Textile, Femme à Marguerite (Woman with Daisy)

Czech-born Alphonse Maria Mucha was a major art nouveau artist and designer in turn of the century Paris. Best known for his graphic designs and posters featuring female figures with flowing hair amid lush vegetal forms, Mucha also worked in a number of other media and designed a small number of furnishing fabrics in his signature style for the Parisian firm C. G. Forrer. This piece, which is in excellent condition, is especially attractive because it is printed on velvet, a material that is both more unusual and richer in appearance than flat cotton sateen. In addition, the figure is complete and centered on the piece, which is not always the case when textiles are cut. The acquisition of this piece would make it, from an exhibition perspective, the strongest example of Mucha’s work in the museum’s collection.