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21 Dey Street, Manhattan

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Creator: Alphonse Mucha in America, Part 2: 1910–1923

The 1910 New York City directory listing for Mucha was “Mucha Alfonso artist 55 E 56th”.

 


















New York Herald
March 7, 1910

Painted Mr. Drew While Broken Bone Was Mending
… Miss Maude Adams, as painted by Mr. Mr. John W. Alexander, and Alfonse Mucha’s portrait of Miss Adams as Joan of Arc.

Literary Digest
May 14, 1910

Symbolism of the cover design.—The two figures in the design on our cover this week symbolize the contents of THE LITERARY DIGEST—journalism and literature. The former surveys and records the work of the world as it appears in workshop and commerce, which are represented in the background; while the other dreams with eyes closed, symbolizing literature, which occupies itself purely with internal inspiration. Together they comprehend the best in the world’s thought—the practical and the ideal. The design is the work of Mr. Alphonse Mucha.

Literary Digest
July 2 and October 29, 1910


Chicago Daily Tribune
(Illinois)
November 16, 1910

Chicago as a Center of American Art.
4,000 Attend Design Classes.
In the school of art and design of the Art Institute the average attendance is over 4,000. These come virtually from all parts of the country. Alphonse Mucha, the painter, who recently visited Chicago, said he considered the school of art and design the most completely equipped institution of the kind in the world. …

New York Herald
July 9, 1911

Art for Country Club.
Artist members of the Douglaston Country Club, at Douglaston, L.I., are contributing paintings, pastels, etchings and sculptures for the exhibition and sale which will begin on July 22 at the home of the organization. Sixty names are on the list. Among the contributors are Mr. William Ordway Partridge, Mrs. Sally James Farnham, Mrs. C. A. Schubert, Miss Betty Peters, Messrs. Harrison Fisher, Philip de Bolleau, Clement King, Hamilton King, Raymond Hyde, Hermann Heyer, Wallace Morgan, Julius Fireman, Guiyle Hodgkins, E. V. Nadherney, W. G. Bonte, Richard Boham, John Hunt and Alphonse Mucha.

The exhibition will be attractive from a social as well as an artistic point of view, and well known members of the summer colony will be present.

Chicago Daily Tribune
(Illinois)
February 11, 1912

 


















Mucha departed from Antwerp, Belgium on February 1, 1913. The steamship Zeeland brought him to the port of New York on February 12. The passenger list said the Hotel Savoy was his final destination.

 






New York Press
January 5, 1913

Poetesses of Passion, Jewelers, Modistes Now Gamboling in Gotham Choruses
Others Design Jewelry and Write Scenarios.
Another who is just as serious is Miss Ruth Tomlinson, the pretty young woman who played the lead to Charles Hawtrey in “Dear Old Billy” and filled an engagement with Margaret Anglin in “Kindling.”

Miss Tomlinson has turned to designing and executing odd and interesting jewelry. There are several firms that are only too delighted to handle this work done by the young actress and obtain some of her designs. “When Alphonse Mucha, the Bohemian artist, was here and his designs in jewelry were so popular I began to be interested in the work,” said Miss Tomlinson, working at her table. …

Evening Star
(Washington, DC)
February 21, 1913

C. R. Crane of Chicago Footing Bills for Twenty Paintings for Prague, Bohemia.
New York, February 21.—Charles R. Crane of Chicago is footing the bills for twenty paintings of enormous size depicting the history of the Slavic race, which will be hung in a special building in the city of Prague, Bohemia, according to details of the scheme published here today.

M. Alfonse Mucha, a Slavic artist, is executing the monumental series of canvases in the grand ballroom of an old castle at Zbirow, Bohemia, although at present he is paying a short visit to this country to arrange further details for the completion of the series, and incidentally to paint a portrait of Mr. Crane’s daughter, Mrs. R. Leatherbee.

To Be Exhibited in United States.

The artist says the idea of the Slavic paintings he discussed casually with Mr. Crane at a dinner in this country some time ago when the wealthy Chicagoan became so enthusiastic over the idea that he told him to go ahead with it at his expense. There are to be twenty paintings in all, each measuring eighteen by twenty-four feet, all of which will be brought to the United States for exhibition before being permanently hung at Prague. The cost of the series is not made known.

Rock Island Argus
(Illinois)
February 21, 1913

Crane Heirs Keep Estate Out of Court
New York, Feb. 21.—Charles R. Crane of Chicago is footing the bill for 20 paintings of enormous size depicting the history of the Slavic race which will be bung in a special building in the city of Prague, Bohemia, according to details of the scheme published here. M. Alfonse Mucha, a Slavic artist, is executing a monumental series of canvases in the grand ball room of an old castle at Zblrow, Bohemia, although at present he is paying a short
visit to this country to arrange further details for completion of the series and incidentally to paint the portrait of Mr. Crane’s daughter, Mrs. R,
Leatherbee.

Minnesotské Noviny
(St. Paul, Minnesota)
March 13, 1913

 














The American Printer
April 5, 1918
Moss Photo Engraving advertisement appeared in several issues. The artwork may be the work of Mucha.

 


















On November 13, 1919, Mucha, his wife Marie, daughter Jaroslava, and son George, were aboard the steamship La Savoie. The ship departed Le Havre and arrived in New York on November 22. 

 















New York Tribune
November 23, 1919

Alfonse Mucha, the Bohemian mural painter, who lived in Prague throughout the European war returned on the Savoie, accompanied by his wife and son. He said he and his family were overjoyed to return to America and meet their American friends. Throughout the war, he said, he was constantly under suspicion of the Austrian military authorities. He brought with him twenty mural paintings 18 ft. x 24 ft. in size.

Brooklyn Daily Eagle
(New York)
December 7, 1919

Artist to Promote Good Feeling Here for Czechoslovakia
Alphonse Mucha, Bohemian Portrait Painter, Denies Reported Massacres in New Republic.

The 1920 United States Federal Census was enumerated in mid-January. Mucha, his wife, two children and a servant resided at 15 West 67th Street in Manhattan. One of his neighbors was illustrator Penrhyn Stanslaw. 

 












The Mucha Foundation has a timeline but it does not mention his stay in New York in 1913 and from 1919 into the early 1920s.

New York Evening Telegram
February 21, 1920

Notable Exhibition at Pratt Art Gallery
An exhibit of ancient Bohemian and Slovak embroideries and laces will be open to the public for the next few weeks at the Webster Branch of the New York Public Library, at avenue A between Seventy-seventh and Seventy-eighth streets. It was arranged by the librarian, Miss Griffin, and her assistant, Mrs. Matulkar, of the Czecho-Slovak department, through the courtesies of Mr. and Mrs. Alfonse Mucha, Mr. and Mrs. Karel Leitner, Mr. and Mrs. J. Kratina and F. Sperakus. Altogether about 100 pieces are shown.

The chief items are pieces of needlework and beaded motifs on table coverings collected by the curator of the art museum of Pilsen and sold to Mr. Mucha, the Bohemian artist. Coustumes [sic] designed by Mrs. Kratina, based on Bohemian and Slovak national dresses, are also on view. Many toys, the work of Mr. Sperakua, are shown.

