210 / 242
ALPHONSE MUCHA (1860-1939)
207
●
HEARST’S INTERNATIONAL / FOR DECEMBER. Magazine cover. 1921.
13
5
/
8
x9
3
/
4
inches, 34
1
/
2
x24
3
/
4
cm.
Condition B+ / B: slice through image; colors faded overall; repaired tears and restoration in margins into
image. Matted and framed. Unexamined out of frame.
Spirit of Art Nouveau 65a.
[300/400]
ALPHONSE MUCHA (1860-1939)
208
●
HEARST’S INTERNATIONAL / JUNE. Magazine cover. 1922.
11
1
/
8
x7
7
/
8
inches, 28
1
/
4
x20 cm.
Condition B+ / B: restoration along creases, minor restored losses and repaired tears at edges and in image;
colors attenuated. Matted and framed. Unexamined out of frame.
[300/400]
ALPHONSE MUCHA (1860-1939)
209
●
FRIENDSHIP / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS. April 3, 1904.
20
1
/
2
x15 inches, 52x38 cm.
Condition B+: time-staining, creases and minor losses in margins; faded. Matted and framed. Unexamined
out of frame.
“In 1904, at the age of forty-four, Mucha left Paris . . . to America with the determination to become
known as a painter. Since his posters and decorative designs were as famous in New York as in Paris, the
press in the New World treated him as a celebrity” (Spirit of Art Nouveau p. 214). The
New York Daily
News
referred to him as “the world’s greatest decorative artist,” and dedicated its Sunday Art Section to
Mucha on April 3, 1904. For the illustration on the cover of that section, Mucha created a wonderful
allegorical image entitled
Friendship
, in which America and France are each depicted as women. America,
with stars on both her tiara and gown and red and white ribbons cascading from her hair, appears as the
young protégé of France, who watches over her protectively, adorned with lilies in her hair and fleur-de-
lys patterns on her dress. As Jirí Mucha points out, the two women are jointly “holding a wreath of lime
leaves, [a] national symbol of Czechoslovakia” (Mucha Posters and Photographs p. 52). Grand Palais L.
69, Lendl p. 257 (var), Rennert / Weill 89, Mucha / Henderson 170 (var), Mucha / Bridges R28 (var),
Spirit of Art Nouveau 60 (var).
[300/400]
207
208