Ivy by Alphonse Mucha

Ivy by Alphonse Mucha: A Decorative Panel in Foliage

Ivy is a 1901 colour lithograph by Alphonse Mucha, catalogued by the Mucha Foundation as one of his decorative panels.^[1] Its subject is a woman's profile set within a frame of climbing leaves. The panel has a companion, Laurel, made in the same year.^[1][2] These works were designed to be seen as images in their own right, without the large product name or theatre title that directs the reading of a conventional advertisement.^[3]

This page is deliberately text-led. Its inherited local picture does not match the Foundation's Ivy record and has been removed. Follow the Foundation's object page to see the catalogued design while reading the account here.^[1] This avoids presenting another Mucha-style flower image under the wrong title.

At a Glance

• WorkIvy, 1901^[1]
• ArtistAlphonse Mucha^[1]
• Mediumcolour lithograph in the Mucha Foundation object record^[1]
• Foundation dimensions53 × 39.5 cm for the catalogued object^[1]
• CompanionLaurel, also dated 1901^[1][2]
• Later formboth designs were also produced as decorative metal plates; the Foundation does not date that conversion on the object page^[1]
• Local reproductionthe inherited JPEG was removed because it depicts a different design; no image on this page is being identified as the Foundation's held impression

Contents

1. What ivy does to the frame
2. Ivy and Laurel: a companion pair
3. Where the panel fits in Mucha's work
4. Why there is no picture here

What ivy does to the frame

The Mucha Foundation singles out the panel's most distinctive structural move: ivy foliage turns a circular frame into an oblong.^[1] The leaves are more than a border placed around a figure. Their growth changes the apparent outline of the space that holds the head. It is worth looking at the institutional image with that question in mind: where does the original circle remain visible, and where does plant growth alter it?

The woman, vegetation and enclosing shape work as a single design. A portrait alone would direct attention to an individual's identity; here the titled plant gives the image its subject and rhythm. That is a close-reading description of the catalogued design, rather than a claim about who posed for Mucha. The Foundation does not identify a sitter on this object page.^[1]

Ivy names a plant that winds around a support. The panel needs no sales pitch to make that relationship visible; it invites looking at how leaves and line join around the profile.^[1][3]

Ivy and Laurel: a companion pair

The Foundation calls Laurel Ivy's companion and catalogues both as 1901 colour lithographs with the same listed dimensions.^[1][2] In Laurel, a different leaf motif surrounds the head. Looking between the two images shows how Mucha could keep a related format while changing the plant and the balance of figure to ornament. The titles distinguish the panels; neither is a generic name for every female head framed by leaves.

The Foundation's Laurel page records a later calendar use for the signage firm Dewez.^[2] That belongs to Laurel. It should not be carried over to Ivy simply because they are companions. Likewise, the Foundation says both designs later became decorative metal plates, but it does not identify a specific plate as the source of this site's former picture.^[1] A printed lithograph, a later metal object and a digital reproduction are different things even when they share a design.

Records of surviving printed sheets give the pair a more tangible publication history. Christie's describes a paired set of Ivy and Laurel as 1901 colour lithographs printed by F. Champenois in Paris, each listed at 69 × 53 cm.^[4] Swann Galleries catalogued another paired set at approximately 66.7 × 52 cm per sheet, with Champenois also named; that set had staining, edge losses and pinholes and had been mounted to board.^[5] These are descriptions of particular market examples, not a universal sheet size or evidence that the Foundation's 53 × 39.5 cm measurement is erroneous.

The Bibliothèque nationale de France also catalogues the two designs together under the French names Lierre et Laurier, describing them as a 1901 decorative panel associated with Champenois.^[7] That French catalogue wording confirms that the pairing was recognised in a collecting institution as well as in later auction lots. It does not mean that Ivy and Laurel were printed on one sheet, or tell us the size and condition of each surviving impression. Keeping the French title alongside the English names helps a reader find the pair in different catalogues without treating a translated title as another work.

A separate Christie's entry for an Ivy impression in the Elizabeth Taylor collection gives an image area of 56.5 × 39.3 cm, on wove paper with margins.^[6] Image area, sheet and the Foundation's catalogued dimension may use different measurement conventions or refer to different states; the available records do not resolve their relationship. Their variety illustrates why a dimension should stay attached to its named impression rather than be presented as the design's fixed size.

