Currently not on view
Poster for Job cigarette paper,
1897
Alphonse Mucha, 1860–1939; born Ivančice, Czechia; died Prague
Printed by Ferdinand Champenois, French, active 1859–1927
Printed by Ferdinand Champenois, French, active 1859–1927
x1970-10
The intertwined arabesques of Mucha’s elaborate poster designs epitomize the graphic Art Nouveau style fashionable in Paris at the turn of the century. Born in Czechoslovakia and trained as a theatrical and decorative artist in Munich, Mucha moved to Paris in 1887, and by 1894 he had developed a reputation as an influential poster designer. The smoking of tobacco rolled into paper cigarettes in the Turkish manner was first introduced to France from Spain in the 1840s but did not become stylish until the end of the Crimean War in 1856. While it was still considered risqué for women to smoke in public by the 1890s, in this poster Mucha suggests an exotic sensuality associated with the fashionable practice.
Information
Title
Poster for Job cigarette paper
Dates
1897
Maker
Medium
Color lithographic poster
Dimensions
image: 50.6 x 39 cm. (19 15/16 x 15 3/8 in.)
sheet: 66.6 x 45.5 cm. (26 1/4 x 17 15/16 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase, Laura P. Hall Memorial Fund
Object Number
x1970-10
Place Made
Europe, France, Paris
Signatures
Signed lower right: Mucha
Inscription
Printed in stone, lower left: F. CHAMPENOIS / PARIS
Signed in stone, lower right: Mucha
Culture
Type
Materials
Techniques
Subject
