Alfons Mucha

Alfons Mucha (moo-ka) started as a humble painter and wound up a tool for Czech nationalism. In the end he painted bank notes, murals in government buildings, designed stamps, and his Art Nouveau style (characterized by floral, organic lines) is seen all over Prague today. For example the font of the Hotel Paris. Mucha was arrested by the Gestapo in 1939 and interrogated. He became ill and died shortly after his release.

My favorite Mucha lithographs are his 1896 ad for Biscuits Lefèvre-Utile and his 1897 Bières de la Meuse, which decorated my kitchen when I was in uni.

His style essentially founded Art Nouveau, which went on to influence Klimt and Gaudí as well as a number of Japanese manga artists and Cuban-American artist Joe Quesada, who did this image of Wolverine with Emma Frost and a katana.