Documents décoratifs: final study for Plate 25, featuring studies of lily 1902

Alphonse Mucha made this study of a lily with graphite on paper as a preparatory drawing for a decorative plate. I can imagine Mucha poring over the plant, trying to understand how its various parts fit together, the soft curve of the petals, the way the leaves unfurl, and then translating that into a drawing. There is an attentiveness to the surface of the flower, a sensitivity to the way light and shadow play across the forms. It’s so him! He takes the organic entity and brings it to geometric order, trying to extract from it an ideal form. It reminds me of other artists like Hilma af Klint who made studies of plants to explore the underlying structures of nature. Ultimately, artists are always talking to each other this way, across time and space.