Die Briefmarkengalerie tschechischer und slowakischer Graphik-Kunst
Als Abschluss der Stecher-Porträts und stellvertretend für die weiteren, bisher in der Galerie (noch) nicht vorgestellten Briefmarkenstecher tschechischer und
slowakischer Briefmarken, wird hier noch kurz Václav Fajt gewürdigt.
Geboren am 4. August 1952 in Pilsen erhielt er seine Stecherausbildung and der Kunstgewerbeschule in Turnov. Schon in der früheren Tschechoslowakei zeichnete er
für viele Motive der jährlichen Ausgaben "Prager Burg" und der Serie "umìní" verantwortlich.
Auch nach der Trennung der beiden Landesteile arbeitete er als Stecher weiter, bis 1995 als Angestellter der
Staatsdruckerei und danach freischaffend. So sind beispielsweise
eine ganze Reihe von Banknoten der heutigen Slowakei und der Tschechischen Republik von ihm gestochen.
Zu seinen Briefmarkenstichen für die Tschechische Republik gehört beispielsweise die hier abgebildete Blockausgabe zur PRAGA '98 (MiNr. Block 5)
mit zwei von Alfred Fuchs (geboren 1925 in Saarbrücken) entworfenen Marken.
Einen Einblick in das Zusammenspiel von Entwerfer und Stecher bei der Entstehung dieses Blockes gibt ein
Artikel von Jaroslav Verner, veröffentlicht in der Zeitschrift der Amerikanischen Gesellschaft für
tschechoslowakische Philatelie "Czechoslovak Specialist". Aus diesem Artikel zitiere
ich mit freundlicher Genehmigung des Autors:
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Praha - the location of the exhibit - was the subject given Fuchs for the first PRAGA 98 stamps.
He said that in his design he tried to capture the spirit of this old, "100-spired", yet contemporary city.
To contrast the modern, somewhat abstract design for the stamps, he added ancient symbols to the tabs on
the sheetlet. The door knocker on the left tab is the knocker that St. Václav grabbed as he fell when he
was assassinated at the Mlada Boleslav Cathedral in 929. Charles IV ordered the door knocker moved to
Prague and installed it in St. Vitus Cathedral at the Hradcany. The other
symbol "either a flying horse or a dragon, but I rather think it is a dragon", said Fuchs, is a relief that
had been excavated at Vyšehrad and currently is part of the collection in the National Museum in Prague.
It probably dates from the early 12th century.
"Václav is a superb engraver", was Fuchs' assessment of Václav Fajt, his Partner in this enterprise.
"I gave him great discretion in the creation of his stamp. He should be considered a co-creator.
When problems with color tints developed
in the printing plant, it was only thanks to Václav that they were solved."
Fajt did not develop his considerable engraving skills on stamps, but as an engraver of paper currency,
including the current 50 and 1000 korun notes. He began working at the Státní Tiskarna Cenin
(State Printing House of Value Paper) as an engraver in 1973 and stayed with them until 1995.
Back in 1977 he submitted examples of his work along with a request he be considered for stamp engraving assignments.
His submissions were highly praised, but no assignments followed. He repeated the process
several times over the next eight years with the same result. He was told several times he would get
commissions to engrave stamps only if he became a member of the Sváz Vytvarných Umìlcù (Union of Creative Artists).
But membership in this group required Fajt to join the Communist Party which he refused to do.
At one point Fajt was told that if he joined the Party he would have his first commission
to engrave stamps "within 24 hours".
However, not all variables can be controlled even by a totalitarian state. Life goes on and
conditions change - and people get old. And so it happened with the engravers doing stamps in Czechoslovakia.
By the early 1980s several stamp engravers had either died or were no longer able to practice this
exacting art. There was a shortage of engraving talent and work was piling up, deadlines were being missed.
One day Fajt received a call out of the blue offering several commissions to engrave stamps
and has been doing so starting with two stamps of the "Protection of Nature" series in 1983.
(Jaroslav Verner: Stamp Creators and PRAGA 98,
Czechoslovak Specialist January 1998)
MiNr. der Briefmarkenstiche von Václav Fajt:
2712, 2714, 2718, 2723, 2725, 2727, 2732, 2734, 2748, 2751-2753, 2758, 2759, 2766, 2767, 2769, Bl.58, 2781, 2783, 2784, 2788, 2791, 2794,
2801, 2810, 2811, 2813, 2815-2818, 2831, 2843, 2844, 2847, 2865, 2878, 2880, Bl.68, 2886, 2888, 2890, 2903, 2904, 2925, 2932, 2937,
2941-2943, Bl.74-76, 2961-2964, Bl.81, 2965, Bl.82, 2970, Bl.87, 2972, 2973, 3039, 3040, 3047, 3050, 3063-3066, 3071, 3075, 3084, 3087-3089,
3092, 3096, 3105, 3109, 3115, 3121
CZ: 5, 9, 31, 38, 39, 44, 57, 67-69, 80, 83, 97, 102, 110-113, 124, Bl.3, 125, 131, 135-138, 144, 145, 156, 157, Bl.5, 161, 165,
184-186, 192, 193, 213, 214, 215/216, 218/219, 237, 243, 244, Bl. 10, 260-263, 267, 268, 269, 275, 289, 290, 291, 292
SK: 227, 241, 282, 289-291, Bl.9, 317-319, 391, 392
