The fly went by

Pater Noster by Mucha: _sirano_ — LiveJournal

When Mucha was already famous, he had many orders. But all this was advertising or, at best, posters. And I wanted something for the soul. And he made a small book and published it in 500 copies.

Pater Noster Prayer Book. The prayer is divided into seven verses, with three pages drawn for each. On one is the text of the verse itself in Latin and a translation into French. The following is some textual interpretation. On the third - an illustration of this interpretation in a more realistic way. Since the book turns out to be small, I will give it here in its entirety. I do not know French, so the translation of the texts is very approximate. If anyone can clarify and correct - I will be grateful.

The seven pictographs on the left side of the cover correspond to the seven verses and briefly describe their content.

Our Father in heaven!

From the womb of sleepy matter, a person gradually awakens, regaining consciousness. To come to the ideal, it is necessary that his soul orient himself and leave the region of darkness in which his body is kept. All these are his brothers, sons of the same family, of the same future, and in a burst of filial love, he calls this light that looks at them all: "Our Father who art in heaven."

A person will slowly move towards a light that he sees at a distance, and with it will rise to a group of beings, his neighbors.

Hallowed be Thy name

Coming out of the abyss and coming to the light that is God, a person wants to offer God all the best that he has, and together with the smoke from the sacrifice brings feelings of adoration and glorification to him address.

Along with the living fire, the inner fire rises, which unconsciously comes out of their hearts.
In benevolent compassion, God joins this first step towards the revival of enlightenment.

Thy Kingdom come

God, touched by this effort, sends the first ray of Truth to illuminate the abyss in which the soldiers are.

At first surprised by this light that penetrates their souls, previously immersed in the darkness of matter, they approach, driven by holy curiosity, and feel themselves in the power of an unknown force that now reigns over them: Love.

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven

Now, knowing his divine Father and the love that unites him with him, man learns to trust the benevolent authority that controls his destiny.

Completely renouncing himself, he accepts both good and evil from God, knowing that all events of life are under the control of the wisdom of the Higher Will.

Give us our daily bread this day

He admires the wisdom of Providence, which satisfies every day all the needs of living beings around. He sees that rivers of milk come out of the depths of the earth, from which man quenches his thirst, while Divine Kindness gives him the spiritual bread of love, with which he satisfies the hunger of his soul.

Forgive us our debts, just as we forgive our debtors.

Having conquered the evil force of his primitive instincts, thanks to the Will of his eternal Teacher, a person must also understand and begin to follow the great law of forgiveness.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

Now a person comes into a state of absolute consciousness and clarity and sees the ideal source of light that attracts him.

By his own will, thanks to the cares of the Divine guidance, through the machinations of evil demons, he finally finds himself, purified and free from matter, before the Supreme Being, who awakened him to life.

Amen.

A love story that gave birth to masterpieces: Alphonse Mucha and Maria Khitilova - dreams come true

Captivating, sensual and refined female images in the works of the famous artist Alphonse Mucha are an easily recognizable standard of his style, which was called “Mukha’s style”. King of Art Nouveau, a sensational artist who created images and designs for jewelry for the famous actress Sarah Bernhardt, Mucha, unlike many of his colleagues, did not enjoy the easy fruits of popularity. There were few women in his life, and he did not talk about his novels.

The chief master of the style that glorifies the Beautiful Lady, the famous artist was in no hurry to tie the knot, although he had plenty of opportunities. The famous "La Femme Muchas" inspired poets and writers, loyal fans tried to buy (or cut off the cabinet) every new poster created by Mucha. Postcards, posters, lithographs, calendars with exquisite beauties dispersed in thousands of copies.

Alphonse Mucha . Poster for the ballet-pantonym "Princess Hyacinth" , 1911 g

Mucha created his masterpieces mainly based on photographs for which models posed for him. It was faster and easier, because in one day of work in the studio, the artist managed to "click" the model in several poses and images. If we compare the photographs with their artistic incarnations, it can be quite definitely stated that Mucha's works were very complementary in relation to the women who posed for them. The face was unimportant - the image of the future beauty was born exclusively in the artist's imagination, and the photographs served only as a draft of the composition and the depicted pose. The fly was surrounded by beauties, but his heart was closed. Until the age of 43, he lived not so much as an ascetic, but he could not find anything in French women that would be in tune with his Slavic soul.

Famous actress Sarah Bernhardt wearing a lily headdress designed by Alphonse Mucha

Sarah Bernard as Melisinde

In 1902, Alphonse Mucha accompanied his friend Auguste Rodin on his trip to Slovakia, where Rodin opened a large exhibition. In Prague, at the National Theatre, a gala concert was organized in honor of the famous sculptor. It was then that they collided for the first time - the brilliant master of the Belle Époque, maestro Alphonse Mucha and the aspiring artist, student of the Prague Art School of Applied Arts Maria Khitilova. The eyes of the entire hall were riveted to Rodin, but Maria did not take her eyes off the famous artist, whose work she admired.

