Performative femininity: a study of Mucha's posters from the perspective of Judith Butler's theory of gender performativity

As a major representative of the Art Nouveau movement, Alphonse Mucha is renowned for posters characterized by flowing curves, botanical motifs, decorative compositions, and idealized female figures. The women depicted in Mucha's works often appear gentle, elegant, mysterious, and highly ornamental, forming a distinctive and immediately recognizable visual style. Drawing primarily on Judith Butler's theory of gender performativity, this study examines female imagery in Mucha's posters through literature review, theoretical interpretation, and visual analysis. It argues that the femininity presented in Mucha's posters is not a direct expression of an essential female nature. Rather, it is a gendered effect repeatedly constructed through visual elements such as bodily posture, clothing, hairstyle, decorative patterning, and relations of looking within the contexts of social aesthetic norms, commercial communication, and modern visual culture. On the one hand, Mucha's posters foreground the aesthetic appeal and visual centrality of female figures; on the other hand, they also incorporate the female body into systems of advertising and ornament, turning it into a visual sign to be viewed, consumed, and idealized. Drawing on Judith Butler's theory of gender performativity, this study moves beyond earlier Mucha scholarship that primarily emphasizes formal style and design-historical value. It further reveals the mechanisms through which "femininity" in Mucha's posters is produced, repeated, and naturalized. The study therefore deepens the understanding of the cultural meanings of Mucha's posters and provides a theoretical basis for critically reflecting on representations of women in contemporary visual design.