The innovations and influence of Alphonse Mucha

Discover one of art’s greatest stylistic innovators, Alphonse Mucha, who created some of the most instantly recognisable and best-loved works in modern European art.  

In this talk, Jackie Dunn, curator of Alphonse Mucha: Spirit of Art Nouveau, will unveil this comprehensive exhibition showcasing his visionary work. From illustrations and jewellery to interior decoration, photographs and more, this exhibition reveals an artist and designer whose powerful influence remains with us today. Mucha rose to fame with the posters he created for legendary actor and international superstar Sarah Bernhardt, gaining global recognition.

After the break, Japanese fashion historian Toby Slade will join Dunn in conversation to discuss the influence of Japan on Mucha and his contemporaries, the Japonisme movement, and the two-way flow of ideas between Europe and Japan in the late 19th to early 20th centuries. Toby Slade is associate professor of fashion at the University of Technology Sydney and a founding member of the Research Collective for Decoloniality and Fashion. Their talk will be moderated by Kathryn Hunyor, a Japanese-speaking curator who is head of international tours at the Art Gallery Society of New South Wales.

Image: Alphonse Mucha The seasons: spring 1896 (detail) © Mucha Trust 2024