Alphonse Mucha
Model posing in Mucha's studio, Rue du Val de Grâce, Paris

Public Domain

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Images(4)

Artist Alphonse MuchaCzech, 1860–1939

CultureCzech

Titles

Model posing in Mucha's studio, Rue du Val de Grâce, Paris

Datec. 1902

Place depictedParis, France

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsImage: 4 5/16 × 3 1/8 in. (11 × 8 cm)
Sheet: 4 3/4 × 3 9/16 in. (12 × 9 cm)

Credit LineGift of Manfred Heiting, the Manfred Heiting Collection

Object number2004.605

Not on view

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Department

Photography

Special Collections

Manfred Heiting Collection of Photography

Object Type

PHOTOGRAPHS

DescriptionBest known as an Art Nouveau painter and graphic designer, Alphonse Mucha portrayed beautiful young women in a distinct style of sensuous lines and lush decorative motifs in muted pastel hues. He first turned to photography to supplement this practice, photographing models in his studio as studies for his paintings. Here, the model is posed surrounded by both the tools of Mucha’s trade (plaster casts and an easel) and the fruits of his labor, including the 1894 poster for Gismonda, his first commercial success, and the printed silk panneau, L’Étoile du Soir, completed in 1902, visible in the background. Mucha made at least three photographs of this model in one sitting, the other two illustrating positions more applicable to the sinuous postures and draped figures of his painted women.
Provenance Research Ongoing Exhibition History"In the Studio," Gagosian Gallery, New York, February 17–April 18, 2015.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

verso top in pencil "Model for / Figures Decoratives"
top right "74"
lower right side in pencil "Camenall[underlined]"
top and bottom horizontal lines connected by vertical line aith arrows up and down "13cm"

verso oval stamp[upside down] "Zumeleche pozustalOsti/11/Alphonse Muchy"

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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