“Summer”
Here’s to luxurious summer days…
“Summer” is a color lithograph from 1896 by the Czech artist, Alphonse Mucha. Mucha was the founder of the Art Nouveau movement.
In this piece, Summer is personified as a young woman. She is leaning on a grapevine and looking aside at the viewer, her eyes almost dreamy. She has long dark hair that hangs likes ropes from her head. Her dress is a loose-fitting robe, wrapped around her body. Large red poppy flowers decorate the top of her head. Her feet dangle in the water below.
This is one of four in a series, The Seasons, from 1896. In this decorative set, Mucha personifies each season as a lovely young woman. The decorative panels were printed by F. Champenois, Mucha’s publisher in Paris, and were the predecessor to the art poster. It was an intelligent marketing move. People sought to buy all four images to complete their collections.
The 1896 series was an immediate success with the public. Champenois asked Mucha to create two more sets; one in 1897 and one in 1900. Mucha’s lithographs were the first of their kind. They allowed Champenois to mass produce Mucha’s work, making owning art much more affordable.
Mucha said “I was happy to be involved in an art for the people and not for private drawing rooms. It was inexpensive, accessible to the general public, and it found a home in poor families as well as in more affluent circles.”
For more on Alphonse Mucha, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
