Zodiaque ("La Plume")

autumn 1894

Friendship with August Strindberg

In late autumn 1894 he became friends with the playwright August Strindberg, with whom he shared interests in philosophy and mysticism.

26 December 1894

Sarah Bernhardt orders the poster for “Gismonda”

Bernhardt telephoned Maurice de Brunhoff of the publishing firm Lemercier, ordering a poster for the continued run of Sardou’s “Gismonda” by 1 January 1895; because of the holidays none of the regular Lemercier artists was available, and Mucha, who happened to be at the firm correcting proofs, took the job.

1 January 1895

The “Gismonda” poster appears on the streets of Paris

The poster, a little over two metres high, with Bernhardt as a Byzantine noblewoman under a rainbow-shaped arch almost like a halo, appeared on the streets of Paris on 1 January 1895 and caused an immediate sensation; Bernhardt ordered four thousand copies in 1895 and 1896 and gave Mucha a six-year contract.

1897

Retrospective at the Salon des Cent: 448 works

Léon Deschamps, the editor of La Plume, invited him to show at the Salon des Cent in 1896, and in 1897 the same gallery gave him a major retrospective of 448 works; the magazine La Plume devoted a special issue to him, and the exhibition travelled to Vienna, Prague, Munich, Brussels, London and New York, giving him an international reputation.

20 December 1899

“Le Pater” is published

Wishing to be recognised as a serious artist and philosopher, he gave a pictorial expression to every line of the Lord’s Prayer in a book published by Henri Piazza in an edition of only 510 copies; he considered it his printed masterpiece and said he had put his soul into it. The original watercolours were shown in the Austrian pavilion at the 1900 Exposition Universelle.

c. 1899 – 1900

A trip to the Balkans for sketches

As soon as the project was accepted, Mucha left for the Balkans to sketch costumes, ceremonies and architecture, which he put into his work for the pavilion.