The humble postcard is something I have probably paid little attention to in recent years, although I do often seem to spend time hunting for one to add a ‘thank you’ to my occasional second-hand book sales.
As with the paper exercise I had a look through my stationery stocks to see if I had any postcards and was surprised to find I actually had quite a few – some plain, some from past work projects, some from my travels in Canada and some art cards. I also found the beautiful CIA Graeae project postcards made from all the artworks in the exhibition. I then had a quick trawl online for inspiration and bought a few more including a historical set.
During my search I came across a real gem in the Marimekko set of 100 cards (50 designs) that are beautiful, fun and a riot of colour. They are a tribute to the textile design of Marimekko and have certainly given me some inspiration.
The postcard seems so well suited to its purpose it has hardly changed in 120 years. Reading some of the different accounts of the history of postcards in the UK it looks like it took about thirty years to get from the original version to its more familiar form with an image on one side and a divided back to allow for a message and address. Rather than repeat the detailed chronology that others cover well, I really wanted to note how it has been connected to social, cultural, technological and political contexts. In summary the history of postcards follows several phases:
- 1840 the penny postage stamp introduced
- 1869 Austria introduces the first postcard
- 1870 first postcards issued in the UK
- 1894 first picture postcards produced
- 1899 standard sizes introduced – 5.5” x 3.5”
- 1902 the divided back postcard was introduced
- 1902- 1914 the Golden Age – the texts of their day!
- 1916-1930 White border era and a shift in popularity from greetings to view cards
- 1930-1945 Linen card era. Vivid colour on linen paper. Main genres are view, comic and political humour
- 1939 onwards Modern Chrome era. Technology allows the production of high quality photochromes
Postcards seem to come in a variety of genres which have evolved over their history, including:
- Greetings
- View
- Art
- Commemorative or historical
- Promotional
- Humour
In developing my postcard set I obviously have a specific brief in terms of introducing myself but researching the history of postcards has helped me explore the kinds of messages I might want to communicate.
History sources:
http://www.oldpostcards4sale.co.uk/history-of-uk-postcards
http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/photography/History-of-Postcards.html
