dynasties, 1924

Alfons Mucha, The Slav Epic Cycle No.18: The Oath of Omladina under the Slavic Linden Tree, 1926

Alfons Mucha, The Slav Epic Cycle No.20: The Apotheosis of the Slavs, Slavs for Humanity, 1926

Alfons Mucha, The Light of Hope, 1933

Alfons Mucha, Study for “The Age of Wisdom” (2nd Version), 1936-38

MA Thesis, February 2019

Abstract: The typical study of art nouveau during the fin-de-siecle has been presented as an international, Pan-European movement, one that differed in name from place to place, but not in ideals. Very seldom does this scholarship extend further to investigate the political, theoretical, and ideological concerns of the artists. This thesis looks at the Czech artist Alfons Mucha (1860-1939), a central figure in art nouveau, and redefine his work; to uncover the political, nationalist allegories hidden within. While Mucha’s work was thought to belong to (and defined) the Parisian school of l’art nouveau, in reality, Mucha’s identity as a Czech artist brings his work closer to the Czech Secesse—the Bohemian version of the Austrian Sezessionsstil—which drew on the same practices of symbolism that Mucha employed. In order to realign le style Mucha with secessionism, I have relied on reading Mucha’s posters and paintings through the lens of ethno-symbolism and nationalism, which he often used to further his nationalist messianist views for the ideal future of a Slavic state. This national messianist lens has brought Mucha’s work into close conversation with the literature that came out of the Czech National Revival during the first half of the nineteenth century. Mucha's work defined as a nationalist endeavor embodies secessionism through a dual identity; secession from an established art academy and secession from an imperial regime.

Keywords: Alfons Mucha, Czech National Revival, Habsburg, Austro-Hungarian Empire, Czechoslovaka, secession, art nouveau, Pan-Slavism, Jan Kollár, Slav Epic, The Lord Mayor’s Hall, Sokol Foundation, Johann Gottfried von Herder, ethno-symbolism, ethnie, collective memory, allegory, national messianism.