Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Reason
Reason
Katherine Mangu-Ward

Review: Blurring the Line Between Fine Art and Advertising

The "Timeless Mucha" exhibition at The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., (February 22–May 18, 2025) is a luxurious look at Alphonse Mucha's commercial genius. Best known for his decorative posters of actresses, the art nouveau master blurred the line between fine art and advertising.

The show makes the case that Mucha's commercial output wasn't a sideline—it was the core of his legacy. With elegant linework, stylized florals, and idealized humanity, Mucha sold everything from soap to Champagne, and in doing so he shaped the visual language of a generation. The Moravian artist provided a visual vocabulary for the world's many bohemians.

The exhibition documents both his artistic ambition and his popular reach, and it makes a convincing case that his work was riskier and grittier in his own time than it feels in ours. "Timeless Mucha" proves that beauty and branding don't have to be at odds.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.