Alphonse Mucha

<p>Born in 1860 in a small Czech town Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939) was an artist on the forefront of Art Nouveau the modernist movement that swept Paris in the 1910s marking a return to the simplicity of natural forms and changing the world of art and design forever. In fact Art Nouveau was known to insiders as the Mucha style for the legions of imitators who adapted the master's celebrated tableaux. Today his distinctive depictions of lithe young women in classical dress have become a pop cultural touchstone inspiring album covers comic books and everything in between. Patrick Bade and Victoria Charles offer readers an inspiring survey of Mucha's career illustrated with over one hundred lustrous images from early Parisian advertisements and posters for Sarah Bernhardt to the famous historical murals painted just before his death at the age of 78.</p>