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On February 15, an exhibition entitled “Alfons Mukha: in search of beauty” opened at the Heydar Aliyev Centre.

Vice-president of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva attended the opening ceremony.

John Mukha, the President of the Mukha Foundation and grandson of Alfons Mukha, and exhibition’s curator Tomako Sato addressed the ceremony.

Then, the guests familiarized themselves with the exhibition. Works on the subject of beauty, which forms the foundation of renowned artist, illustrator and designer Alfons Mukha’s artistic philosophy, are displayed in the exhibition.

At the exhibition, organized jointly with the Mukha Foundation, over 80 works of Alfons Mukha – his paintings, photos, posters and placards - are demonstrated.

One of the famous representatives of “Art Nouveau” (New Art) style, Alfons Mukha (1860-1939) was born in South Moravia, the Czech Republic, becoming famous for his design of theatre and advertising posters, decorative boards late in 1890s.

In 1894, Alfons Mukha designed a poster for the play “Gismonda”, in which renowned actress Sara Bernard had been given a role, and this work was successful. Having collaborated with Sara Bernard in designing a scene, costumes and posters for six years, the artist entered into an exclusive agreement with “Champenois” Print House of France and rose to prominence as the author of labels and adverts of various products, as well as a designer of interior and jewellery, and a decorator.

Having resided in the USA in 1906-1910, the artist was recognised there as an eminent artist-designer, who taught at Chicago Art Institute and worked as a decorator at a theatre in New-York.

In 1910, Alfons Mukha returned to his homeland Czech Republic after 25 years of separation. Over the course of 17 years, he created the work “A Slavic Epos”, which reflects the Czech and Slavic histories.

Arranged in the Heydar Aliyev Centre, the exhibition displays works of the artist created in Paris, including those by which he contributed to the movement “Art Nouveau”, as well as his creativity after he returned to the Czech Republic.

The exposition includes also the poster “Gismonda”, made by Alfons Mukha for Sara Bernard, which brought him fame.

One of the interesting exhibits here is a photo of his wife Maria (Maruska), depicted on a kelaghai. The artist created his work “Woman on a desert” on the basis of this picture. On the work made in colour, basic attention is focused on the kelaghai, and patterns of the headscarf have been depicted elaborately.

The exhibition will continue to operate until May 16 this year.