the galliano epic

while jean paul gaultier took inspiration from mucha in the past, it was the showy, the theatrical side of his work. in his fall, 2009, RTW collection, john galliano explores mucha's slavic roots.

mucha's slavic roots are being explored in a synchronistic manner around the world just now. there's galliano in paris, the first major mucha exhibition being held in vienna, and a fair amount of interest around the blogosphere.

the golden age of comic book stories blog presents mucha's slavic epic from the 1900 universal exhibition in paris. this is the same installation that is appearing in vienna. it fascinates me to watch poetry being translated into poetry.

olga's abc gallery offers a stunning selection of mucha's work, and susanna's sketchbook is filled with wonder upon wonder.

[Mucha} spent many years working on what he considered his fine art master- piece, The Slav Epic (Slovanská epopej), a series of twenty huge paintings depicting the history of the Czech and the Slavic peoples in general, bestowed to the city of Prague in 1928.

He had dreamt of completing a series such as this, a cele- bration of Slavic history, since he was young. Since 1963 the series has been on display in the chateau at Moravský Krumlov. 1

though mucha died of a nazi interro- gation, john galliano keeps him flourishing, as does the mucha museum in prague, and its related foundation, and the comprehensive compendium on the slav epic which is here.

the press may have labeled galliano's collection 'slav chic,' and perhaps that's all it is. but culture moves in mysterious ways... someone goes to mucha, his stories... and the journey of truth marches on.

what do they say to you?

and how do you re- spond?