Auguste Rodin during his visit to Slovakia. 1902. Auguste Rodin and Alphonse Mucha walk in front, followed by the artists Milos Jiranek, Josef Marzatka and Joža Uprka. Museum of Czech Literature, Prague

Their new meeting took place a year later, in Paris, where Maria arrived accompanied by her relatives. Her uncle, the famous Czech art critic Karel Chytil, fulfilled the request of his niece and supported her idea to take drawing lessons from the famous master - at that time Alfons Mucha was already teaching at the Colarossi Academy. And then a miracle happened - Fly fell in love.

Alphonse Mucha. Portrait of Marushka, the artist's wife, 1905

In the morning he saw Marushka, as he affectionately called his student, at the Academy classes, and they spent the rest of the day together. Mucha's soul sang - he found his Beautiful Lady, his dreams of "a Czech heart, a Czech girl" came true. All other "stranger women" are in the past - and his 20-year-old housekeeper and model Louise, and the charming Gilberte Freund-Deschamps, the daughter of a wealthy flower supplier, and the fragile Berthe de Lalande, a leisurely affair with which lasted eight years.

Maria Khitilova in Mucha's workshop, Rue du Val-de-Grace, Paris, 1903

The wedding had to be postponed - in 1904 Mucha, armed with the recommendations of Baroness de Rothschild, went to conquer America in the hope of improving his financial situation. Theatrical and advertising incarnations no longer brought him satisfaction. The artist sought to "get off the advertising treadmill" and establish himself in more serious art themes. In America, he dreamed of finding funding for his grandiose project "Slavic Epic", which he conceived back in 1900 year. Mucha achieved his goal - he was supported by businessman and philanthropist Charles Crane, a passionate Slavophile, whom the artist met at one of the pan-Slavic meetings in New York.

"Self-portrait in a Russian shirt" (1899) - one of the most famous and often quoted self-portraits of Alphonse Mucha

In May 1904, Mucha returned to Paris, and again left for the USA in January 1905. In the letters that the artist regularly sent to his bride, he admitted that before that he had loved only once, at the age of 16, but then the life of his beloved was cut short by an illness. “My angel, how grateful I am to you for your letter ... Spring has come to my soul, flowers have blossomed ... I am so happy that I am ready to burst into tears, sing, embrace the world,” Mukha described his feelings, and Marushka reciprocated.

Alfons Mucha and Maria Khitilova on their wedding day. 1906

The wedding of Alfons Mucha and his adored Marushka took place on June 10, 1906 in Prague, in the chapel of St. Roch of the Strahov Monastery: he is 46, she is 23. The artist himself created a sketch of an engagement ring for his bride.

An exquisite necklace was a wedding present for Marushka. The artist, of course, created a sketch for this decoration, and it was completed by the Prague jeweler Jan Rechner at 1906 year. The golden necklace is adorned with amulets-pendants made of semi-precious stones, bunches of horseshoes and three doves - signs of love and symbols of matrimony.

The honeymoon took place in the small village of Pec in the Šumava mountains, and then the couple went to America: Alfons Mucha needed a new market for his art. The artist was not always financially successful, so Marushka certainly could not be blamed for a marriage of convenience. And the husband in a new place stoically established business. Mucha accepted a teaching position at the Art Institute of Chicago for one semester, then worked at the Philadelphia School of Art. The artist taught illustration and design at the New York School of Applied Design for Women, worked on various commissions, including interior design for the German Theater - five decorative panels, a stage curtain and interior painting. Here, in New York, Alphonse and Maria had a daughter, Yaroslav (1909 - 1986) is a future artist.

Marushka and little Yaroslava

“How beautiful and gratifying it is to live for someone, before you I had only one shrine - our homeland, and now I have set up an altar for you too, dear, I pray for both of you…” . Alphonse Mucha (from a letter to Maria Khitilova)

Alphonse Mucha. Portrait of Yaroslav, 1930

Mucha's dreams of returning to his native Czech Republic and working on his grandiose art project have finally begun to come true. Back at 1909 he was offered an order to paint the interiors of the new town hall in Prague, and in February 1910, Charles Crane agreed to finance the Slavic Epic. Twenty giant paintings were conceived, half of the works were devoted to the history of the Czech Republic, and the rest to other Slavic cultures and significant events in their history. The decision was made: Mucha with his wife and daughter returned to Europe.

Alphonse Mucha. Self-portrait, 1907

To create such a large-scale work, Mucha needed a truly huge studio. After an intense search, the artist found a suitable location - Zbiroh Castle, located between Prague and Pilsen, where the family moved at 1911 year. Rebuilt from an old fortress by an eccentric German magnate, Zbiroh Castle was a New Renaissance building. And most importantly, there were suitable halls: for the Slavic Epic, Mucha acquired canvases of the maximum possible size: 6 × 8 meters. The first paintings of the cycle - "Slavs in their original homeland", "The Feast of Svantovit" and "Introduction of the Slavic Liturgy in Moravia" - became the property of Prague in December 1912.

