46. Alphonse Mucha

Alphonse Mucha was a Czech Art Nouveau painter. I wanted to look into his work as he very much uses the female form as the main element of his Art Nouveau works. He not only produced paintings but, illustrations, advertisements and postcards which I thought would be interesting to look into to identify how I could maybe produce my final pieces in a format in which relates to the movement such as poster of a postcard. 

Image via: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Alphonse_Mucha_-_Job_Cigarettes_1.jpg

What I think most stands out with this artwork would be the ends of the hair sporting a pattern of the whiplash lines related to the movement. This makes me think how I could recreate this through my models hair. You can see that the hair has a large black outline, if I was to make a wig or wefts I could maybe use a natural looking shade of hair such as the mouse brown like above but add streaks of black in which could be styled to highlight the shape of the hairstyle. One element I would have to think more intricately about would be how I could make the hair stay in the particular shape particularly at the ends like this advertisement artwork as hairspray wouldn't be able to with stand such a bold shape. A product that could withstand the shape would be freeze spray. I would need to think about how particular shapes could be styled for long wearability for my shoot when designing for my looks, research into hair lacquer products will also help into seeing what product can withstand volume and shape the most.

Image via: http://www.wikiart.org/en/alphonse-mucha/sarah-bernhardt-1896

I really like the composition of this artwork as it highlights the hair design and facial features strongly. Again the ends of the hair have been formed to have the whiplash lines because these lines of the hair are so intricate and precise I wonder whether it would be possible to create wefts that have wire in them so that it would definitely secure the shape to be in the correct shape. I think it is interesting how the neck merges into the art nouveau pattern. It makes me think if this could be transformed into a body paint for the upper body. I think for a look similar if this was to be achieved it would be more precise to create stencils so the pattern is in proportion.

Image via: http://www.cotidianul.ro/images/stiri/0513/1369929854Sarah%20Bernhardt%20in%20viziunea%20lui%20Alfons%20Mucha.jpg

When researching Alphonse Mucha I came across this photography interpretation of his work. This made me think about how I could maybe re-create a particular artwork of Mucha's through wig work and make-up. You can see that the ends of the hair have been photo manipulated to emphasise the black outline. I think it could me more relative to the piece if the hair was more styled to have more curvature to the ends of the hair to relate to the swirl like patterns relating to the movement. Also although the flowers are a nice feature to the look they do not show level six practical skills. This makes me think the hair or make-up would have to have a much more intricate style to fit a level six assessment criteria. 

http://www.backtoclassics.com/gallery/alphonsemucha/theflowersrose/

With the hair in this artwork it seems to be painted with hair to be moving. This makes me think about could my final piece be shown with the hair moving. Although it could be quite interesting to see how the hair moves moves it would be difficult to see through still image and I don't think this would be necessary to show a stylised hairstyle in the movement of Art Nouveau. Again a lot of floral features have been used to identify the Art Nouveau element and what I have also noticed is the use of decorative patterns used near the chest of the females of the artwork. This makes me think about how I could transfer these types of patterns onto the skin. I think it would be really interesting to make it three-dimensional though intricate shading much like make-up artists Andrew Gallimore and Caroline Saulnier. But what I'm also thinking about is whether to incorporate flat pieces in my make-up to highlight patterns on the skins surface. 

Image via: http://www.backtoclassics.com/gallery/alphonsemucha/emerald/

The hair I think in this portrait would be quite interesting to transfer t a  hairstyle on my model due to the fact that you can really see the definition in the strokes vividly. I think it would be a really interesting hairstyle to recreate with defining the strokes using a variety of tones of hair that could define the shading. I think this could be created buy incorporating wefts into the design in which could also help create the thickness of the hair. 

It has been really interesting to identify how Mucha has used the movement to produce artistic portraits of people however I think the most interesting elements about the artworks is the background  design with the shapes and the detailed definition of the lines. This makes me think could I incorporate these styles of patterns onto the body? It could be really interesting to find patterns that are of art nouveau style and see how these can be presented onto the skin and a 'canvas'.