An interesting constant in much of Mucha's work are the warm, honey-like hues Mucha uses not only for skin, but also spill into the aesthetic elements of the posters construction, this can be seen in the boarder patterning and the characters hair.
This honey toned dominant colour is the focus of my initial observations on the piece, The amber yellow hue is clearly the dominant hue in the scene, and whilst it doesn't highlight a focal point in the way an accent would, it uses its large surface coverage to encourage the viewer to explore the details and intricacies of the woman's hair and face. Natural investigation of her features and form inevitably draw the viewer to the cigarette in her hand, the point of the advertisement.
To make the cigarette a focal point, one way to do so may have been to desaturate the whole image, and have the cigarette glow a saturate red colour, or perhaps darken the scene and make the cigarette the light source. Mucha does neither, instead, his subtle method of 'leading' the viewer around the scene bring the message home when Mucha decides you're ready for it.
Mucha has accomplished half his job by now, he has established the cigarette as the theme and motif of the advertisement, all we need to know now is the brand. Mucha accomplishes this simply by using a green font, complementary to the purple hue of the background. Interestingly, Mucha leaves nothing to chance here either, as if you saw the cigarette in the woman's hand, you saw the trail of smoke winding its way up to the lettering for Job's cigarettes, leading you home and earning Mucha his very well deserved pay.
This piece is interesting as it doesn't use accent's to grab the viewer right away, it instead uses the vastness of the dominant hues to lead you to the focal point. I find it interesting that there are so many different (and very well thought out) ways to direct the audiences attention around your image.
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