How frustrating can it be to be a university student. You become more and more knowledgeable, you always learn about new artists, new figures, new people, new eras you would like to be even more familiar with. But you have to make choices, take decisions. I had the opportunity when I was studying in my Bachelor degree to study Art Nouveau. I didn't choose this elective. At this time this was too unknown to me, not enough attractive to be my first choice. I am now seeing the end of the art history studies. I am not studying painting that much now, and the end of my master is near. In all of those years, I never had the chance to retake this missed opportunity of my first year, and today I regret to have not studied Art Nouveau. So I study it myself, the best that I can. And I stumbled upon this beautiful advertising by Alfonse Mucha, maybe one of the most important artist of this field and era.
The grace of the woman, the cheekiness of the man, the flowers, the colors, the title - The Flirt! - all of that did catch my eye. There is such beauty in this medium, I feel nostalgic about this period of time solely for that. People were so serious about beauty and aesthetic. When I see today's adverts, I don't understand how low we are. But I guess this kind of art is what it is because it has this power to make us feel nostalgic. It is so beautiful because it is a testimony of a past we never knew, the testimony of a time we will idealize, a time we will never fully understand. We tend to think that life was like the flirt happening on this print, but maybe this print is just here to make us dream of this life.
xo
Amy
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