Alphonse Mucha
In our third week of drawing practise we researched into 19th century artists Arthur Rackham and Alphonse Mucha.
Just like Gustav Klimt, both artist were a part of the Art Nouveau period and produced amazing pieces during this period. The Art Nouveau period is the only movement of art, that I have seen so far, that includes furniture and buildings, because of this, I really enjoyed researching this period of art- I find it interesting how other artists use furniture and buildings as their 'canvases'. The gallery below shows some pieces made during this period (excluding Mucha's work).
I chose to research further into French artist, Alphonse Mucha as I think his work is a lot more visually vivid, which I love. Alphonse Mucha would use paints and inks for his posters and then used lithography as the printing technique for his posters. The posters are usually signed in the block. Some of his posters were produced as sets like The Four Seasons. Complete sets count among the most searched for of his works. The gallery below showcases some of Mucha's art work.
I really like how Mucha uses line work in his pieces: the thick, bold lines contours the figures in his pieces with its sweeping motions, putting emphasis on the forms in the piece. A lot of his pieces have a border/pattern behind or around the figure, giving importance to the figure and making them the eye's focal point. When I was researching into Mucha's work, I noticed how his work has similarities to the manga Sailor Moon, meaning that, just like Klimt, Mucha's is still as relevant today as it was nearly 200 years ago. The gallery below showcases some screenshots from the manga.
A lot of Mucha's work has women as the eye's centre focus, these women are mostly portrayed as beautiful, having long tendrils of hair and flowing garments surrounded by decorative flowers in delicate shades of peach, gold, ochre. By making the women and their environment so visually 'pretty', it gives the women an almost 'goddess' atmosphere surrounding them making an audience feel that the women being presented in these artworks aren't average, every day women. Overall, Mucha has been my favourite artist so far, I really like how he focuses more on a character rather than scenery, like Monet, however, I think it would have been interesting to see men and, not just exclusively women, painted in this style.