In 2024, the Mucha Foundation will present the five-part exhibition Mucha and Photography: Personal Vision, the third part of the "Mucha Trail" series.
The Mucha Trail 2024 discovers Alfons Mucha (1860-1939) as a brilliant photographer and will be a compelling record of the personal life visions of the artist, a true and genuine master of the camera.
Last year, the series of exhibitions Alfons Mucha: Floral Worlds was dedicated to Mucha's iconic floral works, which are one of the most characteristic components of Mucha's graphic style that became synonymous with Art Nouveau in Belle Époque Paris.
Mucha: from amateur photographer to camera master
In the 1880s, the introduction of technological advances such as lightweight hand-held cameras and gelatine silver made photography a much more accessible medium for amateur photographers. Among the first generation to be inspired by this development was the young Alfons Mucha. At the time, Mucha was a student at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts and used a borrowed camera to take his first photographs. They include landscapes, street scenes from his apartment window and portraits of friends. These photographs demonstrate Mucha's interest in capturing the busy life that surrounded him. Mucha's photographic output grew dramatically in Paris, especially in the period after he purchased his first camera in the early 1890s. Photography became an everyday affair for him, not only to document his studio models and to supplement his preliminary sketches, but also to experiment with light and shadow and to explore new ways of looking at the world. During this period, Mucha also began to create staged photographs for his book illustrations, with his friends and models posing as characters in stories. This section of his photographs forms an important part of his artistic legacy and demonstrates his theatrical approach to his work, which culminated in his late masterpiece, The Slav Epic.
Today, the Mucha Foundation holds approximately 2,500 of his photographs. They have survived as period prints or as negatives on glass plates/celluloid and cover an extremely wide range of subjects: not only studio models, images of his family and friends, portraits, landscapes, nature and architectural studies, but also documentary and staged photographs (mise-en-scène).
The curator of the exhibitions is Tomoko Sato, the author of all major exhibitions and Mucha Foundation’s projects over the last 30 years, not only in the Czech Republic but also worldwide. In the opinion of John Mucha's family, she is the most important expert on the life and work of Alfons Mucha in the world. Tomoko Sato graduated from the University of Manchester and is based in Cambridge.
"As the previous series, the exhibitions Timeless Mucha: Connecting the World (2022) and Alfons Mucha: Flower Worlds (2023) demonstrated, Mucha was a leading exponent of Art Nouveau, best known for his posters and the wide range of decorative works he produced in Paris in the late 19th century. What is less well known, however, is that Mucha took up photography long before he became famous in the French capital, a passion that followed him into the final phase of his artistic career in the 1930s," says Tomoko Sato, curator of the exhibition and the Mucha Foundation.
This five-part exhibition of approximately 120 photographic works, as well as iconic posters by Alfons Mucha, drawings, studies, personal belongings, sculptures and paintings from Mucha's family collection will visit six locations: Ivančice, Moravský Krumlov, Hrušovany nad Jevišovkou and Doubravice nad Svitavou in South Moravia, the Zbiroh chateau in Bohemia and Piešťany in Slovakia.
These places have special links to the life and art of Alfons Mucha.
"Exhibitions in Moravia have a special meaning for me, and the Much Trail, which connects the places where Alfonse worked, is very important to me personally. I am incredibly pleased with the great interest in the Mucha Trail and we were very pleasantly surprised by the high number of visitors in Piešťany, the first foreign stop of the Mucha Trail," says John Mucha, grandson of Alfons Mucha.
As every year, there are colouring pages for children and students and a life story of Alfons Mucha prepared in an entertaining way. Teachers will be provided with pedagogical materials.
"Introducing Alfons Mucha to children and young people is extremely important to us. Through Alphons' success story, we try to convey the idea that if you have a dream, a goal, a passion and work hard for it, you will succeed. Just like the poor boy from South Moravia" adds Marcus Mucha, great-grandson of Alfons Mucha and Executive Director of the Foundation.
Last year, 70,000 visitors in the Czech Republic and 30,000 visitors in Slovakia visited the Mucha Trails exhibition.
The Mucha Trail project was initiated by the Mucha Foundation and was formally confirmed by a Memorandum of Cooperation for the presentation of the legacy and work of Alfons Mucha and connects places significantly associated with the life of the artist. This was done during the gala evening devoted to the return of the Slav Epic to Moravský Krumlov on September 10 ,2021.
The signatories of the document were:
Jan Grolich, Hetman of the South Moravian Region
Milan Buček, Mayor of Ivančice
Tomáš Třetina, Mayor of Moravský Krumlov, Senator for District No. 54 - Znojmo
John Mucha, President of the Mucha Foundation
Other members of the project are the town of Mikulov, the municipality of Hrušovany nad Jevišovkou and the municipality of Doubravice nad Svitavou.
In 2023, the Mucha Foundation welcomed its first foreign members:
City of Piešťany
Trnava Self-Governing Region
Slovak Therapeutic Spa Piešťany, Inc.
This year, Mucha Trail will be joined by:
Zbiroh Castle
City of Brno
The ambition of the project is to engage more broadly the sites associated with the life and work of Alfons Mucha around the world.
The exhibitions will be on display until October 31, 2024. Mucha and Photography: Personal Visions exhibitions will present a total of 120 photographs, as well as iconic posters, drawings, studies, personal belongings, sculptures and paintings by Alfons Mucha.
www.muchovastezka.cz