14AlfonsMucha1860 – 1939Head of a young woman in a headscarf, 1911
Head of a young woman in a headscarf, 1911
Created
1911
Technique
Pastel, gouache, paper, frame
Dimensions
h 46 × w 32,7 cm
Signature
sign. RD Mucha 11
Short item description
From the expert opinion of PhDr. Karel Holešovský.
Portrait or study drawing, signed by Alfons
Mucha, belongs to the period of his work still
immediately associated with his artistic peak
Let us mention the posters for Sarah Bernhardt,
decorative panneaus of the seasons or personifications
gems. In this drawing, Alfons Mucha proved that
that he is now appreciated above all as a great draughtsman who
by using economical artistic means to achieve maximum
visual effect and artistic persuasiveness.
A tantalizing triple chord of grey paper, coloured reds
and gouache details draws on the best traditions of the high
European drawing. The unsought sovereignty of drawing
of drawing, nobility in the intensity of the modulated line.
and a penetrating observational talent, capable of translating
of seeing reality into a distinctively abstracted artistic
are not only a testament to the quality of this drawing,
but also its unquestioned authenticity. The drawing was created
undoubtedly in the context of the great tasks of painting
Mucha, which he was already working on at the time or was
thoroughly preparing for them. Let us mention at least the decoration
Municipal House in Prague and the Slavonic Epic. Although
this drawing can be seen as a private portrait
etude, as the result of an immediate creative state of mind
and passion, there is no doubt that it also served as a
possible source of recorded motivational inspiration for
further use. In spite of the portrait features, the drawn head
a type that appeared not infrequently in Mucha's works.
That the drawing had a more perspectival meaning than just
than a momentary portrait record, is evidenced primarily by the
in the wide-open eyes, not only emphasized
Alphonse Mucha. But also by other painters and draughtsmen on
turn of the century, who are gifted with a striking expressive
intonation. In their allegorical transposition, they express the contemporary
so often depicted, both doubtful and eager
anticipation of the coming of a new age, as well as the tangle
of the end of the last century. In this sense, Mucha adopted,
as a master of high art nouveau decorative art, also the features
of the Symbolism of the time as Jan Preisler and his comrades. The drawing is undoubtedly the work of Alfons Mucha,
whose obvious technical bravura
compensates the viewer for a certain degree of irrepressible
traditionalism. At that time, Osma had already
its first revolutionary performances in the field of new
expressionist artistic sensibility.