Brooklyn Daily Eagle
(New York)
April 9, 1920

3,627 at Art Exhibit.
Official figures of the attendance at the opening of the Exhibition of the National Academy of Design at the Brooklyn Museum were made public today by William H. Fox, director. There were 3,627 persons at the Museum on Tuesday afternoon, according to the Museum record, and of that number 280 represented the artists who were over in the morning for varnishing. A part of that 280 remained over for the afternoon and are to be included in the total attendance.

… A number of distinguished foreign artists were present at the opening of the exhibition on Tuesday afternoon, including Andre Dauchess of Paris and Julius Olson of London, who are the foreign members of the jury judging the International exhibition, at the Carnegie Institute at Pittsburg; Alphonse Mucha, the Bohemian artist; Boris Anisfeld of Russia and Jose Pinazo of Spain.

Chicago Daily Tribune
(Illinois)
April 20, 1920

Charles R. Cranes Here for a Day; Tea for Them at Cordon
A tea will be given this afternoon at the Cordon, from 4 to 6 o’clock, for Mr. and Mrs. Charles R. Crane, who leave tomorrow for China where Mr. Crane is to take up the duties of American minister.

Especial guests at the tea also will be Mr. and Mrs. Alphonse Mucha of Prague, who are now at the Blackstone. …

The presence of Mr. Crane and Mr. Mucha here together brings to attention the great mural paintings which the Prague artist has completed at Mr. Crane’s commission. The murals each represent one significant point in the history of the Slavs and Mr. Crane has aranged [sic] to make a gift of the entire group to the Slavic people, housing them permanently in Prague as the city where they will be most available to the view of the Slavic people.

Mr. Mucha, as a matter of fact, concluded the work during the war and in conjunction with Mr. Crane had the paintings encased and ready to be placed under ground in case the war’s ravages should have reached Prague.

Mr. Mucha has brought some of the paintings to America for exhibition and they will be shown later in the Art Institute.

Chicago Daily Tribune
(Illinois)
April 21, 1920

China on Road to Real Progress, C. R. Cranes Says
… He and Mrs. Crane were guests at the Cordon club yesterday. The other guests were Mr. and Mrs. Alphonse Mucha of Prague. Mr. Mucha is the world famed painter. The reception was largely attended.

Chicago Daily Tribune
(Illinois)
June 18, 1920

$500,000 Paintings to Be Given to Prague on Exhibition Here
Five historical, paintings, valued at $500,000, are to be given to the city of Prague, Bohemia, by Charles R. Crane, minister to China, and the painter, Alphonse Mucha.

The paintings, murals, were unveiled yesterday at the Art institute, and are on display on the north and south walls of the grand staircase. They will be on exhibition for about a month.

They are part of a group of twenty—all to be given to Prague. The artist has completed six others. He began work on them in 1911.

The five represent “The Festival of Svantovitova,” “The Freedom of the Russian Serfs,” “John Huss Preaching at Bethlehem Chapel,” “Milio Standing on the Ruins of Wickedness,” and “The Preacher Korand.”

Three of the canvases are 25 x 18 feet and the others 18 x 18. It was necessary to remove a window and casing to get them into the building and it required twenty-five men to move them into place after part of the walls had been chiseled away to make room.

Mucha has been recognized for a number of years as one of the foremost mural painters of the world. In 1904 he attracted wide attention with his poster of Sarah Bernhardt in the character of Gismonda. He came to America in 1905 and taught at the institute. In 1908 he delivered the Scammon lectures in Fullerton hall.

He will arrive in Chicago tomorrow and will hold a reception at the institute.

Chicago Daily Tribune
(Illinois)
June 19, 1920

Dinner Given for Mucha.
A dinner in honor of Alphonse Mucha, Bohemian painter, whose murals are on exhibition at the Art institute, was given last night by the Rt. Rev. Mardary Uskokovich, administrator of the Serbian Orthodox church in America. Among the guests were Mr. and Mrs. L. Hamilton McCormick and Mrs. Archibald Freer. Mr. Mucha has donated several of his paintings to the relief of the orphans of Serbia, for which Father Mardary is organizing a committee of Chicagoans.

Chicago Sunday Tribune
(Illinois)
June 27, 1920

Group of Mucha’s Mural Paintings Typifies Excellence
It seems but a minute since I last entered the Art institute some months ago, yet I realized that time has passed when I found that the exhibitions which the galleries had haunted in March had given place to Gothic tapestries, the work of the art students, and the five beautiful mural paintings by Alphonse Mucha. These last deserve fresh mention in this column. They form part of a series of twenty mural decorations, depicting incidents in the history of the Slavic race, to be presented to the city of Prague by Charles R. Crane and the artist.

Possibly because it is the simplest in composition “Korand Addressing the Converted Patriots” is the most directly impressive of the paintings. The figure of the orator alone on the scaffolding, tense against the sky, his only companion on that aerial perch the flags of the country, is magnificent in its effect of isolated power. Below him is the crowd, a scattered handful of pale faces thrown into relief by the paler stretches of snow covered country in the background. Much more telling is this than the companion mural depicting the crowded church where another speaker is holding forth to a mass of intent auditors.

But, though one may thus choose a single scene in personal preference to the others, yet so remarkable are the five considered together that it is difficult to handle them in criticism in any but group form. Taking them as a whole, one can say frankly that they typify excellence in composition, in drawing——a point not always true when such vast subjects are considered—in color harmony, in vitality, and in sincere exposition of a tragic history.

Brooklyn Daily Eagle
(New York)
January 9, 1921

Art Notes.
On Wednesday, Jan. 19, the Brooklyn Museum will open to the public its exhibition of five colossal mural paintings by Mr. Alphonse Mucha representing episodes in the history of the Slavic nations. This opening will be preceded by the usual first view on the afternoon of Tuesday, the 18th. …

Bulletin of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences
January 15, 1921

Frontispiece

On Wednesday, January 19, the Brooklyn Museum will open to the public its exhibition of five colossal mural paintings by Mr. Alphonse Mucha, representing episodes in the history of the Slavic nations. The installation completely fills the great central rotunda of the Museum third floor picture galleries. …

Brooklyn Life
(New York)
January 15, 1921

Art Exhibitions
January 18 (Tues.).—First view of exhibition of five colossal mural paintings by Mr. Alphonse Mucha, Brooklyn Museum

The New York Times Book Review and Magazine
January 16, 1921

The World of Art: Alphonse Mucha’s Mural Decorations
The Brooklyn Museum announces another exhibition of distinction. Five panels by Alphonse Mucha commemorating certain historic moments in the development of the Slavonic nations have been placed on view in the central rotunda on the third floor of the museum. The panels belong to a series not yet completed, designed for the City of Prague and to be the joint gift of the artist and his friend, Charles. R. Crane. …

Brooklyn Museum’s 1921 exhibition of Mucha’s work.

