Alphonse Mucha at the Taubman!

The Taubman Museum of Art is currently hosting an impressive show of the work of Alphonse Mucha and other items that inspired the Art Deco period.

"The Taubman Museum of Art is the first museum outside of Europe to showcase the Immersive, kicking off an American tour."

Opening night was Saturday and a group of us headed over because the Taubman always throws the best parties! From the left are me, Ginger, Allan , Laurie, Linda, and Dale. Ginger and Allan recently moved to Roanoke—Allan (Wolf) is a children's book author so you'll be hearing more about him coming up!, Laurie is Allan's sister, Linda is a new friend who lives across the street from Dale, who also just moved to Roanoke from Los Angeles—we're on the parlor tour together. Dale is a professional photographer and generously let me use a few of her images - the ones framed in black below. We met up with several other friends, but I didn't get pictures, I was having too much fun! To get attendees in the part spirit, we were welcomed by stilt walkers. and silver "statues." There was a station where you could make your own Mucha-inpsired artwork - Ginger and Allan tried it out.And some women attended in full dress, with elaborate flowers inspired by Mucha's work!The stilt walkers joined us inside although I hear they had a time with the elevators! And then we entered the exhibit.There were banners everywhere!And original posters. This one reminded me a bit of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec's work that I saw at the High Museum of Art many moons ago. The registration of the colors was just a wee bit off, which is a look I actually love. Speaking of, this one was actually had "Toulouse" on it! Mucha was Czech, but this one was while he was "active in France." Indeed, the two overlapped in Paris and established their poster careers there. There were also clothes from the period. I'd be happy to wear the one on the right even now, wouldn't you?There was an interactive space that was a lovely respite to sit and be immersed in his work, while a lovely perfume was being piped into the space. But what most intrigued me was his connection with Sarah Bernhardt, who was the subject of much of his work and who promoted him widely.More information about the show is available HERE - hope you can go!