For another comparison, the Foundation relates Laurel's leaf-framed circle to Zodiac.^[2] A reader can follow this site's Zodiac page to see how a circular setting could work in a calendar design. The relationship is an institutional visual comparison, not evidence that Ivy itself was printed as a calendar.

The same Foundation entry connects Laurel's lowered head to three of the ten glass panels Mucha designed for the interior of Georges Fouquet's boutique in 1901.^[2] This is a connection for the companion design, not an inventory claim about Ivy. It shows how a pose or framing idea could move between a lithographed panel and a shop interior while the resulting objects had different uses and materials.

Where the panel fits in Mucha's work

Mucha's decorative panels were printed images meant for display rather than for announcing a particular performance or product. The Foundation describes them as textless posters that made art available for domestic walls and names The Seasons (1896) as an early, successful series.^[3] Ivy belongs to the later part of that broad practice. Its paired format, named plant and ornamental frame can be understood beside the Art Nouveau guide and the prints guide.

This purpose helps explain the visual economy of the work. Without a large block of lettering, the image itself must hold the viewer's attention. The woman's profile gives a human centre; ivy supplies movement around it. The frame, altered by the foliage, keeps the parts together. The panel therefore offers a useful comparison with a theatre poster such as Gismonda, where performer and production information are essential to the sheet's public task.

The Foundation notes that Ivy recalls a poster Mucha designed for the dancer Lygie in 1901 and says it may well have been inspired by her.^[1] That is a proposed visual relationship, not a documented identification of the sitter or the commission behind Ivy. The page keeps the Foundation's uncertainty intact. A resemblance can guide comparison without turning possibility into biography.

The Foundation places the pair among Mucha's broader series of decorative panels, after The Seasons (1896), The Flowers and The Arts (both 1898), The Times of the Day (1899), and The Precious Stones (1900).^[3] Those earlier groups organise repeated compositions around a theme; Ivy and Laurel make a smaller, two-part comparison through named plants. This chronology explains the pair as a continuation of an established print practice rather than as an isolated botanical experiment. It does not establish that every panel was sold in the same format or at the same price.

Why there is no picture here

The image once attached to this local route showed a gold and red floral figure, not the ivy-framed profile in the Foundation catalogue. Retaining it would make the title, facts and picture contradict one another. A small file with an untraced source is also a poor basis for claiming details of a particular lithographic impression. This page removes that file and links directly to the Foundation's Ivy record.^[1]

The object's title, date, medium, dimensions and companion relationship come from the Foundation's catalogue.^[1][2] The former local JPEG remains unidentified. Until a rights-clear reproduction is found, the linked collection image gives readers a reliable way to inspect Ivy.

Watch: Alphonse Mucha

Follow Mucha’s work from Art Nouveau Paris to his later Czech projects.

Alphonse Mucha: Plongez dans l’Art nouveau !

Grand Palais

A French museum introduction to Mucha’s Art Nouveau years, poster work and decorative language.

Watch on YouTube

▶01 · Art Nouveau overviewAlphonse Mucha: Plongez dans l’Art nouveau !Grand Palais▶02 · Paris and designAlphonse Mucha: Art Nouveau in ParijsKunstmuseum Den Haag▶03 · Prague and the Slav EpicPrague’s Art Nouveau, Mucha, and the Slav EpicRick Steves Classroom Europe

Frequently Asked Questions

References

1. Mucha Foundation, Ivy (1901), object 283; colour lithograph, dimensions, ivy frame, Lygie possibility, Laurel companion and later metal-plate use. Foundation object.
2. Mucha Foundation, Laurel (1901), object 284; companion lithograph and separate Dewez calendar use. Foundation object.
3. Mucha Foundation, “Art Posters”; decorative-panel purpose and series context. Foundation theme.
4. Christie's, Ivy & Laurel pair, 1901 colour lithographs printed by F. Champenois, 69 × 53 cm each, Rennert/Weill no. 76. Lot record.
5. Swann Galleries, sale 2545, lot 119, paired 1901 panels with individual measurements and condition notes. Lot record.
6. Christie's, Elizabeth Taylor collection, Ivy impression, image area 56.5 × 39.3 cm, wove paper with margins. Lot record.
7. Bibliothèque nationale de France, catalogue listing for Lierre et Laurier, a 1901 decorative panel by Mucha associated with Champenois. BnF catalogue results.

More MUCHA Artworks

Gismonda

JOB poster

Zodiac

The Seasons (series)

Medea

Le Pater

Slavia insurance poster

Apotheosis of the Slavs