Historical Paintings of the Slavic Nations
The Brooklyn Museum, 1921


Brooklyn Life
(New York)
January 22, 1921

Art Exhibitions
January 22–31 (Sat.–Mon.).—Exhibition of five colossal mural paintings by Mr. Alphonse Mucha, Brooklyn Museum

Private View of Mucha Exhibition
The exhibition of five colossal mural paintings by Mr. Alphonse Mucha representing episodes in the history of the Slavic nations, was opened to the public at the Brooklyn Museum on Wednesday of this week, but the usual first view was enjoyed by many persons of prominence on Tuesday afternoon. In addition to the murals the exhibition includes posters by this famous artist, the most striking being the series representing the various roles of Mme. Sarah Bernhardt. There are also about 17 oil paintings of ideal subjects and a bronze bust of the artist by Miss Eugenie Shonnard of New York. …

New York Tribune
January 23, 1921

Alphonse Mucha
His Historical Paintings of the Slavic Nations

Hackettstown Gazette
(New Jersey)
June 24, 1921

Fine Piece of Engraving
Bank Notes Made in America for Czecho-Slovakian Government Real Work of Art.
A new Czecho-Slovak 100-crown note is just off the press of the American Bank Note company and is said by American critics to be the most artistic piece of work ever done by the company for any foreign government. The face of the note contains at the left a conventional design with the figures “100” on either side of the heraldic Bohemian lion rampant. At the right is a symbolic female figure representative of the western Slavs, with a decorative background made up of linden leaves together with typical peasant ornaments of the Czechs and Slovaks.

The reverse side is symmetrically balanced, the center being a splendid engraving of the famous Charles bridge of Prague, with the thousand-year-old castle of Hradcany and the carved spires of the Cathedral of St. Guy looming in the far perspective. At either side is a typical Czech or Slovak peasant girl in the folk costume.

The paintings used for the engraving are the work of Alphonse Mucha. Czechoslovakia’s most renowned living artist, whose huge canvases, representing the growth and development of the Slav nations have been exhibited in America.

New York Tribune
August 7, 1921

The Plaza Theater is being remodelled so that the seating capacity will be doubled, but Harry Creighton Ingalls, the architect, insisted that the decorations by Alphonse Mucha should not be disturbed. As the former stage has been converted into seating space the Muha [sic] pictures now occupy the center of the auditorium.

Christian Science Monitor
(Boston, Massachusetts)
February 15, 1923

Chicago Notes
And as if the stage was set for international recognition, the paintings and drawings by Alphonse Mucha at the Newcomb & Macklin Galleries add to the riches of our survey. This is the final appearance of Mr. Mucha previous to his going to Prague to finish his historical paintings of the Slavic nations. Five and more of these great canvases were here in 1920. Mr. Mucha’s recent museum examples illustrating Slavic legends are canvases in oils portraying ideal figures of young women in an art of which he is a master. He delights in invention.

Brooklyn Daily Eagle
(New York)
November 18, 1928

American Gives Czechs Slav History Paintings
Prague (AP)—Charles R. Crane, millionaire and formerly American Minister in China, has paid $250,000 for 25 mural paintings illustrating the evolution of Slav history. These masterpieces, the work of the famous Czechoslovak artist Alphonse Mucha, will be placed in a permanent museum and presented by Mr. Crane as a gift to the Czech nation.

It took the veteran artist 20 years to complete this gigantic work.

Long before the World War, when Czechoslovakia was an Austrian province, Mr. Crane, whose daughter married the son of President Masaryk, supplied the funds for the execution of this work, which depicts vividly all the characteristic episodes of the Slav countries, Czechoslovakia, Russia, Poland, Jugoslavia, Montenegro, Poland and Bulgaria.

Further Reading and Viewing
Pokrok Západu (Omaha, Nebraska), Alfons M. Mucha and Alfonse Mucha
Minnesotské Noviny (St. Paul, Minnesota)
Art Institute Chicago
Combinaisons Ornementales
Illustration: Alphonse Mucha
Internet Archive
Mucha Foundation
Wikipedia

Related Post
Alphonse Mucha in America, Part 1


(Next post on Monday: East River Savings Bank)

Creator: Alphonse Mucha in America, Part 1: 1904–1909

Alphonse Mucha sailed aboard the steamship La Lorraine, on February 27, 1904, from Havre, France. He arrived in New York City on March 4. The passenger list said the artist’s last permanent residence was Austria and his race was Magyar. His last residence was France. Mucha had four-hundred dollars in his possession.

Boston Journal
(Massachusetts)
April 2, 1904

Ainslee’s Magazine
May 1904
 

 



















Kansas City Star
(Missouri)
May 29, 1904

Poster for Countess Cassini.
Mucha’s Drawing for Slavonic Society’s Menu Sent to Ambassador’s Niece.
Since the dinner of the Slavonic alliance of New York, given at Delmonico’s May, 19, there has been considerable effort to obtain the pen and ink sketch of the “Slavonic Girl,” which Alphonse Mucha made for the cover of the menu.

Thomas Capek, president of the society, offered as high as $500 for it, but now it has been decided not to sell it at all, but to send it as a present to Countess Cassini, daughter of Count Cassini, ambassador from Russia at Washington. The sketch will soon be sent to the countess.

Count Cassini was to have been the principal guest at the dinner, but was prevented from attending by illness. His daughter is very fond of art, and when it was learned that she had expressed great admiration for the little sketch made by Mucha it was decided to send it to her. Originally it was the plan of the alliance to sell it to the highest bidder, the proceeds to be turned over to the Russian Red Cross society.

Mucha will return to France next week, but he has planned to come back to New York next fall, and will spend four months in America each year hereafter.

New York Tribune
May 30, 1904

Mission Church Dedicated.
Bohemian Artist to Give Mural Painting—Bishop Cusack Officiates.
St. John’s Mission Church, at No. 249 East Seventy-first-st., was dedicated yesterday by Bishop Cusack, assisted by Monsignor Lavelle, Father Leppelier, of the Church of the Blessed Sacrament; Father Doherty, of St. Gabriel’s Church, and Father Nelcher, of the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. The last named preached the sermon. Among those present was Alphonse Mucha, a Bohemian artist, now visiting in this city. He said that he would give the church a mural painting on a religious theme to be decided on later. …

New York Tribune
September 14, 1904

Sale of Knox Church
… Alphonse Mucha, during his recent visit to this city, painted for the church a special banner of the patron saint of the church, and has promised to contribute some mural decorations to the edifice. …

Century Magazine
December 1904

Alfons Mucha, and the New Mysticism

New York Tribune
December 27, 1904

Church Gets Paintings
Three Valued at $190,000 Given to Bohemian Catholic Congregation.
The gift of paintings valued at $230,000 to the Bohemian Catholic Church, Seventy-second-st. and Second-ave., two months ago a Presbyterian church, was announced there last night at the blessing of a set of chimes. The paintings are “St. John Nepomucine,” valued at $50,000, by Alfonse Mucha; “Easter Morn,” by Zimmerman, valued at $40,000 and “Mary Magdalena,” valued at $100,000, also by Albert Marx.

Father Prout, pastor of the church, said last night that the painting by Alfonso Mucha, “St. John Nepomucine,” the patron saint of Bohemia, is a banner which the noted painter gives to the church. While here at the dedicatory exercises of the church two months ago, Mr. Mucha expressed the wish of doing something for its benefit, and suggested that he paint a picture. The painting has never been exhibited. …

In Bohemia
James Clarence Harvey
Illustrations by A. Mucha, Hy Myer, Outcault & Others
H. M. Caldwell Company, 1905

New York Herald
April 9, 1905

Art News of the Week from Studios, Galleries and Marts
Alphonse Mucha, the Bohemian artist, who has a studio here this spring, has recently completed a pastel bust portrait of little Milada Cerny, the child pianiste, which is a most effective and attractive work. The artist has caught the expression of the gifted little girl most happily, and has introduced a novel and decorative background which heightens the effect of the portrait. The color is rich and harmonious.

