Thursday, November 1, 2012

Mucha Documentary


(Video link) This six-part video about Czech-French artist Alphonse Mucha documents his rise as a poster artist, his voyage to America, his gigantic Slav Epics, and his long-lasting influence as a designer.


Episode 2
Episode 3 (at 7:40, a glimpse of his sketchbooks)
Episode 4 (at :50, an explanation of his gridding and tracing)
Episode 5 (at :57, a view of his personal pastels, never exhibited until the 1990s.)
Episode 6 

6 comments:

Rich said...

Wow! Almost too much!

I've got to digest all that documentation: artistical, sociologistical, psychological, amazingistical et al..

Adam Hreha said...

The Slav Epic is truly...epic!

This video really showcases the magnitude of the work. I had no idea how grand it was. The behind-the-scenes commentary was also great. His process reminded me a lot of the golden age illustrators.

Thanks for sharing, James.

Aaron said...

It is my humble opinion, as someone who went to art school for Illustration and graphic design, that Mucha was one of the best, certainly in his era, of combining HIGH quality art with design. Let me clarify that I don't mean just design in a traditional illustration sense (leading the eye, atmospheric design, tonal design) but also in the sense of actual graphic design (layout, grid work, patterning etc.)

FYI- it's almost mid-night here so I'm not sure how much this makes any sense, but whatever =)

Shane White said...

I was lucky enough to see his sketchbooks at the FRYE MUSEUM here in Seattle. Still, would love to see the Slav Epics.

=s=

sewa mobil jakarta said...

Very nice, thanks for sharing.

Jeanne Havlicek said...

creativestorytellers.com/vangogh This is a remarkable visual journey into the mind and living legacy of a great artist. That he was Czech-born is meaningful to me as a second-generation Czech-American, artist and author. I hope that many will view this fine set of documentary episodes and begin to grasp the important role Mucha played in the history of art and the history of the Czech Republic. Well done. www.williamhavlicek.com