The Municipal House will showcase Lendl's collection of Mucha's posters

Prague - Visitors to the Municipal House in Prague will see a unique collection of famous posters by Alphonse Mucha, created at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, which brought him worldwide fame, starting from Wednesday. The exhibition will present to the public for the first time a collection gathered by former tennis player Ivan Lendl.
    In his home, Lendl has 116 out of 119 Mucha posters hanging. Now he is sending the collection out into the world; after Prague, it will travel to other European cities for five years. His daughter Marika attended the exhibition's opening, and Lendl will view the Prague presentation on April 29. "Over time, I understood the passion my father feels for his works, and I must say that I have fallen in love with them too," Lendl's daughter told reporters today.
    Mucha was a significant Czech painter and designer, who is now considered the most typical representative of the Art Nouveau style or Secession. He became famous with a poster from 1894, which he created on commission for the most famous actress of his time, Sarah Bernhardt. She commissioned the poster for the performance of Gismonda, staged at the Théâtre de la Renaissance. Gismonda was also the first item in Lendl's collection and starts the entire Prague exhibition. Mucha utilized the opportunities of the newly improved technology of lithographic printing in his creation.
    He did not create just a verbal message supplemented by an image, as was common at the time, but combined typography with drawing lines, creating an impressive visual work. Both Bernhardt and the audience were thrilled. The collaboration with the actress lasted five years and brought Mucha numerous other offers. Mucha is now considered one of the founders of poster art.
    "The beautiful female body woven into rich original ornamental patterns became the backbone of his works. It immediately caught attention. ... Mucha managed to capture not only the ideal of contemporary beauty but also a new approach to advertising that is still used today, where products are promoted by world-class models," says art historian and one of the exhibition curators Karel Srp about the attractiveness of Mucha's works.
    The curator of Lendl's collection, Jack Rennert, also participated in the exhibition, having long sought and recommended posters to add to the collection. Although many institutions have Mucha's posters in their collections, Lendl's is exceptional for its completeness. Some of the posters are not known in the world even in three copies, while others exist only in one, which Lendl has in his collection.
    By utilizing print, Mucha opened poster art to the wider public, allowing them to purchase it and decorate their homes with it. Mucha delved into various artistic fields. He designed costumes, stage decorations, book covers, jewelry, and furniture. Despite his fame worldwide, he remained a patriot, and when he gained a sponsor in America, he returned and began to create a cycle of monumental canvases titled Slav Epic, on which he worked for 18 years.