Mucha was counted in the June 1, 1905 New York state census which said the artist was born in Bohemia and resided at 19 East 59th Street in Manhattan.

 











The Index
July 1, 1905

Mucha’s made his second visit to New York City aboard the steamship Zeeland which sailed on November 4, 1905 from Antwerp, Belgium. He had been living in Paris. The artist and painter arrived November 14. His destination was 15 East 59th Street.

Cohocton Valley Times-Index
(New York)
November 8, 1905

Miscellaneous News and Notes
For color work, presswork and general beauty and usefulness, the December Delineator is conspicuous among the Christmas magazines. Eight paintings by J. C. Leyendecker, illustrating and interpreting the Twenty third Psalm, is the most extensive color feature of the number, but a painting by Alphonse Mucha, accompanying a poem, “The Mother of Bartlmeus,” by Theodosia Garrison, is fully as notable as an art work.

Daily Standard Union
(Brooklyn, New York)
November 12, 1905

New Books and Magazines
The Delineator.
Eight paintings by J. C. Leyendecker, illustrating and interpreting the Twenty-third Psalm, are the most extensive color feature of the Christmas “Delineator,” but a painting by Alphonse Mucha, accompanying a poem, “The Mother of Bartimeus,” by Theodosia Garrison, is also notable as an art work. …

Utica Herald-Dispatch
(New York)
November 13, 1905

The Magazines.
Eight paintings by J. C. Leyendecker, illustrating and interpreting the twenty-third psalm, is the most extensive color feature of the Delineator for December, but a painting by Alphonse Mucha, accompanying a poem, “The Mother of Bartimeus,” by Theodosia Garrison, is fully as notable as an art work. …

Evening Star
(Washington, DC)
November 15, 1905

The Delineator

New York Evening Telegram
November 16, 1905

The Delineator.
Art, fiction and fashion contribute to the make the December Delinator conspicuous among the Christmas magazines. Eight paintings by J. C. Leyendecker, illustrating and interpreting the Twenty-third Psalm, is the most extensive color feature of the number, but a painting by Alphonse Mucha, accompanying a poem, “The Mother of Bartimeus,” by Theodosia Garrison, is fully as notable as an art work. …

The Paterson Morning Call
(New Jersey)
November 23, 1905

Literary Notes.
For colorwork, presswork and general beauty and usefulness, the December Delineator is conspicuous — among the Christmas- magasines [sic]. Eight paintings by J. C. Leyendecker, illustrating and interpreting the Twenty-third Psalm, is the most extensive color feature of the number, but a painting by Alphonse Mucha, accrmpanying a poem. “The Mother of Bartlmeus,” by Theodosia Garrison, is fully as notable aa an art work. …

New York Herald
November 26, 1905

The Delineator
December 1905

The Mother of Bartimeus

In the 1906 New York City directory for the boroughs of Manhattan the Bronx, Mucha was listed in the Artists category with the address “15 E 59th”.

 



















Metropolitan Magazine
February 1906

 
 
New York Evening Post
February 10, 1906

The Pen and Brush Club held its annual meeting and election of officers on February 6. Mrs. Grace Gallitin Seton was elected president for the coming year. Miss Janet Lewis and Miss Frances V. Hamill were elected secretary and treasurer, respectively. Alphonse Mucha, the French poster artist, was the guest of honor at the last meeting of the club.

Washington Times
(Washington, DC)
March 24, 1906

Washington Sunday Times advertisement
Alphonse Mucha, Poster Artist and Painter of Horrors—the Jekyll and Hyde of the World of Art

The New York Times
April 1, 1906

What Artists Are Doing
Alphonse Mucha is to have an exhibition of some of his paintings, particularly two mural paintings, in one of the local galleries this month.

New York Herald
April 11, 1906

To Exhibit Work of Paul Nocquet
… Among those present last night were Messrs. Walter Shirlaw, F. W. Morton, Leon Dabo, F. M. Vermorcken, Homer W. Hedge, Jef Leempolis, Alphonse Mucha, Charles Roemat, Chancellor of the Belgian Consulate, and the Rev. George W. Montgomery.

New York Sun
April 27, 1906

Will Play for the Sufferers
A Musical Morning for the Belief of San Francisco’s Victims.
There will be a “Musical Morning with Luncheon” in aid of the sufferers of San Francisco and surrounding towns at the home of Mrs. Benjamin Wood, 440 West End avenue, to-morrow morning at 11 o’clock. Besides.the musical part of the programme Arnold Daly will appear in monologues and Mrs. James C. Harvey will read some original verses. There will also be an auction safe of sketches and cartoons contributed by Alphonse Mucha, Richard Outcault and other artists. …

New York Press
April 29, 1906

Art Notes of the Week
In the American Art Galleries there was opened yesterday afternoon with a “private view” what was announced as a “Memorial Exhibition” of the works of Paul Nocquet, the young Belgian sculptor who lost his life through a balloon ascension. The exhibition is arranged for the benefit of his mother and sister and is under the patronage and direction of many men prominent in national and civic life, and in the art world. The exhibition opens to-day and continues until next Sunday afternoon. The honorary committee includes: President Roosevelt, Monsieur Jusserand, French Ambassador; Baron Moncheur, Belgian Minister; Pierre Mall, Belgian consul; Sir Caspar Purdon Clarke, George de Forest Brush, F. S. Church, Robert W. De Forest, Frank Damrosch, Augustus St. Gaudens, Frans Kneisel, Jef Lambeaux, Emerson McMillin, Alphonse Mucha, J. Harsen Rhoades, Auguste Rodin, Isaac N. Seligman, Theodore B. Starr, Arthur Whiting, Mme. Sarah Bernhardt and Mrs. John w. Simpson. There are also committees under the several heads of “Executive,” “Sculptors,” “Exhibition,” “Cataloguing,” and one of members of the Aero Club. One of the room striking things about this array of distinguished names is that it includes several of our best known sculptors. Nocquet first attracted attention to himself in this city not by his work but by an open letter charging American sculptors with taking credit to themselves of work done by their pupils and assistants.

New York Tribune
May 3, 1906

To Aid ’Frisco Artists

The New York Times
May 5, 1906

Ocean Travelers.
Sailing for Hamburg on the Hamburg-American liner Patricia are: … Alphonse Mucha …

Seattle Daily Times
(Washington)
May 11, 1906

Mucha, His Bride-to-Be and Posters Showing Ideas of Lovely Womanhood
Mucha’s Bride His Ideal
Artist Who Seems Able to Picture the Souls of Women Will Be Married in June to Maruska Chytilova.
New York, Friday, May 11.—Alphonse Mucha, who has so successfully painted the ideal woman, and who seemed to be able to picture her very soul on canvas, announced yesterday at his studio, No. 15 East Fifty-ninth Street, that he has found the living reality. And happy to relate, the artist and his new-found model of beauty and loveliness are to be married in the woods outside the walls of Prague.

Maruska Chytilova is the real ideal of the artist of poster fame, whose picture of Sarah Bernhardt startled the artistic world a few years ago. Maruska is not like any of the pictures Mucha has ever painted. She does not fall in with any of his preconceived ideals, but he is artist enough to appreciate one more beautiful than his mind has ever seen before, and he was quick to accept the new inspiration.

