The most comprehensive exhibition of the artist, activist, mystic and philosopher ever seen in Australia lands in Sydney this June.
Almost eighty five years after his death, Alphonse Mucha (1860–1939) remains one of art’s most renowned stylistic innovators. The Czech artist is responsible for some of the most well-known works in modern European art.
From Saturday June 15 the Art Gallery of New South Wales opens the most comprehensive exhibition of Mucha’s work ever shown in Australia. Alphonse Mucha: Spirit of Art Nouveau runs until September 22 and comes to Sydney with assistance from the Mucha Foundation in Prague.
The exhibition brings together a kaleidoscope of Mucha’s iconic poster art, illustrations, jewellery, interior decoration, photographs and more – lifting the curtain on an artist and designer whose influence persists widely today.
Mucha’s breakthrough works were the posters he created for superstar stage actress Sarah Bernhardt. In them he used a visual language that defined the style of late 19th-century Paris and the spirit of art nouveau. His advertising and product design work was imbued with political and spiritual philosophies, including the liberation of his homeland in what’s known today as the Czech Republic. Among the works in Spirit of Art Nouveau is an immersive digital experience centred on the artist’s 20-canvas-strong cycle The Slav Epic, widely considered his life’s masterwork but which is unable to travel to Sydney.
Tickets are on sale from Thursday May 9.
Alphonse Mucha: Spirit of Art Nouveau* is supported by the NSW Government through Destination NSW.
Broadsheet is a proud media partner of the Art Gallery of New South Wales.