Alfons Mucha, Czech artist, 1860-1939

Alfons Maria Mucha, known internationally as Alphonse Mucha, was a Czech painter, illustrator and graphic artist, living in Paris during the Art Nouveau period, best known for his distinctly stylized and decorative theatrical posters, particularly those of Sarah Bernhardt. He produced illustrations, advertisements, decorative panels, and designs, which became among the best-known images of the period. In the second part of his career devoted himself to painting a series of twenty monumental canvases known as "The Slav Epic", depicting the history of all the Slavic peoples of the world, which he painted between 1912 and 1926.