“I Saw Her and I Loved Her”

“I saw her and she was beautiful, and I talked to her and she was spiritual, and I loved her,” was the way Mucha told of finding his ideal yesterday. Mrs. Frederick Richardson, the sculptor, was moulding a relief of the artist, which he was to take to his bride, and as he sat thus in his studio, he told of his coming wedding.

There were evidences of preparation for a journey, for the bridegroom-to-be is to sail soon to seek his bride.

“It will not be in the city with its bustle and noise,” he said, “that my Maruska and I will wed. We shall go instead out into the quiet woods where we are near the flowers and birds and to a little church that I know of, where all is natural and beautiful, and a priest that I know there shall make Maruska mt bride. And we shall stay in the woods until the fall, when we shall return to America. I love the rivers and the trees and the open skies. And there shall be our honeymoon. But America shall be our ultimate home, and I shall live here always, except for the few months each year that I must go to my school in Paris.”

The romance of Mucha and Mlle. Chytilova dates back some two years. The former’s studio is one of the most famous in Paris. He is the originator of the so-called poster school of painting.

After he startled and won the artistic world, his atelier became the haunt of the art-seeker and the show place of the Quatre. It was frequented by the great artists and critics of the world and the nobility, and great women of many lands were proud to have entree to it.

And Then One Day Maruska Came.

One day, however, Maruska Chytilova was brought to his studio. She was the daughter of a noted lawyer of Prague, and she herself had gone through the university there, a distinction that only few women in the world possess. She was dark, with great eyes and a wonderfully intelligent face, and she loved Mucha’s art, and later himself. Soon after they met, the artist moved his studio to this country, and those who thought they had seen the budding of a romance believed it doomed to be blighted.

In reality the artist considered that America was a better place for him to make a home for his bride, and he wished to establish himself before the engagement was announced. In the short time he has been here Mucha has made frequent trips to Europe to see his sweetheart either in Paris of Prague.

Lincoln Star
(Nebraska)
May 20, 1906

Ideal Beauty in Bride-to-Be [slightly longer version of the article in the Seattle Daily Times]

San Francisco Call
(California)
August 19, 1906

Applied Design—A Rich Field for the Bright Woman
By Alice Manorah Ludlum.
[The author of this, article is a San Francisco girl, who has spent part of several years in New York studying the art of which she writes so interestingly.]
New York School of Applied Art for Women, an institution, established about twelve years ago through the efforts of Mrs. Hopkins, a woman of wealth and brains, who saw the importance of this work for women. …

… The most enthusing part of this last year’s training is the study under Alphonse Mucha, called by some the greatest decorator of the age, whose exemplified lectures on what is good and bad in decorative art are an inspiration to the eagerly listening women. Mucha came to America to establish classes here because he believes that study abroad denationalizes the Yankee artist, and that he should be taught at home where he can preserve and express the American spirit in his creations. He is warm in his praise of the work of the girls of the school of design and delights in their ready, quick perceptions and able expression. The vivacity and cleverness of American women is a matter of continual comment by this Bohemian genius.

Chicago Sunday Tribune
September 2, 1906

The Art Institute Art School Season of 1906–7
… Arrangements have been made with Alphonse M. Mucha, the famous French artist and poster designer, to lecture and conduct classes in the art school during the autumn term. He will also exhibit a collection of his works.

Philadelphia Inquirer
(Pennsylvania)
September 30, 1906

Ranks of Local Artists Grow Steadily
The Philadelphia School of Design for Women will also open tomorrow. There is little or no change in the plans for the winter of 1906–1907. M. Alphonse Mucha, of Paris, the noted artist whose drawings of Bernhardt have attracted so much attention, will give a course of ten lessons in composition and design next January. …

On October 12, 1906, Mucha and his wife arrived in New York City aboard the steamship Patricia. They had departed September 30 from Boulogne-sur-Mer, France. The passenger list said their home was 15 East 59th Street.

Chicago Daily Tribune
November 16, 1906

Artists’ Club Will Entertain.
The Palette and Chisel club will entertain at a “Bohemian night” tomorrow evening at the clubrooms in the Atheneum building in honor of M. Alphonse Mucha, the Bohemian artist. The entertainment committee met last night to complete final arrangements for the reception.

Evening Star
(Washington, DC)
December 22, 1906

Secretary Root is one of those persons who have each recently given $1,000 to the building fund of the New York School of Applied Design for Women—to which, not long ago, Mrs. A. C. Barney of this city donated an annual scholarship. Sir Caspar Purdon Clarke is a member of its board of directors, and Alphonse Mucha, one of its instructors. A lot has been procured on the corner of Lexington avenue and 30th street, and the building fund now amounts to $63,000. The present enrollment of students numbers upward of 400.

Evansville Courier
(Indiana)
December 26, 1906

Greatest Poster Artist

[three posters shown]

Some of the Work of Alphonse Mucha, Leader of the School of Advertising Art
Alphonse Mucha, admittedly the greatest living exponent of the poster school of art, has come to this country from Paris to make his home.

Mr. Mucha is widely known both in this country and abroad as an illustrator and poster artist. Several of his works, the most noted of which are the La Plume calendar posters, and those representing Sarah Bernhardt in her various roles, have won places at the exhibitions in the Salon, at Paris.

American Art Annual 
Volume 8, 1911

1907, Cincinnati
One hundred and eight designs and drawing by Alphonse Mucha.

Metropolitan Magazine
February 1907

 




















Brooklyn Daily Eagle
(New York)
February 3, 1907

Two Picture Beauties and Their Romances
“Fencing Girl” and Woman Who Posed for Angels Recent Brides
Latter Was Pet of Regiment
She Was Married at What Was Scheduled for a Birthday Party.
Two romances culminating at almost the same time, have sent into wedlock “The Fencing Girl” and the “Girl with the Angel Face.” Miss Blanche Mecredy is the former, Miss Violet Blossom Conrad the latter.

Roy Atwell, comedian in the Marie Cahill Company, has led “The Fencing Girl” to the altar, while Charles Ridgely Ellicott has given his name to the girl with the angelic features.

All over the United Stages the beauty of these two girls is known. The picture of a nattily attired fencing girl, seated in the corner of a fencing room, with, one knee gracefully crossed over the other, on her shapely breast the red mark which indicates to her opponent the heart, his vital, mark, is one of the most popular pictures of the last ten years. It has gone into thousands of American homes and clubs.

