WHAT IS ART HISTORY? WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO POSTCARD COLLECTORS?

On the surface, the cards included here are beautiful postcards in the Aesop's Fables Revisited series by Francisco Sancha Lengo (Spain, 1874-1936) published by Raphael Tuck and Sons of London. They're classified as WWI propaganda postcards. Just seeing them as gorgeous cards is fine. But looking at it through the lens of art history can give you more information. 

 

I consider postcards to be art objects, whether they are artist-signed, or in other forms. The idea of interpreting artist-signed postcards through the lens of art history came to me after I discovered Raphael Tuck’s beautiful Oilettes. As a result of this new perspective, I’ve come to a deeper understanding of postcards that I want to share with others.

Art history is important to postcard collectors because it fosters a more profound understanding of postcards as art objects. Many postcard collectors are also interested in genealogy. Examining postcards through the framework of art history can also help you more thoroughly understand the times in which your relatives and ancestors lived. But what exactly do art historians do?

 

Art history involves the study of art in all countries and cultures from ancient times to the present day. It examines paintings, sculpture, architecture, and even decorative arts. Art historians seek to understand how and why certain art objects were created while also examining the historical period and culture in which they were made. So art history is an interdisciplinary study combining social history, women’s history, literature, religion, politics, spirituality, mythology, religion, folklore, and ritual. It's a valid way to learn more about our world.

 

When I look at these Raphael Tuck postcards in the Aesops Fables Revisited series by F. Sancha, I start asking questions. Who is the artist? What was happening in the artist's and the publisher's countries when this postcard was published? What did the image on the postcard mean to the sender and recipient? Why is the series called "Aesops Fables Revisited"? What is the fable of the Eagle and the Tortoise? How does it apply to WWI? What is the symbolism inherent in this card? Why is an Eagle chosen to represent Germany and a tortoise representing Bulgaria? What is important about the way the image is composed?

Art historians are constantly asking questions about images and objects. “We analyse, compare, and connect a wide range of different sources and pieces of evidence; primarily the artworks themselves, but also documents, literature, and many other traces of the past. …. Art history…demands that we take the vantage point of others like the anthropologist does; that we see things in a historical perspective, as the historian does; and that we consider how ideas related to religion, family, gender, race, and politics are implicated in the art of the past.”

Art history is a helpful tool to help postcard collectors better understand the cards in their collections.

 

Courtauld institute, www.courtauld.ac.uk