Culture
Words by Michel Wlassikoff
Mucha, Documents décoratifs
Just as Art Nouveau was beginning to wane among emerging designers, these Documents décoratifs set out to encapsulate the essence of the movement.
Just as Art Nouveau was beginning to wane among emerging designers, these Documents décoratifs set out to encapsulate the essence of the movement.
In 1902, Mucha’s Documents décoratifs took up the formula initiated by Guimard three years earlier for the presentation of Castel Béranger: a collection of carefully illustrated and printed plates. In all, he offers a suite of seventy-two plates covering all areas of his creative work: posters and decorative panels, wallpapers, friezes, stained glass, goldsmiths, furniture and typographic research. This work marks the end of Art Nouveau, whose decorative heaviness most young designers began to reject, even as they sought to develop its spirit of artistic synthesis.
Document:
Documents décoratifs by A M Mucha, Librairie centrale des Beaux-Arts, Emile Lévy éditeur, 1902. Bibliothèque des Arts Décoratifs.