Miss Conrad is a bit less known to the
general public, perhaps, but among artists her fame is still, greater. The forefront of our painters and sculptors, such men as Blashfield, Alphonse Mucha, Daniel French, Anderson and Christie, have called on Miss Conrad when they desired to get a model for angels. In a dozen notable works of art,the serenely beautiful, features of Miss Conrad have gone. …

The New York Times
April 25, 1907

New German Theatre Plans.
Meeting of Those Interested—Prof. Mucha New Scenic Manager
… Dr. Baumfeld, the new Director of the Irving Place Theatre, who has recently replaced Herr Conried in control, the principle speaker, pointed out the necessity of having a man of authoritative artistic personality and accomplishments at the head of the scenic department of the theatre, and announced that prof. Alphonse Mucha would take charge at the opening of the coming season. Prof. Mucha will also superintend the artistic decoration of the new building, which is expected to be a monument of modern Germanic architecture. …

Metropolitan Magazine
May 1907

New York Evening Post
May 4, 1907

Dramatic and Musical Notes
Dr. M. Baumfeld, the new Director of the Irving Place Theatre, has opened his subscription sheets for the coming season. … Prof. Alphonse Mucha will be in charge of the scenery and the artistic side of all stage productions. …

Daily Standard Union
(Brooklyn, New York)
May 5, 1907

“Poly” to Have New Art Teacher
George T. Sperry has resigned as supervisor of art and manual training in the public schools and teacher of drawing in the Westfield (Mass.) State Normal School to accept a position at the head of the art and manual training departments in the Polytechnic Institute. … He has been a student this year of Alphonse Mucha in New York. …

New York Sun
May 27, 1907

Around the Galleries.
With the closing next Sunday afternoon of the American Water Color Society’s exhibition at the Fine Arts Galleries on Fifty-seventh street the painting season virtually comes to an end. … Alphonse Mucha, prince of decorative artists, shows an elaborate design. …

New York Evening Post
June 1, 1907
Art Notes.

Paris carries her fastidiousness into all walks of life, ennobling a fountain or giving a touch of grace and beauty to the common things of every-day life. It is therefore not at all surprising to find the foyers and lobbies of the Parisian theatres not only decorated by the great masters of mural painting, such as Puvis de Chavanne, but also ornamented with pictures by the most eminent French painters, such as Besnard, Alphonse Mucha, and others no less well known.

Metropolitan Magazine
July 1907

Metropolitan Magazine
August 1907

 



















New York Dramatic Mirror
September 28, 1907

Plays for Irving Place Theatre.
Next month the season will open with an elaborate production of Calderon’s Judge of Zalamea, and later on Dr. Baumfeld will stage Maeterlinck’s The Miracle of St. Anthony. The costumes for the opening night have been designed by Alphonse Mucha, who has also painted the scenery for the premiere production.

Amenia Times
(New York)
October 12, 1907

Sharon Snap Shots.
Monsieur Alphonse Mucha, the distinguished Bohemian artist, with Madame Mucha, are spending several weeks with Mrs. Sprague at the “Maples.”

New York Herald
November 25, 1907

Notes of the Art World
As a result of the last balloting by the American Water Color Society these painters were elected to membership:—Reynolds Beal, C. Myles Collier, Gordon Grant, Charles F. W. Mielatz, Alphonse Mucha, Charles Austin Needham, G. Glenn Newell and Mrs. Florence Francis Snell.

Burr McIntosh Monthly
December 1907

New York Tribune
December 4, 1907

Portrait of Archbishop Farley
Life Size Painting Has Just Been Finished by Alphonse Mucha.
Alphonse Mucha has just finished at his studio, No. 55 East 56th street, a life-size portrait of Archbishop Farley for the Archbishop’s house, in Madison avenue. The Archbishop is depicted seated in a Dagobert chair, which bears the symbols of the four evangelists, and wearing the ermine collar and purple robes with the long train of the Capa Magna of ceremonial occasions. The hands of the Archbishop are clasped, and on his bosom is a jeweled cross.

The artist began work on the picture a year and a half ago. Taking the draperies to Paris, he worked for some months on them there, after the Archbishop had given half a dozen sittings. Mucha painted portraits and mural decorations in Paris for twenty years, but has recently made his home in New York.

Troy Times
(New York)
December 16, 1907

Christmas Reading.
Smith’s Magazine for January— … “The Art of Alphonse Mucha” is illustrated.

New York Press
February 9, 1908

The pronounced success of “Goetz von Berlichlngen” has led the manager of the German Theatre to fulfill his promise to produce the classical plays of all countries. In accordance with this plan Dr. Baumfeld will, on Tuesday evening next, make a careful and artistic production of Shakespeare’s comedy “Twelfth Night.” New costumes, specially designed by Professor Alphonse Mucha and Carl Hassmann, and new scenery, painted by Heinz Meixner. will be seen in the play. …

New York Sun
February 9, 1908

The pronounced success of “Goetz von Berlichlngen” at the German Theatre has led the manager to take a new step in fulfillment of his promise to produce classical plays of all countries. Dr. Baumfeld will on Tuesday evening make a production of Shakespeare’s comedy “Twelfth Night.” New costumes designed by Prof. Alphonse Mucha and Carl Hassmann, and new scenery painted by Heinz Meixner, will be seen in the play. …

Metropolitan Magazine
March 1908

 



















New York Herald
March 1, 1908

The Studio
Behind the Scenes
… Up where the Lotus Flower ladies grow and wind their sinuous, willowy, beautiful forms about in flowers, Alphonse Mucha, their maker, says no beautiful models for him.

Stepping into the studio where pictures in wonderful colors cover the walls, I saw a figure sitting on the white bear rug covering the divan. That was all I saw, for the face was concealed. This was a new phase of the curious in picture building—a new idea found behind the scenes of the artist’s studio—and what it meant I was curious to know.

“Eh?” laughed Mr. Mucha as I asked the question, “why, just my model. I could not see her face or my ideal would be shattered. I can never see the face of a model when I work. It would spoil the picture I have in my mind’s eye. Miss Walton,” he said, "we can remove the veil now. It must be uncomfortable.”

When the veil was removed from the face there sat Miss Minerva Walton, but not the Miss Walton we know. Her hair was drawn straight down over her ears and hung in a braid down her back. This was the Miss Walton who poses for Alphonse Mucha.

“You see, it is this way,” said he. “Before I begin to work on a picture [missing text] exactly what I want to do. I know [missing text] feature the type of face I want in [missing text] the details of the decoration, the [missing text] the tone and shade of color. That [missing text] is absolutely and completely [missing text] mind and it cannot be changed by [missing text] interference of another vision.”

Once, in Paris, Mr. Mucha caused [missing text] sation—or, rather, one of the very [missing text] people who make other folks’ [missing text] their own caused it for him— [missing text] chagrin and displeasure.

The person had happened in [missing text] studio several times when the artist [missing text] at work with his model. The face [missing text] entirely covered, and Mr. Mucha [missing text] stop work while the acquaintance [missing text] the room. After two or three [missing text] the man's curiosity was aroused. [missing text] not used to seeing models posed [missing text] manner. One day he said in a jocular [missing text] “Famous beauty? Society lady, eh?”

“Oh, yes, oh, yes!” laughed Mucha, [missing text] his irresistible manner, thinking [missing text] remark was just of a passing [missing text] not thinking it necessary to explain [missing text] it was but an ordinary model posed peculiar manner.

Mr. Mucha thought no more of [missing text] remark, resumed work and the model [missing text] to her home when her work was

Next day in bold type there stood headlines that Alphonse Mucha’s [missing text] model was a woman of wealth and [missing text] that she posed in a veil for the [missing text] artist, that when people called she [missing text] completely veiled.

