History Creator / AlphonseMucha

Alfons Mucha (born Alfons Maria Mucha[[note]]Fun fact most fans of his work won't be aware of: His surname is a Moravian dialectism for "fly". Yes, the insect.[[/note]], 24 July 1860 – 14 July 1939), known internationally as Alphonse[[note]]the French and German variant of his given name[[/note]] Mucha, was a decorative artist whose work is often considered to be the TropeCodifier for the ArtNouveau style.[[note]]Ironically, though, he generally tried to dissociate himself from any school or fashion.[[/note]] He was born in what is now the UsefulNotes/CzechRepublic, and after studying in various parts of Europe, he moved to UsefulNotes/{{Paris}} in 1887. While he was there, he became highly successful as a poster artist and graphic designer. (Among other things, he had a mutually very profitable professional association with Sarah Bernhardt, the most famous actress of the period, designing posters for her theatrical performances.) His [[http://www.muchafoundation.org/gallery/browse-works/object_type/posters posters]] remain hugely popular to this day (though Mucha thought that his most important work was an occult analysis of the Lord's Prayer).

Later in his life, he returned to his native land as Czechoslovakia gained independence after UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. A dedicated Czech patriot, he designed postage stamps and banknotes for the new state, creating perhaps the most artistically beautiful money in history, and spent years on his [[TheEpic "Slav Epic"]], a series of twenty huge paintings depicting the history of his nation and its people. But he's remembered for those posters and prints.

Alfons Mucha (born Alfons Maria Mucha, 24 July 1860 – 14 July 1939), known internationally as Alphonse[[note]]the French and German variant of his given name[[/note]] Mucha, was a decorative artist whose work is often considered to be the TropeCodifier for the ArtNouveau style.[[note]]Ironically, though, he generally tried to dissociate himself from any school or fashion.[[/note]] He was born in what is now the UsefulNotes/CzechRepublic, and after studying in various parts of Europe, he moved to UsefulNotes/{{Paris}} in 1887. While he was there, he became highly successful as a poster artist and graphic designer. (Among other things, he had a mutually very profitable professional association with Sarah Bernhardt, the most famous actress of the period, designing posters for her theatrical performances.) His [[http://www.muchafoundation.org/gallery/browse-works/object_type/posters posters]] remain hugely popular to this day (though Mucha thought that his most important work was an occult analysis of the Lord's Prayer).

[[caption-width-right:349:He was an early-20th-century artist working in Paris, and a patriotic Slav. So the BadassBeard was mandatory.]]

* LeaningOnTheFurniture: Quite a few of the women in his posters seem to be resting an elbow on something [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphonse_Mucha#/media/File%3AAlphonse_Mucha_-_Job_Cigarettes_1.jpg (maybe invisible furniture)]] — a {{Modeling Pose|s}} that in this case conveys an air of pensiveness.
* ModelingPoses: Mucha's poster-women are often throwing some kind of shapes. LeaningOnTheFurniture pensively is the most common, as noted above, but a ContrappostoPose [[https://www.artrepublic.com/13658-eveil-du-matin.html shows up occasionally,]] and there's at least [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphonse_Mucha#/media/File%3AAlfons_Mucha_-_1898_-_Dance.jpg one case]] of a (stylized but unmistakable) BoobsAndButtPose.