Alphonse Mucha.

ALPHONSE MUCHA is best known for his pioneering art-nouveau ("new art", was most popular between 1890 and 1910) work in fin-de-siècle (the end of the century) Paris, especially a series of posters depicting Sarah Bernhardt, a legendary actress. But the Czech-born artist considered a 20-canvas cycle called the Slav Epic (is a cycle of 20 large canvases of Mucha, word "Epic"used to describe events that happen over a long period and involve a lot of action and difficulty) to be his masterwork, and he donated the massive paintings to the city of Prague in 1928 with the proviso (an article or clause that introduces a condition) they build a facility to display them. The Mucha family is still waiting to see that wish fulfilled.

With the Slav Epic (is a cycle of 20 large canvases of Mucha) slated (a list of people who are being considered for a particular job)  for an Asian sojourn (a short period to stay in particular place) next year, Mucha’s heirs (someone who contunues to do the work or who now has responsibility after older member of the family has died), lead by a grandson, John Mucha, are suing (to take legal action) to block the museum tour in what may be the final chapter of a century-long saga that has seen the paintings outlast (contunue longer than another person or thing) the Nazis and the communists. The bitter conflict between the family and the city has lingered for years, with the family contending (to claim, to say that something is true) that Prague’s failure to construct a venue should nullify Mucha's gift. 

Today, the works are exhibited in a branch of the Czech National Gallery, the Veletrzni Palac, but they are slated (a list of people who are being considered for a particular job) to go to China and Japan next year (Tokyo, Nanjing, Guangdong and Changsha through May 2018), with potential stops in America in the works too. Not only do Mucha’s scions (a young memebr of rich and famous fmily) oppose the tour, but they disapprove of the current exhibition, noting that Veletrzni Palac was used as a transit point during the Holocaust. “A number of my relatives were channeled through that space,” the younger Mr Mucha says.

Indeed, the elder Mucha’s Slav nationalism and his Jewish roots made him a primary target of the Gestapo during Nazi occupation. He was arrested and interrogated (to ask a lot of questions for a long time in order to get information) in 1939 and died of pneumonia a short time later. The Slav Epic went into hiding—rumour had it, buried in a grave—before resurfacing amid a temporary thaw (to change from a solid, frozen  state to a liquid or soft one, because of an increase in temperature) in communist cultural suppression, in 1963, and going on display in a chateau in Moravsky Krumlov (200km [124 miles] southeast of Prague). They stayed there until 2010, when Prague officials fought to have them brought to the capital. In that dispute, the city cited archived documents to argue that it was technically not Mucha, but rather his patron, the American industrialist Charles Richard Crane, who had donated the paintings.

Now, the ownership of the works is in the balance, with decades-old correspondence—the younger Mr Mucha claims to have his own antique communiques (an official piece of news or an announcement)—to comprise (to have as parts or to be parts) much of the evidence. The first court date in this latest clash is January 18th, but each side is likely to appeal any eventual result. As the paintings are considered a key part of national heritage, the culture ministry must issue an export permit before they can leave the country, so the Asian tour looks in doubt. 

City officials insist they are still working on a permanent solution, and argue the Asian tour will give them the time and money they need. John Mucha says the risk posed to the enormous, aging works by taking them across the globe is forcing his hand. He contends (to compete in order to win) that Prague could build a modern facility to house the Slav Epic, suggesting Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum as a model. There has also been talk of using one historic wing of the city’s train station, already undergoing a general restoration. If the city doesn’t act, Mr Mucha says he is prepared to approach private donors and the European Union to finance a facility. “I am going to take it to the end,” Mr Mucha says. “At least I will have done everything in my power.”