Editing Alphonse Mucha (section)

==Sarah Bernhardt and ''Gismonda''==
[[File:Alphonse Mucha - Poster for Victorien Sardou's Gismonda starring Sarah Bernhardt.jpg|thumb|right|Poster of Sarah Bernhardt as ''[[Gismonda]]'' (1895)]]
At the end of 1894, Mucha's career took a dramatic and unexpected turn when he began to work for the French stage actress [[Sarah Bernhardt]].  As Mucha later described it, on 26 December, Bernhardt made a telephone call to Maurice de Brunhoff, the manager of the publishing firm Lemercier, which printed her theatrical posters, ordering a new poster for the continuation of the play ''[[Gismonda]]''.  The play,  by [[Victorien Sardou]], had already opened with great success on 31 October 1894 at the [[Théâtre de la Renaissance]] on the Boulevard Saint-Martin. Bernhardt decided to have a poster made to advertise the prolongation of the theatrical run after the Christmas break, insisting it be ready by 1 January 1895.  Because of the holidays, none of the regular Lemercier artists was available.{{Sfn|Thiébaut|2018|pages=24–25}}

When Bernhardt called, Mucha happened to be at the publishing house correcting proofs.  He already had experience painting Bernhardt; he had made a series of illustrations of her performing in ''Cleopatra'' for ''Le Costume au Théâtre'' in 1890. When ''Gismonda'' opened in October 1894, Mucha had been commissioned by the magazine ''Le Gaulois'' to make a series of illustrations of Bernhardt in the role for a special Christmas supplement, which was published at Christmas 1894, for the high price of fifty centimes per copy.{{Sfn|Thiébaut|2018|page=43}}

Brunhoff asked Mucha to quickly design the new poster for Bernhardt. The poster was more than life-size; a little more than two meters high, with Bernhardt in the costume of a Byzantine noblewoman, dressed in an orchid headdress and a floral stole, and holding a palm branch in the Easter procession near the end of the play. One of the innovative features of the poster was the ornate rainbow-shaped arch behind the head, almost like a halo, which focused attention on her face; this feature appeared in all of Mucha's future theater posters. Probably because of a shortage of time, some areas of the background were left blank, without his usual decoration. The only background decoration was the [[Byzantine]] mosaic tiles behind her head. The poster featured extremely fine draftsmanship and delicate pastel colors, unlike the typical brightly colored posters of the time. The top of the poster, with the title, was richly composed and ornamented, and balanced the bottom, where the essential information was given in the shortest possible form: just the name of the theater.{{Sfn|Sato|2015|page=22}}

The poster appeared on the streets of Paris on 1 January 1895 and caused an immediate sensation. Bernhardt was pleased by the reaction; she ordered four thousand copies of the poster in 1895 and 1896, and gave Mucha a six-year contract to produce more. With his posters all over the city, Mucha found himself quite suddenly famous.{{Sfn|Thiébaut|2018|pages=43–44}}{{Sfn|Sato|2015|pages=21–22}}<ref name="Johnston">''[http://records.viu.ca/~Johnstoi/praguepage/muchalecture.htm An Introduction to the Work of Alphonse Mucha and Art Nouveau] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160416041716/http://records.viu.ca/~Johnstoi/praguepage/muchalecture.htm |date=16 April 2016 }}'', lecture by Ian Johnston of [[Malaspina University-College]], [[Nanaimo]], BC (March 2004). This document is in the public domain and may be used by anyone, in whole or in part, without permission and without charge, provided the source is acknowledged</ref>

Following ''Gismonda'', Bernhardt switched to a different printer,  F. Champenois, who, like Mucha, was put under contract to work for Bernhardt for six years.  Champenois had a large printing house on Boulevard Saint Michel that employed three hundred workers, with twenty steam presses. He gave Mucha a generous monthly salary in exchange for the rights to publish all his works.  With his increased income, Mucha was able to move to a three-bedroom apartment with a large studio inside a large historic house at 6 rue du [[Val-de-Grâce]] originally built by [[François Mansart]].{{Sfn|Sato|2015|page=26}}{{sfn|Thiébaut|2018|page=70}}

Mucha designed posters for each successive Bernhardt play, beginning with a reprise of one of her early great successes, ''[[La Dame aux Camelias]]'' (September 1896), followed by ''[[Lorenzaccio]]'' (1896); ''[[Medea (play)|Medea]]'' (1898); ''[[La Tosca]]'' (1898) and ''[[Hamlet]]'' (1899). He sometimes worked from photographs of Bernhardt, as he did for ''La Tosca''. In addition to posters, he designed theatrical programs, sets, costumes, and jewelry for Bernhardt. The enterprising Bernhardt set aside a certain number of printed posters of each play to sell to collectors.{{Sfn|Tierchant|2009|pages=238–240}}

<gallery mode="packed" heights="250px">
Sarah Bernhardt.png|Sarah Bernhardt in her ''Gismonda'' costume, photographed by Théobold Chartran (1896)
Alfons Mucha - 1896 - La Dame aux Camélias - Sarah Bernhardt.jpg|''[[La Dame aux Camélias]]'' (1896)
Alfons Mucha - 1896 - Lorenzaccio.jpg|Bernhardt in a male role as ''[[Lorenzaccio]]'' (1896)
File:Sarah Bernhardt Mucha .jpg|Poster for an evening of theater honoring Sarah Bernhardt (1896)
File:Sarah Bernhardt in the role of La Tosca. Wellcome L0044654.jpg|''[[La Tosca]]'' (1898)
File:Alfons Mucha - Medea.jpg|''[[Medea (play)|Medea]]'' (1898)
File:Alfons Mucha - 1899 - Hamlet.jpg|As ''[[Hamlet]]'' (1899)
</gallery>