Menu Of The Bosnian Pavilion For The 1900 Universal Exhibition By Alphonse Mucha

Menu from the Bosnian Pavilion at the 1900 World's Fair, lithograph by Alphonse Mucha

Alphonse Mucha was already an internationally renowned artist when Austria-Hungary commissioned him to decorate the Bosnia-Herzegovina Pavilion at the 1900 World's Fair. Drawing on his Slavic origins, he created a total work of art centered around monumental frescoes offering a symbolic and idealized vision of the history of the peoples represented. This was a pivotal period for the artist, during which he broke free from the purely decorative dimension that had made him famous to embrace a more spiritual vision, using a symbolic and narrative language that, in a way, heralded his Slavic epic, his later major work.
The menu we present here affirms the artist's creative power, his erudition in Slavic folklore, his constant sensitivity to the female figure, and the delicacy of a style of which he was one of the most eminent representatives.

Frame dimensions: 49x28cm