Alfons Mucha is working on the Slavic Epic. 1920g

After moving to Zbiroh, Mucha and his family settled in the back rooms of the castle and lived a happy family life. The rhythms of the day obeyed Mucha's work on the project. Marushka turned out to be a very practical woman and managed the household with a confident hand.

Photo of wife by Alphonse Mucha (image preview, Getty Museum)

The artist's wife made and received orders, negotiated prices, hired staff and models, managed stock and costumes for staged photographs - and never threw anything away.

Alphonse Mucha. Portrait of Marushka, the artist's wife. 1917

For the "Slavic epic", which was created over 14 years, all the surrounding residents posed for pictures. As in Paris, Mucha's working day began with getting up at five in the morning; the artist spent 9-10 hours a day on the scaffolding with short breaks.

Models depicting wrestling figures for "Introduction to the Slavonic Liturgy". 1911−1912. Photographer Alfons Mucha

Alfons Mucha as Jan Hus poses for a photo

The family took an active part in the process - sometimes the father asked his daughter to pose in order to better grasp this or that pose, turn of the hand or head. Needless to say, Marushka, the artist's wife and muse, was the model for many female images of the "Slavic Epic"...
Initially assuming that his huge canvases would be transported on shafts, Mucha chose resistant paints based on egg yolk for work. Sometimes he left for the choice of nature - he visited Croatia, visited Russia, studied the hanging and lighting of large canvases in Versailles.

Every year, Mucha took his family to Paris, where he and his wife walked through both memorable places where he met Sarah Bernhardt and listened to regular taunts from colleagues who did not understand the change in his artistic interests. In 1915, the second child in the Mucha family was born in Prague - the son of Jiri (1915 - 1991).

Maria Mukha with children Yaroslava and Jirzhi in Zbiro, Bohemia . Photographer Alfons Mucha. 1919 g

Yaroslava, who was fond of ballet as a child, gradually became involved in her father's project. At first, she only posed, and later she began to mix and apply colors, make markings and sketches of the background, and sketch minor parts of the paintings. Many years later, after the Second World War, Yaroslava actively participated in the restoration of the paintings of the Slavic Epic.

This painting by Alphonse Mucha for many years confused fans of the maestro's art, who believed that the artist's family had two daughters, or even three children - two daughters and a son. Meanwhile, the canvas depicts the eldest daughter of the artist, Yaroslav, and son Jiri. The fact is that at the beginning of the 20th century, boys were often dressed in dresses and not cut short - such was the children's fashion of those years. Since it looks rather curious to the modern eye, many assumed that the picture depicts two girls. The name of the son in the Czech manner - Jiri (Yuri), which in this version does not carry an obvious gender connotation, also contributed to the confusion.

Alphonse Mucha with family

As the artist's son, Czech writer, screenwriter and translator Jiří Mucha recalled, “... my father got married very late and my maturation, formation, and hence the awareness of my father, fell on the time when he was already well over sixty. For me, he was no longer a father in the true sense of the word, but rather a figure, a symbol, a "very serious philosophical institution" who raised his child in a somewhat unconventional way. Father understood education as an absolutely rational process, rejecting any primitive methods, such as beatings and other types of punishment. And further: “... once, when I was six months or a year old, and I was crying inconsolably, my father, sitting me next to him near the easel, persuaded me to stop crying. Naturally, I kept roaring and roaring and roaring. Both my mother and the nanny were already crying from hopelessness, and my father patiently explained that this should not be done. It was in this spirit that our relations developed.” The father, apparently, wanted to see his son as an artist - in the portrait of the boy, he “handed over” brushes to his son. But the daughter became an artist, and the writer Jiří Mucha spent his whole life popularizing the work of his father, and also wrote his biography. To what extent does the external picture correspond to the backstage life of the family? By the way, the picture of Alphonse Mucha's son's own life was not blissful - they talk about revelry and an illegitimate daughter, but that's another story.

Alphonse Mucha. Portrait of Jiri, the artist's son, 1925

The main thing is that Alphonse Mucha himself treated any of his projects, family and creative, equally seriously and patiently. Steadfastly worked throughout the First World War, when the Austrian Empire was at war with France. Due to wartime restrictions, it was difficult to get a canvas of the right size - the factory where it was made was bombed out. Eggs needed for paints were also difficult to get. But Marushka worked tirelessly, helping to overcome considerable domestic difficulties. Mucha continued his work after the end of the war, he happily welcomed the creation of the Czechoslovak Republic. Acting as a bonist, the artist created images of the first Czechoslovak banknotes without taking a penny of royalties. On the banknote of 10 crowns, he depicted his daughter Yaroslava, and on the face value of 100 crowns - the daughter of his benefactor and philanthropist Charles Crane.

The Slavic Epic cycle was completed in 1928, on the tenth anniversary of the proclamation of the Czechoslovak Republic. Filming from the time of the creation of the "Slavic Epic" has been preserved: the chronicle captured the charming and imposing artist, including we see shots with Alfons Mucha against the background of one of the canvases of his monumental series.

Alphonse Mucha.

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