Le Pater page

Le Pater was an illustrated book that represented the artist’s spiritual epiphany: this was the first Mucha painting about religion.

In the book that he considered to be his masterpiece, Mucha created an image for every line of the Lord’s Prayer, portraying his own interpretations of religion and his personal philosophy.

Mucha’s thinking led him to believe that Beauty, Truth and Love were the three cornerstones’ of humanity.

In the decade before the turn of the century, Alphonse Mucha is reported to have faced a crisis of faith. Two years before he published Le Pater, Mucha was initiated as an apprentice into the Paris Lodge of Freemasons.

After the independence of Czechoslovakia (his homeland), he was appointed Grand Master of the Freemasons of Czechoslovakia.

Despite his Catholic upbringing, and becoming a practicing Freemason, he also had a long-standing interest in Spiritualism since the 1890’s (it is reported that he conducted psychic experiments and séances).

Mucha analysed the model Christian prayer. He then condensed and reconstructed the seven verses into a set of three colour pages. Decorated with Masonic symbolism, all three pages are decorated with symbolic flowers, borders and a sensuous female figure.

On the first page (in Latin and French) is the Lord’s Prayer, in colour. The second page (also in colour and decorated with floral patterns) contains Mucha’s own interpretation of the verses. The third page is Mucha’s philosophical response to the verse: in monochromatic and printed in photogravure.

For each line of the Lord's Prayer, Mucha created an image and his designs (moon, eight pointed stars) were inspired by the ancient Jewish tradition of interpreting the Bible (Kabbalah) and by Masonic philosophy of seeking a deeper truth.

In Le Pater, God is represented by a mysterious shadow filling the Earth – the use of shadows implies that God is everywhere, but invisible. The woman represents Love, as it descends from Heaven.

Mucha uses the adolescent, luminous giant as a metaphor for nature - a common theme in his artwork.

This artwork is considered by many to be Mucha’s message to the world: warning future generations about the progress and prospects of mankind and guiding the way for man to reach the highest state in the spiritual world: the Devine Ideal.

Le Pater is an illustrated edition of The Lord’s Prayer created by Mucha. Published in Paris on 20th December 1899 at the passing of the old century, it was meant to be Mucha’s message to future generations about the progress of mankind. Through the archetypal Christian prayer, he wished to present the way for man to reach the Divine Ideal, the highest state in the spiritual world.

Mucha conceived this project at a turning point in his career. According to his own account, Mucha was at that time increasingly dissatisfied with unending commercial commissions and was longing for an artistic work with a more elevated mission. He was also influenced by his long-standing interest in Spiritualism since the early 1890s and, above all, by Masonic philosophy. In January 1898, almost two years before the publication of Le Pater, Mucha was initiated into the Paris Lodge Les Inseparables du Progrès as an apprentice and after the independence of his homeland he was to become the highest representative of the Freemasons of Czechoslovakia. Mucha’s freemasonry was an outcome of his Spiritualism – the pursuit of a deeper Truth beyond the visible world. Through his spiritual journey Mucha came to believe that the three virtues – Beauty, Truth and Love – were the ‘cornerstones’ of humanity and that the dissemination of this message through his art would contribute towards the improvement of human life and, eventually, the progress of mankind.

In order to visualise his vision, Mucha analysed each of the seven verses of the model Christian prayer and reconstructed it in a set of three pages. The first page of each set, in colour, is the relevant verse in French and Latin, framed in a border sumptuously decorated with flowers and a symbolic female figure. The second page, also in colour, is Mucha’s own text, interpreting the verse and decorated with floral patterns. The third monochromatic page, printed in photogravure, contains a full-page allegorical drawing illustrating Mucha’s philosophical response to the verse. Throughout the pages, Mucha’s designs feature an abundance of Masonic symbols. The outcome was an exquisite book published in an edition of 510 copies.

Le Pater was Mucha’s first manifest as an artist-philosopher and he regarded the book as his finest work. In 1900 Mucha exhibited the book and the preparatory drawings at the Paris International Exhibition and was deeply gratified when the illustrations attracted the attention of Emperor Francis Joseph I.