Alphonse Mucha disagreed with the phrase Art Nouveau. Why? He believed that art is eternal, and therefore cannot be called nouveau, which means new in French (Meggs).
For those of you who don't know, Doctor Who is a British TV show produced by the BBC. It involves an eccentric man referred to as the Doctor who travels through time and space in a machine called the TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimension In Space), which is the blue police box you see behind Amy Pond in the image below. The show ran from 1963-1996 and has recently been revived and modernized, which aired its first contemporary episode in 2005.
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| Bill Mudron's Amy Pond by way of Alphonse Mucha |
Although he did not actively associate himself with the Art Nouveau movement, Mucha became one of the most widely influential artists of the period. Many still use the expression le style Mucha interchangeably when describing the movement's most prominent visual characteristics, specifically in reference to the Art Nouveau period in France. Mucha gained recognition when his poster depicting Sarah Bernhardt as Gismonda appeared in Paris. It is around this time that Alphonse Mucha joined a group called the Salon des Cent, gaining an interest in symbolism; perhaps this contributed to Mucha's instantly recognizable style?
P.S. Did you know that Google celebrated Alphonse Mucha's 150th birthday on July 24, 2010 with a Doodle-of-the-Day?
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