Straddling art and design, Alphonse Mucha was one of the leading figures of Art Noveau. The fact that his work was so widely disseminated also made him a forerunner of contemporary globalised culture. The aim of this lecture series is to offer a broad, contextualised view of Alphonse Mucha from a fresh perspective. The lectures will be examine his work and highlight his contribution to the complex definition of modernity. His art -created at a time when a paradigm shift was underway in terms of the way images were produced and consumed - was both a catalyst for and consequence of the apogee of Art Noveau in turn-of-the-century Paris, where a new culture cas emerging, with its contradictions and a gaze nervously turned to both the past and the future.

This exhibition looks at all of the facets of Alphonse Mucha's art in relation to four broad themes: Theatre, Beauty, Mystery and Modernity. It also focuses on four specific aspects of his oeuvre that illustrate the scope of his work: The Metropolis as Stage, Photography as Tool and as Art, The Slav Epic: A Vision, and The Spread of 'Le Style Mucha', which examines the influence of his work on Modernisme in Madrid and Barcelona.

Download the exhibition brochure (pdf)

Discussion