A Czech modernist with Austro-Hungarian roots, Alphonse Mucha presented the painter “Artist” to the viewer. This is a very bright and saturated with positive emotions painting work. It characterizes the author from the real esthete and lover of not only magnificent women, but also young girls, as a source of inspiration. “Artist” Flies – a work different from the rest of the collection of the author. Along with the Alfonso ladies and the poster image of which, this girl turned out to be very picturesque and not similar to her mature “companions.”
The artist put a completely adult look, seriousness and childish pomposity into her young eyes. The writing technique in “The Artist” lives on a grand scale and improvisation; she made long strokes dance and interweave many lines along the contour. The light palette is so transparent that it plays a cruel joke with greasy oil, visually transforming it into a rebellious watercolor. Despite the love of Alphonse to lithography and posterity, this canvas can be attributed to realistic painting. Masterly mastery of different art directions and writing technique gives the true skill of a Czech painter.
The work is completely absent contour and contrast, it gives inexpressiveness to individual details and blurred background. But the girl’s eyes, olive-colored, are very resonant with both the scale and the piercing of the pupil. Her fingers are not childishly long, trembling and unique plastic. The ceramic plate, on which the artist works, is still freshly painted, and, perhaps, is not finished with painting. Glare on light clothing, platter and eye dots enliven the picture. They run after the Flies brush, leaving chaotic long-range ripples. The presence of cornflower shades and an abundance of periwinkle color “cool” the palette. However, hair umber and warm greens of the heroine’s eyes saturate the chill with warmth.
The composition of the canvas is such that the girl completely fills the space, leaving no room for the table, behind which, perhaps, she settled down, and numerous jars of paint, palette and a lot of soiled towels. Here there is only She – the skilled worker, the artist and her product, piercing gaze and thin brush in a talented hand. The variety of unfinished lines and strokes, the lack of straight lines pierces the modernist realism of work, gives the direction of painting in which Alfons Mucha worked, being one of the brightest and recognizable modernists.
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