Short object reading
Object note
This page stays close to the sheet itself: composition, historical setting, and the work's place in the archive.
What the work is
Ivy is a decorative panel of 1901, as Artvee gives it and as the signature and date “Mucha 1901” at the lower right of the sheet confirm. It belongs to Mucha’s later decorative sheets, made as self-contained images without advertising text.
What to look at
In the centre of a circle is a woman in profile with a wreath of ivy leaves in her hair. Behind her a mosaic window of rosettes and arrows unfolds, and a yellow rose rests on her shoulder. A wide frame of linear leaf patterns surrounds the circle, with a band of ivy above and another below, the lower one with small berries.
In deep zoom
Move in on the drawing of the wreath, the fine strokes of the hair and the mosaic behind the head. The palette is almost entirely green and ochre, so expression rests on line and on the tone of each leaf.
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