Date: c. 1900
Size: 7 x 7 inches
Artist: Alphonse Maria Mucha
About The Poster: Alphonse Maria Mucha (1860-1939) is most often remembered for the prominent role he played in shaping the aesthetics of French Art Nouveau at the turn of the century.
As a struggling and relatively unknown artist of Czech origin living in Paris, Mucha achieved immediate fame when, in December 1894, he accepted a commission to create a poster for one of the greatest actresses of this time, Sarah Bernhardt. Though the printer was apprehensive about submitting Mucha´s final design because of its new unconventional style, Bernhardt loved it and so did the public. ´Le style Mucha´, as Art Nouveau was known in its earliest days, was born. The success of that first poster brought a 6 years contract between Bernhardt and Mucha and in the following years his work for her and others included costumes and stage decorations, designs for magazines and book covers, jewellery and furniture and numerous posters.
Mucha was much sought after by both private and public clients, and Lefevre Utile (Biscuits LU) used him for more than one type of their biscuits. Mucha felt that art existed only to communicate a spiritual message, and nothing more' - one can see in this commercial work that the great master managed to bring a certain spirituality to the most mundane biscuits, and to do it with grace, style and elan, as only he could do.
Provenance: The Lefevre-Utile family, Nantes. Mint condition.