Shop art print and framed art Gismonda by Alfons Mucha

Gismonda is an 1894 painting by Alphonse Mucha. At the time, in 1894, Mucha was working as an illustrator for newspapers and magazines. On 26 December that year, he was at the Lemercier printing works correcting proofs in place of his friend's Christmas holiday. Meanwhile, the printer received a request from the manager of actress Sarah Bernhardt to produce a poster. The posters had to be ready by 1 January of the following year because of the urgent decision to revive Gismonda, a religious play written by Victorien Sardoux (French version) and performed by Sarah, which had been opening since 30 October of the same year. On 31 December, when Sarah saw the poster printed for Gismonda, she exclaimed, "How wonderful!" she exclaimed, "From now on, you'll be painting for me!" I said. The next day, the poster was put up in the streets of Paris and immediately became very popular. The play opened on 4 January and, in 1895, Sarah signed an exclusive six-year contract with Mucha, who produced a series of posters for her that quickly catapulted her into the poster world. The woman on the long vertical screen is Gismonda, Princess of Athens, dressed in a sumptuously embroidered Byzantine dressing gown, with many flowers in her hair, and holding in her hand a shrub leaf, the symbol of the play's climactic scene. The word 'GISMONDA' at the top of the screen is the title of the play, below which is the name of the actress, 'SARAH BERNHARDT'. The scene takes place at the Théâtre de la [...]

 

This artwork is a poster from the modern period. It belongs to the art nouveau style.

 

« Gismonda » is kept at Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, United States.

 

Find the full description of Gismonda by Alfons Mucha on Wikipedia.