The Stamp Gallery of Czech and Slovak Graphic Art
Karl Seizinger reached the climax of his artistic work already on his second professional station in Czechoslovakia. Still today he owns a significant high esteem there. In 1924 Seizinger moved from Helsingfors to Prague in order to start an occupation as an engraver at the National Bank of Czechoslovakia. Like in Finland, he first engraved banknotes, e.g. one, which was designed by Alfons Mucha. He got his first order for the postage stamps of the definitive series "Hrady, města, krajiny" (castles, towns, landscapes), topics and motifs he really loved, as Seizinger's quotations below will show. The first stamps of this definitive series were issued on June 1, 1926, and were enthusiasticly accepted as well by collectors as by special philatelistic publications. So, for example, the German magazine "Die Briefmarke" wrote about Seizinger in 1929 (translated from German): "Postage stamps are the visiting cards of a state. The current visiting cards of the Czechoslovak Republic belong to the most beautiful of the world. The merit for this fact is first of all due to their creator Karl Seizinger, however, also to farsighted persons in Czechoslovakia who called - free from any small-minded attitude - such an outstanding artist to the country and entrusted him with the production of the national stamps."
Up to 1934, Karl Seizinger engraved all postage stamp issues of the republic, among them also the motif of the Prague Castle depicted here, which he implemented based on a copy by the well-known Czech graphic artist T. F. Šimon. The following quotations should a little bit highlight, how Seizinger himself saw his work on postage stamps.
HRADČANY A KARLŮV MOST V PRAZE (Castle and Charles Bridge in Prague) line drawing by Karl Seizinger shown in the town museum Hildburghausen
Original stamp based on a picture by T. F. Šimon date of issue: October 19, 1926, MiNr. 253 |
Quotations by Karl Seizinger about engraving of city sights and landscapes (among others to the stamp depicted here) all quotations from the brochure to the small Seizinger exhibition in the Town Museum in Hildburghausen (translated from German) "I always had a special preference for city sights and landscapes, I engraved more than 65 stamps and, in addition, a lot of designs." "Once I had to engrave the Prague panorama with the castle. The view showed more than 100 windows, many buildings and chimneys which would have disturbed the optical harmony while simply reducing their size. I engraved approximately 30 windows and less buildings, the general impression survived in spite of the reduction. The engraver has the same task like a conductor, who has to hold together an orchestra, in order to come to full effectiveness." "If I engrave landscapes, I start with the most distant parts. In order to get a plastic effect, the buildings, mountains etc. become more and more stronger. The finer the distant parts and the deeper the foreground is engraved, the more plastically and impressively the effect will be. In the very sense of the word, the perspective must be felt. There are landscapes, which look pale, because foreground and background are engraved similarly thin, then they have the effect of a gray pencil drawing. Air and clouds need great efforts, because all fine and interrupted lines must be engraved free hand." |