New York Herald
March 1, 1908

German Theatre on Lenox Lyceum Site
Irving Place to Be Replaced by Handsome Structure at Madison Avenue and Fifty-Ninth Street.
It was announced in the Herald several months ago that before long the Irving Place Theatre would be abandoned as a German playhouse, and following the uptown trend a new theatre would he built near the Plaza, at Fifth avenue and Fifty-ninth street. Yesterday it was announced by Dr. Maurice Baumfeld, the manager of the Irving Place, which he renamed the German Theatre when he assumed the management of it this season, that the new German theatre will be erected immediately on the site of the Lenox Lyceum, at Fifty-ninth street and Madison avenue. He has leased the site through Mr. Walter J. Salomon for twenty-one years.

The new playhouse will cover the entire plot on which the Lenox Lyceum now stands. Plans for the building have been made by Messrs. Hedman & Schoen, and the decorations of the house will be looked after by Professor Alphonse Mucha, a well known artist. Mr. Herts, of Herts & Tallant, who drew the plans for the New Amsterdam and Lyceum theatres, will act as consulting architect. …

New York Evening Telegram
March 2, 1908

The German Theatre will remove in October, 1908, to a new theatre on the site of the Lenox Lyceum, at Fifty-ninth street and Madison avenue. Alphonse Mucha will execute the painting and decorating of the new building.

Syracuse Herald
(New York)
March 8, 1908

Alphonse Mucha’s Lecture
The Famous Artist Who Speaks Here Next Saturday.
It is expected that a large audience will be present at the lecture to be given at Assembly hall, University building, on the evening of March 14th, by M. Alphonse Mucha. His subject will be “Harmony of Proportion and Color in Composition.”

The name of this eminent artist is familiar to all who are interested in current literature. He is, first of all, known by his remarkable “posters,” executed for Mme. Sarah Bernhardt, among which the announcements for the plays of “Midee” and “Grismonda” are by far the most sucessful [sic]. In this class of work he shows himself quite distinct from Cheret and Eugene Grasset, and is easily recognizable by his feeling for line and his rich, although sober, coloring.

As an illustrator M. Mucha has risen to a still higher plane of attainment, notably in his drawings for Robert de Flers’ “Princesse de Tripoli,” and in his pictorial paraphrase of the “Lord’s Prayer.” It is in the latter work that he expresses himself most fully and clearly, since he there finds occasion to join in an attractive union his two opposite qualities of mysticism and materialism.

As a mural artist it is probable that M. Mucha has yet to create his master work, but he is remembered for his superb decorations in the pavilion of Bosnia and Hersegovina at the Paris exposition, and he is now under contract for the adornment of the new German theater in New York.

A Czech by birth, M. Mucha has been in turn subjected to the art influences of Vienna. Munich and Paris. He comes now to sound in the new world that strange, haunting minor note which is the peculiar expression of the Slavonic people.

M. Mucha speaks English fluently and both the style and manner of his addresses on art are highly praised.

Post Standard
(Syracuse, New York)
March 16, 1908

Large Audience Hears Prof. Alphonse Mucha
Alphonse Mucha of Paris attracted a large audience when he gave an illustrated lecture at Assembly Hall in the University Building Saturday evening.

The subject was “Harmony in Proportion and Color in Composition,” and the speaker illustrated his subject by sketches in colored crayon. The speaker was induced to stop in Syracuse on his way to Chicago by the painting department of the College of Fine Arts of Syracuse University.

Mr. and Mrs. Hendrick S. Holden entertained Prof. Mucha at dinner at the Century Club before the lecture, covers being laid for ten. Daffodils and valley lilies were on the table.

New York Evening World
April 20, 1908

Rich Easter Gift Is Made to a Church
Paintings Valued at $30,000 by Von Heyder Gift to St. John’s.
A costly painting by John Devich Von Heyder was presented yesterday to St. John’s Catholic Church, in East Seventy-second street. The Easter offering forms the background of the altar. A Vacant space beside it is to hold a second picture upon which Von Heyder is at work. …

… John Devich von Heyder, the artist, although only twenty-eight, ranks high in Europe among painters of portraits and mural decorations. The young artist arrived in this country a few months ago, He has been engaged to assist Alphonse Mucha in decorating the new German Theater.

New York Herald
April 28, 1908

Art Crafts Union Keeps Jubilee
Kunst Gewerbe Verein Gives Exhibition to Mark Its Fifty Years of Usefulness
Trains Artists and Artisans
Society Forerunner of Cooper Union and of the Arts and Crafts Movement
Sincerity of purpose and high ideals pervade an exhibition which is being given in its club rooms at No. 194 Third avenue by the Kunst Gewerbe Verein (Art Crafts Union), which is celebrating its semi-centenary.

This society was founded in 1868 by Germans, many of whom were carvers, decorators and skilled artificers, to develop the artistic sense among those who wrought with their hands. It was the forerunner of Cooper Union and similar schools and of the arts and crafts movement which in recent years has been wielding an important influence.

… Artists, illustrators, carvers, decorators, cabinet makers, silversmiths and weavers belong to the organization.

The present exhibition is an heterogeneous as it is interesting. Alphonse Mucha, a noted poster painter, …

New York Evening Post
May 16, 1908

Art Notes.
There will be on exhibition to-day from twelve to six o’clock, at the Washington Square building of the New York University, the work of the classes in color and applied desigs [sic] taught by Dr. James P. Haney, Alphonse Mucha, the French poster artist, will give a lecture on “Figure Drawing and Composition” at three o’clock, illustrated by drawings in colored chalks made before the audience. The lecture is of particular interest to those who are attending the convention of the Eastern Art Teachers’ Association. and the exhibition at the Museum of Natural History of art work to be sent to London as the American exhibit for the international Congress on Art and Education to be held there from August 3 to 5.

New York Evening Post
May 16, 1908

News of the College World
New York University.
… An exhibition of the work done by the class in design, conducted on Saturdays by Dr. James P. Haney of the school of pedagogy, will be held this afternoon in the Washington Square building. One feature will be a series of book-plates made by the students, most of whom are teachers in New York and vicinity. In connection with the exhibition. M. Alphonse Mucha will give an illustrated lecture on “Figure Drawing in Composition.”

The Inland Printer
June 1908

 



















Metropolitan Magazine
July 1908

Chicago Sunday Tribune
(Illinois)
August 23, 1908

American Shop Girls More Beautiful Than the Famous models of Paris Says Alphonse Mucha, Artist
Alphonse M. Mucha, far famed for his wonderful decorative work, is the man who says he has found the ideal model in the little girl behind the counter, and not only does Mr. Mucha declare this to be a fact but presents a variety of work for which these young women have posed to prove that he is serious in his remark.

Literary Digest
September 5, 1908
The artwork was used many times throughout 1908. 

Brooklyn Daily Eagle
(New York)
September 22, 1908

 


















New York Herald
October 2, 1908

Handsome New German Theatre Is Opened
Commodious and Comfortable Playhouse at Fifty-Ninth Street and Madison Avenue Dedicated to Drama.
New York’s German playgoers found ample grounds for satisfaction when they assembled in force last night at the opening of the new theatre built at Madison avenue and Fifty-ninth street for the company under the direction of Messrs. Maurice Baumfeld and Eugon Burg.

