Alphonse Mucha

Alfons Maria Mucha (24 July 1860 – 14 July 1939) is usually known throughout the world as Alphonse Mucha. He  was a Czech-born artist, and proudly so, but he crucially lived in Paris during the Art Nouveau period. He is still known today for his beautiful decorative theatrical posters especially those which featured the actress Sarah Bernhardt. Indeed reproductions of which still adorn many a wall today.

Initially with a borrowed camera Mucha started to take photographs probably in Vienna around 1880. However it wasn’t until he gained some recognition in Paris and enough money that he bought his first camera. As the mere recognition became fame he moved to a much larger studio on the Rue du Val de Grace. With the bigger windows and much more light, he started photographing prolifically and almost every day.

After 1896 he began to photograph his models posing for his illustrations. His atmospheric studio would become an incredible back drop to these photographs. In the background of the photos we can see his not inconsiderable collection of objets d’art, artefacts, books and furniture. In Mucha’s Parisian heyday there was almost a queue of Parisian artists, writers and musicians. Not only that the Rue du Val de Grace studio became the place of one of the earliest cinematic projections of the famous Lumiere Brothers who he had met in 1895.