11.12.2002                                                                                            


Miniature Sheets:
Sorry, no images available

First Day Cover:
abc

3 stamps:

Issue Date: 11 December 2002
Printing: Recess print from flat plates
Stamp size: 50 x 40 mm / 40 x 50 mm
Design: CZK 12.00: Panuška's drawing Merman
CZK 20.00: Indian ink drawing by Aleš
CZK 26.00: a detail from a composition by P.Molitor
Sheet: 4 stamps
Engraver: Martin Srb, Miloš Ondráček, Václav Fajt
Printer: Post Printing House, Prague


On 11th December, 2002, the Ministry of Post and Communications of the Czech Republic issued three commemorative postage stamps of the series Works of Art on Stamps:

CZK 12.00: JAROSLAV PANUŠKA (1872-1958)

A FORLORN WOMAN -
GALLERY OF MODERN ART IN HRADEC KRÁLOVÉ
Engraver: Martin Srb
Colours: dark blue (recess print from flat plates) + multicoloured offset

CZK 20.00: MIKOLÁŠ ALEŠ (1852-1913)

ST. WENCESLAS (DESIGN OF A WINDOW), 1890
NATIONAL GALLERY IN PRAGUE
Engraver: Miloš Ondráček
Colours: black, grey, yellow, red, blue (recess print from flat plates)

CZK 26.00: JAN PETER MOLITOR (1702-1757)

PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG MAN WITH A LUTE
NATIONAL GALLERY IN PRAGUE
Engraver: Václav Fajt
Colours: black, yellow, orange, red, blue (recess print from flat plates)

The Czech painter and illustrator J. Panuška studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague under M. Pirner and later J. Mařák. From a realistic genre, he moved on via symbolist works to impressionist landscape painting. He particularly loved the landscape near Světlá nad Sázavou. He also worked on drawings for magazines and illustrations for books, and on fairy tales, in which he took pleasure in depicting ghosts, water sprites and other supernatural characters. His imagination even led him to paint prehistoric themes. The stamp bears the engraver's transcription of a painting from the artist's early period.

The most significant personality of the National Theatre generation was the artist M. Aleš, who worked on paintings, drawings and illustrations. He studied at the Prague Academy and embodied the nationalistic endeavours of the 19th century. His original and lively drawings and paintings were filled with impassioned notions of heroic Slavonic history. He devoted special attention to the Hussite period. His works combine lyricism and an epic character. He was influences by the legacy of J. Mánes and expressed his ideas of Czech history in cycles of paintings. He and F. Ženíšek designed the Homeland cycle for the foyer of the National Theatre, but were not able to complete it. He also worked on illustrations for folk songs, fairy tales, legends, poems and books. He applied his sense of monumentality to designs for decorations on the facades of buildings etc. These decorative works inspired the development of Art Nouveau ornamentation. The stamp bears an engraver's transcription of a design for a window.

The German early baroque artist J. P. Molitor, known for his paintings and frescoes, settled in Prague around 1730. With his friend V. V. Reiner he studied mural painting and oil painting. His frescoes decorate, for example, the chapel in Hořín, the chateau in Dobříš and the Capitular Hall in Osek. He also became famous for his outstanding portraits, which can be seen in the National Gallery in Prague. Some of his works were formerly misattributed to J. Kupecký or V. V. Reiner. The stamp will be issued on the 300th anniversary of the artist's birth, and bears an engraver's transcription of a portrait of a man playing the lute.

There are 3 First Day Covers incl. commemorative cancellations. The cachet of the cover with affixed CZK 12.00 stamp (a) is the Panuška's drawing Merman, crayon on paper from, before 1900. On the cover with the CZK 20.00 stamp (b) is a Mánes' Indian ink drawing from the years 1778-79 Fighter with a St. Wenceslas eagle. The cover with affixed CZK 26.00 stamp (c) bears a detail from the Figural composition by J.P. Molitor. The covers are printed by recess print from flat plates a) in black, b) brown, c) green-brown.

The stamps are valid for the inland and international postage from 11th December, 2002 onwards.