Nouveau Cover Story
This month’s cover of Antique Collecting features the work of Czech art nouveau artist Alphonse Mucha.
Painted in 1896, Alphonse Mucha’s Zodiac was his first work for printing company Champenois. The image was originally intended for their calendar, however it caught the attention of chief editor of La Plume, Léon Deschamps, who immediately bought the rights to use it for his magazine’s calendar.
The painting quickly went on to become one of Mucha’s most celebrated designs and held up as a leading example of the fluidity and romanticism of the art nouveau movement. The picture includes the twelve signs of zodiac behind a young and majestic woman bedecked in fantastical jewellery.
The Russell Cotes Art Gallery and Museum has a forthcoming exhibition of Mucha’s work, ‘Alphonse Mucha: In Quest of Beauty’ starting on April 1st to September 27th.
Read our article by subscribing to Antique Collecting here.