Browsing by Subject "näyttämöpuku"

The focus of this bachelor’s thesis was on the stage costumes in Alphonse Mucha’s 1890’s theater posters. The aim of the study was to find out the background and stories behind the costumes – what kind of costumes did Alphonse Mucha portray in his posters and what sort of messages do they carry. The main question in the study is as follows: what kind of stage costumes did Alphonse Mucha portray in his poster designs for actress Sarah Bernhardt. Five theater posters by Alphonse Mucha made up the research material in the study: Gismonda, La Dame aux Camélias, La Samaritaine, Médée and La Tosca. The approach was semiotic and the main method used in the study was the Product Essence Analysis developed by Luutonen (1997). Instead of actual products, the focus here was on pictures of products, i.e. the stage costumes. The first step of the analysis is the first impression, followed by depth study of the object. The third step is interpretation which combines knowledge gained in the first two steps to further understand the subject. The Product Essence Analysis offered some conclusions on the stage costumes in Mucha’s posters. All the costumes held typical characteristics of the costumes and dresses of the plays’ eras. Therefore, the Art Nouveau style present at the time the posters were designed is mainly seen in the style of the posters themselves, not in the costumes they portray. The study shed fairly little light to the background of any of the specific costumes in the posters. However, previous studies and photographs of Bernhardt in costume suggest that in many cases the actual costumes worn by Bernhardt on stage were an inspiration to the costumes in Mucha’s posters. And vice versa, some of Mucha’s designs have provided inspiration to costumes and jewelry later seen on stage. This suggests a strong connection between the designs in Mucha’s posters and the actual stage costumes.