Senior Project: Part 3 Unpublished Book

Senior Project

04/5/11

Interview 

A fashionable middle aged man enters a classy café. He sits near a window at a small table with two chairs. He places a small bag that he was carrying on the floor next to the table. He takes a book and a pencil from his bag, placing them on the table then turning to the window. He looks out the window, staring into the distance. The cafe is busy and he has chosen the last good seat with a view out the window. Another man, walks up to his table. 

Klimt: Hello, Sir. Might I take this extra seat? There doesn’t seem to be any other seat left with a beautiful view like this. 

Mucha: Certainly, my fine fellow. Take a seat. 

The other man takes the seat, looking at the other man strangely. The man sitting across from him seemed oddly familiar.  

Klimt: You look familiar. Hove we met before? 

Mucha: No, not that I know of, but now that you mention it, you do seem familiar to me. My name is Alfons Mucha. 

Perhaps we met before through out art?

Klimt: It is quite an honor, my name is Gustav Klimt. I, like yourself, am an artist. 

The two men stood up out of their seats, shook hands, and say again. It was a polite gesture towards a fellow artist. They then took their seats and sat thinking of questions to ask the other. 

Klimt: How did you get started? Where did it all begin?

Mucha:  I shall start from the beginning then, I was born on July 24 in the Ivancice, a southern town in Moravian. When I was ten I became a choirboy, which was not going to last forever. When I turned 14, I returned home and on a trip back to my hometown I visited a church while the painter Umlauf was at work. For the first time in my life I realized my hobby of drawing could become something more, not just to pass the time but a way of life. This was the moment I knew what I wanted to become, I wished to be an artist. My father on the other hand did not agree on my choice of futures. To him, the artists life was far too risky, so for a short while I became a municipal clerk. I did apply to the Academy of Visual Arts in Prague, where I was unfortunately denied admission.  This did not discourage me however, and I continued to draw. Soon I traveled to Vienna and became an apprentice to a scene painter. Here I started taking drawing classes. After that I left for Mikulov and worked for Court Cart Khuen for two years restoring portraits and painting murals.The work I did for Khuen’s family caught the eye of a Professor at the Academy of Visual Arts in Munich. He was able to gain me admission in Munich where I received my first formal training as an artist. Having an interest in being trained in a more traditional artistic career I left to attend the Academie Julian in Paris and  Acamemis Colarossi. At this time was when I started my career in as a Graphic Artist. 

Might I ask you the same? 

Klimt: Well, I was born in Baumgarten, right outside Vienna. I was one of the oldest of my seven siblings. The arts are heavily practiced in my family. My father is a gold engraver, my mother a musician and my brothers display talents like I. My brothers, Ernst and Georg, were gifted craftsman and painters. Many of the frames for my paintings were designed by my brother, Georg. He was a talented sculptor. God bless his soul. Back then it was hard back then, we were poor because the stock market crashed. My father wasn’t getting any jobs. Who needs a gold engraver when no one could afford any gold? We moved so much back then, my younger sister was so ill, the moving didn’t help and she passed away at the age of five poor. I digress, when I was fourteen, I entered the School of Arts and Crafts, I learned alongside my talented brothers. My brothers and I were liked by our Professors so much that we were allowed to work on our own projects.1899 was the start of my career, I was commissioned to decorate the music room in Nikolaus Dumba’s villa. You did work in interior design?

Mucha: Yes, like my design for the front of Geoge Fouquet’s Boutique Fouquet. Along with the interior of the shop and the designs of some of the jewelry, I was commissioned by the owner to design some pieces for sale. Continue with your story, this was when you painted Shubert at the Piano. 

Klimt: Yes, now can you name the work I was commissioned by the Ministry of Culture and Education to create? 

Mucha: In the controversial Philosophy, Medicine and Jurisprudence.  

Klimt: Those paintings caused a scandal. I was incriminated for pornography. To spite them I painted Goldfish. Personally I wish I had titled that piece “To my Critics”. At this point I realized this was not the life for me. I wanted to paint but without restrictions on my artistic expression. I joined the Cooperative Society of Artists. Which is a group of us branched off and made the Association of Austrian Visual Artists.  

Mucha: An appreciation for your homeland that is something I can understand. My greatest work, is the painting I am currently working on. I call it “The Slav Epic” a painting devoted to my people. As I stated before I was the Chairman of the Association of Slavic Painters.

Klimt: Tell me, what gave you your start? 

Mucha: To give you an idea of where my fame started Sarah Bernhardt. The posters I did for her Theater de la Renaissance have to be my most popular work. She was part of the turning point of my career I must say. The poster was an advertisement of the play Gismonda. She was quite a model a woman, so full of expression. Those posters didn’t just help my career but hers as well her popularity sky rocketed. I signed a six year contract with Sarah to work on the advertisement for her growing playhouse. Gismonda was my breakthrough. Before Gismonda I was mostly an unknown artist but after that poster I had overnight fame. It was no wonder she wished to have a contract with me. 

Klimt: With the work you created, anyone with half a brain would want you on a contract. On the other hand, I am far too controversial to be making advertisements to be posted in a public forum.   

Mucha: A piece of me wishes I had stayed with being a traditional painter, opposed to a graphic artist. I suppose whatever will be, will be. 

Klimt: It was great to meet you my friend. But I really must go. 

Mucha: And you as well. Hopefully, our paths cross again. 

They shake hands again, Gustav Klimt stands from his chair and leaves the cafe. Mucha stares out the window, pencil in hand.

Husslein-Arco, Agnes. Alphonse Mucha. Munich: Prestel, 2009. Print.

Mucha, Alphonse, and Ann Bridges. Alphonse Mucha, the Complete Graphic Works.
New York: Harmony, 1980. Print.

Nebehay, Christian Michael, and Gustav Klimt. Gustav Klimt: from Drawing to Painting.
New York: H.N. Abrams, 1994. Print.