Nature trail
Alphonse Mucha’s poster for Job cigarette papers is one of the most famous works in design history. Taking its cue from a new kind of female beauty, its modern girl has hair with a life of its own. The tendrils look more like the floating tentacles of a jellyfish.
Modern life
Mucha saw a spiritual, even moral, dimension to beautiful art, though that clearly didn’t exclude commercial gigs: his designs advertised railways, beer and bicycles.
Woman’s world
Mucha’s reputation soared on the Paris art scene, yet his big break was total chance. The story goes that Mucha was the only hand available at a printers’ one day close to Christmas in 1894 so was asked to create a poster for theatre star Sarah Bernhardt. Pitching her as a goddess-cum-saintly icon in muted hues, his design was a runaway sensation.
Flower power
For most people, though, the Job poster is less likely to be associated with belle époque Paris, than the swinging 1960s. Its blissed-out smoker and trippy swirls made it an obvious choice for the bedroom walls of a later generation of freedom-seekers
A 1900 reproduction is part of Alphonse Mucha: In Quest Of Beauty, Kelvingrove Art Gallery, Glasgow, to 19 Feb
