|
Alphonse Mucha was
born in 1860 in Ivancice, Moravia, which is near the city of Brno in
the modern Czech Republic. It was a small town, and for all intents
and purposes life was closer to the 18th than the 19th century.
Though Mucha is supposed to have started drawing before he was
walking, his early years were spent as a choirboy and amateur
musician. It wasn't until he finished high school (needing two extra
years to accomplish that onerous task) that he came to realize that
living people were responsible for some of the art he admired in the
local churches. That epiphany made him determined to become a
painter, despite his father's efforts in securing him "respectable"
employment as a clerk in the local court.
Like every aspiring artist of the day,
Mucha ended up in Paris in 1887. He was a little older than many of
his fellows, but he had come further in both distance and time. A
chance encounter in Moravia had provided him with a patron who was
willing to fund his studies. After two years in Munich and some time
devoted to painting murals for his patron, he was sent off to Paris
where he studied at the Academie Julian. After two years the
supporting funds were discontinued and Alphonse Mucha was set adrift
in a Paris that he would soon transform. At the time, however, he
was a 27 year old with no money and no prospects - the proverbial
starving artist. |
.gif){kind=spacer}
Copyright 2008 NYMuseum.com. All rights reserved.