Au Quartier Latin

Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939) was a Czech artist who chose the path of a painter after being kicked out of school for his poor academic performance.

He studied and worked in the artistic field in Vienna and Munich before going to Paris, France where he rose to fame as an illustrator for magazine covers, books and posters.

A particular work that attracted attention was a poster of a famous French actress, Sarah Bernhardt; the painting was titled Gismonda after the play in which she was the star.

After the success of this poster, Mucha signed numerous contracts to illustrate for various magazines and poster commissions.

One of these magazines is Au Quartier Latin. This particular image is a cover from a publication in 1898. The magazine was printed by Paul Dupont during the early stages of the Art Nouveau era and gets its name undoubtedly from the section of Paris with the same name.

The magazine was devoted to the arts and the Latin Quarter of Paris was known for its scholarly and education establishments.

This cover is an excellent example of Mucha's art nouveau style as it reflects natural and real forms.

This cover also shows Mucha's personal style as he commonly illustrates women represented in a most beautiful and elaborate way with inspiration being drawn from stained glass colors.

However, this particular figure seems more stiff than some other figures Mucha depicted, perhaps related to the contents of this particular publication or to events going on at the time on Paris. He did other covers for Au Quartier Latin that are quite similar and equally beautiful.