Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Slav Epic update


The Slav Epic is Alphonse Mucha's great master piece. It is comprised of twenty vast oil paintings each showing a significant moment in the history of the Slavic people. It was completed in the last twenty years of Mucha's life and given to the city of Prague as a gift. I went to Prague in 1995 hoping to see it, but try as I might, I couldn't find any one who would tell me where to find the paintings (We were surprised to find the people of Prague to be rude and obnoxious without exception). The books I had on Mucha said it was in Prague, but the fact is it was actually in another town called Moravsky Krumlov where the paintings had been kept for safe keeping. Now it seems Prague wants the paintings back but the people of Moravsky Krumlov are resisting the idea.

A fierce legal struggle is under way in the Czech Republic over the fate of 20 enormous paintings by Alphonse Mucha, creator of the style known as art nouveau.

The paintings - entitled the Slav Epic - have spent the last half a century hanging in a chateau in the Moravian town of Moravsky Krumlov. But officials in Prague now want them moved to the capital, prompting angry protests from the rest of the country.

Continue reading...

What ever they decide to do with the paintings I would dearly love to see them. Mucha is probably my favourite artist of all and I already made one trip to Prague to visit his grave and pay my respects. A chance to see the Slav Epic is just about the only thing that would induce me to return to Prague!


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

"A chance to see the Slav Epic is just about the only thing that would induce me to return to Prague!"

Really? Did something unfortunate happen to you there? I've never been, but heard that Prague is a great place to visit.