In completing this historical artifact project, I decided to recreate a poster from the Art Nouveau period originally made by Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939). Upon first seeing and learning about the Art Nouveau time period, I was amazed and wanted to take a deeper dive into the history of it, and what when into creating the gorgeous posters. I wanted to hone in on Alphonse Maria Mucha, as I am greatly inspired by his works. Learning about his breakthrough, in December 1894 Mucha became famous with a commission doing a poster for the actress Sarah Bernhard. In the following years, he went on to design all her posters, theatre decorations and costumes as well
I really loved how the Art Nouveau posters and illustrations were almost always featuring women, representing beauty and new modernity. I wanted to recreate something similar to these pieces because of how highly stylized they are in their illustrations. I felt like this genre of art, in a way, resembled the illustrative side of my art style.
In my attempt to recreate L’illistration magazine – Cover for Christmas 1896-1939, I decided I would use watercolour to give my piece the same elegant flowy feel if Muchas’ posters. Taking mixed media paper, I started applying translucent and light washes to get an understanding of the direction I wanted to go, adding layers of colour and the detailed outlines after to pull everything together and complete the piece. For the photo element of the assignment, I wanted to make sure the artifact looked as though it was just finished being made in an old studio during that time period. For the museum label, I had the idea to make write my information about the artifact and its significance in a notebook/sketchbook, trying to give the illusion that it was planned out and notes were written in creating the poster.
These were also the majority of my reference photos that gave me inspiration and ideas to somewhat personalize the artwork, adding my own touch. I would definitely say that in completing the project, I am extremely happy with how the results came out, considering how detailed and complicated the Art Nouveau posters are. If I were to grade myself, I would give myself an 8.5 out of 10. I spent an estimated total of 11 hours which is why I believe that grade is fair for my effort and overall work.