ALPHONSE MUCHA (1860-1939) [SLOVANSKA EPOPEJ (SLAV EPIC) .] 1928. 55 1/2x35 1/2 inches, 141x90 cm. Condition B+: minor restoration along sharp vertical and horizontal folds; minor creases and abrasions in image. Matted and framed. "Alphonse Mucha considered The Slav Epic, a series of twenty monumental paintings depicting the Slav People, his most important and meaningful artistic and personal accomplishment. The idea of creating large mural paintings from the history of the Slavs as a gift to his nation satisfied his need to prove his talent as a painter, to express the sincere patriotic feelings for his native land and to declare his allegiance to the concept of Pan-Slavic unity" (The Spirit of Art Nouveau p. 96). Although Mucha originally conceived of this project as early as 1899 he did not begin work on the giant canvases (some as large as 18 feet tall) until 1910. He finished the project eighteen years later and gifted the paintings to the city of Prague. This poster advertises the first exhibition of the completed works (the text banner was printed separately). "Mucha's design contains symbolic incidents from early Slavic history. In the background is an image of the powerful three-faced Slavic pagan god Svantovit with a sword and a drinking cup made of horn, in which the level of wine predicted good or poor harvest. The young Slav girl in the foreground is strumming on an instrument similar to a harp. On its upper end, the red head of a cock . . . on its lower end, a nightingale sings in front of a pale moon-like circle" (The Spirit of Art Nouveau p. 326). The young girl is actually Mucha's daughter, Jaroslava, and this image of her appeared in the 18th painting in the series, The Oath of Omladina under the Slavic Linden Tree. Rennert / Weill 111, The Spirit of Art Nouveau p. 327, Lendl 84, Mucha A71.
![ALPHONSE MUCHA (1860-1939). [SLOVANSKA EPOPEJ (SLAV EPIC) .] 1928. 55x35 inches, 141x90 cm.](https://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/full//682\639682.jpg)
