‘Timeless Mucha: The Magic of Line’ (review)

Edited by by Tomoko Sato 
Contributions by Kelli Bodle, Camille Brown,
Joe Quesada, Aimee Marcereau DeGalan,
and Christian Waguespack
Published by D.A.P. and The Mucha Foundation

Timeless Mucha: The Magic of Line, is not a book about illustrator Alphonse Mucha.

Well…it IS a book about Alphonse Mucha but it isn’t JUST a book about Alphonse Mucha. It’s also about the long-lasting influence of Alphonse Mucha and Art Nouveau from 1960s rock poster artists to today’s Manga artists and beyond. Even then it’s not JUST a book! It’s the catalog for a current traveling museum exhibition on same.

If, at this point, you’re asking, “So who is Alphonse Mucha?” you’re in for a treat.

Back when my son was little, about 20 years ago, I would sit with him at times and we would look up the works of some of my favorite artists and illustrators so I could introduce him to their work.

These included, of course, comic book artists Wallace Wood, Jim Steranko, and Barry Windsor-Smith. We also looked up strip masters, including Alex Raymond, Hal Foster, and Walt Kelly, as well as movie poster artists like Robert McGinnis, Richard Amsel, and Jack Davis. Then, one night, we looked up Alphonse Mucha.

I knew who Mucha was and recognized his patented Art Nouveau style when I saw it but I had never really spent any time just enjoying his work. My son particularly loved his wispy, splendiferous design work so we returned to him often after that on our art appreciation nights. I said I needed to get him a book of Mucha works (Who am I kidding? I wanted one for myself!) but I never got around to it.

I guess I first discovered Art Nouveau via the oft-reprinted rock posters of the late 1960s/early 1970s. There were actual Mucha posters around as well, seen advertised in magazines like National Lampoon.

The ups and downs of the artist’s career, both during his lifetime and since, are chronicled in the text of this catalog. We are also presented with a brief history of the Art Nouveau style and how it led to Mucha’s popularizing mass-produced posters prints as an art form unto itself.

Mucha’s style, we are told, “…which came to epitomize Art Nouveau, was not derived from any specific art movement or school. It was a unique mode of expression developed in response to the circumstances of its era.” As such, we are shown scores of examples of art that likely influenced the artist, along with many beautifully reproduced black and white photos of him in his studio. We also get numerous black and white photos taken by the artist as reference for particular posters.

Some other photos in the book seem more random, such as one captioned, “A hippie enjoying the music and atmosphere at Knebworth Festival, August 13, 1979.” The photo shows a long-haired, topless woman holding a cigarette. Not sure just what that has to do with Mucha. (Not only that, actual “hippies” were long gone by 1979.)

There’s a timeline, a listing of prior Mucha exhibitions, essays and commentaries by various folks including Marvel’s Joe Quesada, and a whole bunch of reproductions of rock posters old and new, comics panels and covers, and record album sleeves. It’s all in all a very thorough appreciation of one of the great, pioneering “modern” illustrators.

The one thing I found to be fairly scarce in this book, surprisingly enough, was the art of Alphonse Mucha.

While seeing all the stylish and colorful art inspired by Mucha, all clearly and neatly identified in the manor of museum catalogs, is both fascinating and entertaining in and of itself, I would have loved to have seen much more by the man himself! What there is, of course, is great, although often reproduced on rather a small scale. Some disappointment there.

If you’re a fan of Alphonse Mucha, I suggest watching for this exhibit and you’ll definitely want to pick up Timeless Mucha. If, however, you’re just discovering his gorgeous works of long ago, there are a number of books out there with more of his actual art.

Still, I liked what was here and the text told me way more than I ever knew about the man and his work.

Booksteve recommends.