… Proscenium boxes have been omitted. In their place is a row of exceedingly roomy boxes back of the parquet. No parquet space is given to musicians, but during the entr’actes a small orchestra in one of the balconies makes itself heard. The decorations are simple, but effective, the chief features consisting of contrasting cartoons of tragedy and comedy on either side of the proscenium arch. They are the work of Mr. Alphonse Mucha and were much admired. …

New York Dramatic Mirror
October 31, 1908

Alphonse Mucha, he who designed marvelous poster girls, and who decorated the German Theatre to the pleasure of its patrons, rolls his eyes toward Heaven in helplessness and raises his hands with palms upturned, to express despair.

“Why won’t American women dress to please themselves instead of to please the shopkeepers? European women are individualists in dress. They consider a mode and say of it: ‘It is becoming to me, I shall wear it’ Or: ‘It is not becoming to me. I shall not adopt it.’ And they do not care whether all other women wear that which makes them absurd. That is the reason French women are the most tasteful dressers in the world,” cries this artist, whose soul of an artist is grieved by the transformation of beauty into fashionable freak. “The American woman makes herself look like to a fish, with long, flat, straight body and huge head. Ach!” The artist who wants to paint the American woman at her best groaned, and there were real tears in his emotional European eyes.

The Jewish Herald
(Houston, Texas)
November 5, 1908

The Jew Progressing in Art

Chicago Sunday Tribune
(Illinois)
November 15, 1908

Way in Which Beautiful Arms Express Emotions
Artists Make Arms Keynote of Picture.
… “It is a great study,” says Alphonse Mucha, the Bohemian artist, who declares that he has found the perfect arm in that of Miss Amelia Rose, his new model. Some little time ago Miss Rose took part in a contest in Paris among the most famous of all those who have achieved distinction in that city, and the sculptors and artists on the committee decided that her arm was the most beautiful and the most shapely and conformed the nearest to types of true feminine beauty that the world has ever seen.

Metropolitan Magazine
January 1909
cover


New York Herald
January 24, 1909

Mrs. Leslie Carter Here in Production of “Kassa”
… The play itself is most handsomely and lavishly mounted. There are, five acts, all filled with details and effects that captivate the eye. The stage pictures disclosed as the curtain was raised for the various acts precipitated applause, and the artistic effects were heightened by a special tableau curtain designed by Mr. Alphonse Mucha. …

Mucha’s daughter Jaroslava was born March 15, 1909 in Manhattan.


Brooklyn Life
(New York)
March 20, 1909

One of the sensational features of the big German Artists’ Festival that is to take place at the Waldorf-Astoria on Saturday Evening of the coming week is a minstrel show in which participants will include such well-known opera singers, musicians and actors as Karl Burrian, Karl Jorn, Riccardo Martin, Albert Reiss, Otto Goritz, Adolf Muehlmann, Walter Soomer, Robert Blass, Adamo Didur, Allen Hinckley, Paolo Gallico, Leo Schulz, Eugen Burg, Carl Sauermann, Heinrich, Marlow, Ernest Wurmser and Heinrich Lowenfled. For the ladies attending this affair, which will be for the benefit of the German Actors’ Fund, there will be artistic souvenirs in the form of sketch books containing sketches by the following well-known painters: Arthur J. Keller, Joseph Keppler, Wilhelm Funk, Karl Hassmann, Herman Hanatschek, Hy. Mayer, Henry Nappenbach, Julian Hess, Alphonse Mucha and Heinz Meixner. …

Brooklyn Daily Eagle
(New York)
March 21, 1909

German Festival Ready.
A Congress of All the Talents at the Waldorf, Saturday Night.
Arrangements for the German Artists Festival, which will take place on Saturday evening, at the Waldorf-Astoria, have now been virtually completed. The co-operation of the Metropolitan opera House stars, the artists of the new German Theater and distinguished musicians have already assured the success of the entertainment.

… After the entertainment (which will take place in the ballroom), there will be dancing in the Astor Gallery. Every woman attending the festival will be presented with a souvenir in the shape of a sketch book, containing etchings by Karl Hassmann, Alphonse Mucha, Wilhelm Funk, Herman Hanatschek, Hy. Mayer and other well-known artists. The proceeds of the festival will be devoted to the German Actors Fund.

Palette and BenchApril 1909

Miss Mosenthal was first a pupil of Mr. Alphonse Mucha, and now for several years has acted as interpreter for him in his classes at the Woman's School of Applied Design. …

Alphonse Mucha on Color and Design

New York Herald
April 16, 1909

Sculptures Exhibited.
Sculptures by Mr. Louis Potter were placed on exhibition yesterday at No. 43 West Forty-sixth street … Mr. Alphonse Mucha last night delivered a lecture on art in connection with the exhibition.

New York Herald
April 21, 1909

Notes of the Art World.
Mr. Alphonse Mucha is painting the portraits of twelve actresses, of which the first will be that of Miss Maude Adams in the character of Joan of Arc.

Palette and BenchMay 1909

Alphonse Mucha on Color and Design
Continued

New York Sun
May 4, 1909

Hints for City Beautiful
Statues, Statistics, Model Forms for All to See.
Municipal Art Conference Opens in 22d Regiment Armory With Much Speechifying—The Trouble With the Town Is That It Just Grew and Grew.
Mad Anthony Wayne on a plaster horse overlooked the speakers who opened the conference on city planning and municipal art last night in the Twenty-second Regiment Armory. On the left they were bounded by Bird S. Coler and half an acre of statistics dealing with the miserable state of the streets in Pittsburg, on' the right by models of street lamps and architects drawings of municipal buildings as they ought to be.

Elsewhere in the big armory were corridors of sketches and whole streets of figures indicating what New York city might become if persons in authority took the trouble to plan, artistic improvements. Rows of plaster statues, gentlemen and ladies in loose hanging robes, furnished suggestions for the decoration of boulevards and the public parks. Mural art was represented by some sketches from the brush of Alphonse Mucha, notably a painting entitled “Quo Vadis.” …

Evening Statesman
(Walla Walla, Washington)
May 26, 1909

America Country of Art
A fresh indication of the growing esteem in which American art is now held abroad is the visit to Chicago of two European painters of the first rank, whose avowed purpose in coming to the west is to get a better idea of the present methods of training practiced on this side of the water. Their praises coming hard on the heels of successes won by several artists of this country at the Paris salon this spring, call new attention to the fact that France is no longer preeminent as the mother of the arts. M. Alphonse Mucha, whose painting, and posters have made him celebrated through-out Europe, is one of the artists, who have turned to this country. … M. Mucha reached Chicago a few days ago and proceeded to get impressions at first hand by conducting special classes of students at the Art Institute, which is the largest art school in the country. The enthusiasm of American students as opposed to those abroad was what first struck his attention. “The young artists here have the spirit that will produce things,’ he said, ”they have the enthusiasm of Chicago and the west. Four methods are excellent. You are developing splendid draughtsmen and workers in color and you have the advantage of having here in Chicago me of the greatest art schools in the world. I should like to settle here and do all my work in this congenial atmosphere if it were possible. M. Mucha spoke also of the spirit of helpfulness he noticed in American students. …

Palette and Bench
June 1909

Alphonse Mucha on Color and Design
Continued

Palette and Bench
July 1909

Alphonse Mucha on Color and Design
Concluded

On October 27, 1909, Mucha returned to New York City aboard the steamship Kronprinz Wilhelm. He departed Cherbourg, France on October 20. The passenger list said his occupation was professor.

 







 (Next post on Monday: Alphonse Mucha in America, Part 2: 1910–1923)