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Monaco - Monte Carlo (Primary Title)
Poster (Monaco-Monte Carlo) (Former Title)

Alphonse Mucha, Czech, active in France, 1860 - 1939 (Artist)

1897
Czech
Prints
Works On Paper
Lithograph
Decorative Arts After 1890
Sheet: 43 1/4 × 30 in. (109.86 × 76.2 cm)
Mount (Secondary support): 47 5/8 × 34 3/8 in. (120.97 × 87.31 cm)
Framed: 50 13/16 × 37 9/16 in. (129.06 × 95.41 cm)
2018.276
Not on view

Alphonse Mucha was one of the most well-known Art Nouveau artists working in Paris at the end of the 19th century. A renowned commercial illustrator, he was commissioned by PLM Railway Services to design this poster promoting Monaco, Monte-Carlo as a leading destination along their rail line. While the sunburst of flowers behind the woman alludes to the spokes of a train’s wheel, Mucha provided a more literal representation of the riviera by depicting the Opéra of Monte-Carlo building hidden in the background. The opera house was located directly adjacent to the PLM railway station. Mucha also designed jewelry and sculpture, examples of which can be viewed in VMFA’s Decorative Arts galleries on Level 3.

Inscribed (lower left): Mucha/1897
Marked (lower left edge): AFFICHES ARTISTIQUES DE LA SOCIÉTÉ “LA PLUME”/31, Rue Bonaparte, PARIS; (lower right edge): Imp. F. CHAMPENOIS/66 Bould St. Michel, PARIS
John and Maria Shugars Fund
La Plume, 1898, Volume 10, no. 1, p. 73
Image released via Creative Commons CC-BY-NC

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