Via Airmail

Salome by Franz von Stuck

Art postcards are some of my very favorite to receive in the mail (though I love any postcard really), but as I don't note specifically what sort of art I like in my Postcrossing profile, I'm always intrigued to see what cards appear in my mailbox.  I quite like this one, by an artist I'd not heard of before.  This is "Salome" by Franz von Stuck, 1906.  It is located in the Stadtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich, Germany.

Salome is a Biblical figure, and she is shown here with the head of John the Baptist quite literally with his head on a platter.

Apparently the postcard was returned to the sender (luckily she had used an address label with her own address on it as well as mine), but she kindly put it in an envelope and mailed it back to me.  The original stamp shows the Post Tower in Bonn.

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Postcrossing card #94

Scene by a Bavarian Lake

This picturesque Bavarian village was painted by Wilhelm von Kobell, a late 18th-early 19th century German painter.  There is no title or description on the card of the painting, but the Postcrosser called it "By a Bavarian Lake". 

The stamp is another Balloon Flower that I shared here.

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Postcrossing card #92 

Malyavin: Portrait of Artist's Sister

Another bookish card today.  I've received my first postcard from Kazakhstan.  The painting is by F.A. Malyavin (1869-1940) and is a portrait of the artist's sister.  It is found in The Tretyakov State Gallery in Moscow and was paintd in 1895.   Perhaps it's the production of the postcard but the colors are quite muted.  Looking at his other work, he tended to paint very bright and colorful paintings. 

As the postcard is very thin, the postcrosser who sent it to me mailed it in an envelope.

I'm afraid I couldn't find anything about the stamps, but the illustration is almost mythological with winged horses.

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Postcrossing card #78

The Sower at Sunset by Van Gogh

Vincent Van Gogh's The Sower at Sunset is located in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.  However it came to me by way of a German Postcrosser.  I was looking for information about the painting and came across this:

"The Sower, shown above left, was painted by Van Gogh in November of 1888.  In this painting, Van Gogh was experimenting with the use of vibrant complimentary colors – something he would continue to do and something he would become known for in some of his most famous paintings like Starry Night.  In a letter to his brother Theo from November of 1888, Van Gogh described the colors he was using in the Sower as 'Immense citron-yellow disk for the sun. Sky green-yellow with pink clouds. The field violet, the sower and the tree Prussian blue.'  Although the sun is a large and beaming yellow in this painting, there is still a sense of darkness that is present in the midst of fall."

Two  more stamps from the floral series: Krokus (crocus), Gartennelke (carnation)  as well as a cool stamp from the Deutsche Malerei series (German Paintings) of Georg Flegel.  I love postcards that have matching stamps!  

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Postcrossing card #72

Cezanne in Provence

I've read that French painter Paul Cézanne is the bridge between late 19th century Impressionism and Cubism of the early 20th century.  "The Gardener Valltier" painted in 1905-06 feels far more modern than Impressionistic to me.  I'd not seen this painting before and am always happy to get a new art card to add to my collection. 

The stamps include another from their Beneficial Insect series and a White Tailed Deer that is paired with the Atlantic Walrus from their Wildlife series.

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Postcrossing card #64

Two by Alphonse Mucha

I mentioned that I have been participating in some art postcard swaps on Swap-Bot, and two of the recent cards that were delivered (both from The Netherlands) recently are of artwork by Czech Art Nouveau artist Alphonse Mucha, whose work I love.  This particular image is "Laurier", 1901.

The stamp on the back is a "Green" stamp: "think green for a green world".

This image is a detail from one in the series of studies of "The Moon and the Stars" from 1902. 

I've gotten quite a few stamps from The Netherlands and I'm surprised at how varied they are.  Three more that are new to me.  I especially like the stamp on the far right (sorry if it's hard to see details) as it show many more stamps!

Grey Cat and Flowerpots

I love art postcards, but I receive very few of them via Postcrossing unfortunately.  I also belong to Swap-Bot, so I do a few postcard exchanges on the side occasionally.  There is a new group within Swap-Bot devoted to artsy postcards, so I had to join.  I've sent out a few art cards and will be getting a few in return, and this is the first to show up in my mailbox. 

This is a watercolor by British artist Lesley Fotherby called "Grey Cat and Flowerpots".  Cats (I have two of them myself) are one of the subjects she paints the most.

The stamp is a trusty Aloha Shirt. 

I'm looking forward to finding more art in my mailbox in the coming weeks.

Girl Reading, 1828

A new reading woman (girl in this case) for my collection.  She (fittingly) came from a German Postcrosser.  The painting, Lesendes Mädchen, um 1828 by Gustav Adolph Hennig is found in the Museum der Bildenden Kunste Leipzig.

More floral stamps on the back, but a new one, too.   The far right stamp, which is from 2008 depicts the Warnemünde Lighthouse.

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Postcrossing card #41

Boys Playing, 1884

I love getting postcards of artwork, especially when the image introduces me to someone new.  This is "Boys Playing" by Albert Edelfelt painted in 1884.  Edelfelt was a Swedish speaking Finnish painter and one of the first Finnish painters to achieve international fame.

It's a lovely image and brings to mind summer holidays spent at the seaside. 

According to the Postcrosser who sent me the card the stamp is of Helene Schjerfbeck, who is another Finnish painter working in the realist style.  The stamp is one of her self-portraits.  I love when the stamp and card match in theme!  And I see also that she has a "Girl Reading" painting.  Perhaps someday I'll come across a postcard of it.

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Postcrossing card #24

Mayuko: Woman Reading

This reading woman was painted by Japanese artist Mayuko Oguro.  She is wearing the traditional Japanese kimono.  Oguro is a freelance illustrator living in Tokyo and she works in watercolors.  You can check out her blog here.  It's such a delicate, lyrical image.  I'm not sure what the goldfish signify, but I see them often in Japanese art.  

Why am I always surprised to find yet another beautiful image of (in this case) a woman reading?  The world is even larger than I imagine it and I am always happy to find books and reading depicted in artwork and photography in other corners of the world.  

And I have to share the gorgeous stamp that is on the flip side.    It reads "Philanippon 2011" and shows three horseback riders.  Philanippon was an international stamp show with the theme "Stamps Link the World".  Apparently this show occurs only once a decade, so I expect this was a stamp in honor of it.  Very lovely with Mt. Fuji in the background. 

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Postcrossing card #14