“The Slavs in their Original Homeland”, The Slav Epic No. 1
When one thinks of Alphonse Mucha, one thinks of beautiful women adorning lithograph poster art, with stylized dress, swirling hair, and decorative motifs. However, he is so much more. In the later years of his life, Mucha devoted his time to what he considered his life’s masterworks.
This large-scale oil and tempera on canvas painting is by the Art Nouveau Czech artist, Alphonse Mucha, from 1912. It is titled “The Slavs in their Original Homeland”. This piece is the first of 20 canvases in the series Mucha called The Slav Epic.
It is a Symbolism piece and depicts a couple in the foreground cowering in the bushes while their village is burned to the ground, as seen in the fire in the left portion of the background. A pagan priest is seen rising in the air on the right flanked by two youths who symbolize war and peace.
Mucha considered his art to be a continuation of the Slavic folk art tradition by representing a visual history of the history of the Slavic people. Through this series, Mucha was trying to focus his ambition and create a masterpiece that he could dedicate to his fellow Czechs and the Czech nation itself. The paintings in this series have quite a history.
Mucha was a very sought after and popular artist in France at the turn of the 20th century. So much so, that many people from his homeland thought of him as a sellout. In 1909, Mucha was asked to paint murals at the New Municipal House in Prague and many people were very upset by this.
This did not hold Mucha back, and in 1910, after moving his family to Prague, he began work on ‘The Slav Epic’ series. He continued on his work for this series throughout WWI. In 1919, after the close of the Great War, the first 11 canvases were completed and were put on display in Prague, where they were well received by the public, but not so much by the critics. In 1928, Mucha completed the series.
In 1939, Germany invaded Czechoslovakia and Mucha was arrested and put in jail where he contracted pneumonia and ultimately died that same year at 78 years of age. Before he died, Mucha put in his will that ‘The Slav Epic’ be donated to the people of Czechoslovakia, as long as they house all the pieces in the same pavilion to be on display for the public.
However, during WWII, the pieces were rolled up and hidden in storage rooms to be kept safe from the Gestapo. After WWII, the Communist Party took control and in 1950, the pieces were moved to Moravský Krumlov in the southern portion of the Czech Republic for safekeeping. In 1963, the pieces saw daylight again, and were put on display in a local castle.
After the fall of the Communist Party in 1989, there was talk about bringing the paintings back to Prague, but the community from Moravský Krumlov did not agree, and they were supported by the Mucha family. After some legal battles, in 2010, Prague built a pavilion to house the paintings, though the people from Moravský Krumlov and Mucha’s family had not agreed to let the paintings leave. In 2011, five of the paintings made it to Prague and in 2012, the 15 other pieces were also moved to Prague and the whole series was reunited there were they were on display until 2016.
“The Slavs in their Original Homeland” is currently in the possession of the City of Prague. Plans are still being made in regard to where the new home for the pieces will finally be that conservationists, art historians, Mucha’s family, and everyone can agree on.
For more on Alphonse Mucha, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
