Wish you were here

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Artists’ Postcards: A Compendium

By Jeremy Cooper

Deltiology is the term for the collecting of postcards, and deltiologists are the collectors. What is interesting about this fascinating publication about artists’ postcards is the relationship between the many genres of the postcard and the way that artists feel stimulated by these.

To my knowledge, this is the first critical guide to artists’ postcards and it sets about the task in a methodical and comprehensive way. The book is usefully divided into chronological sections: Pre-1945, 1945 to 1980 and then what is seen as the contemporary period. This is followed by detailed categories of artists’ postcards, all of which are superbly illustrated. In some cases artists have used the images to create a collection around a particular theme and others have worked into the image as collage, photomontage or simply using paint to obliterate parts of the original image.

The postcards are split between those designed by artists, those that have been manipulated, composites of different cards or collections. Sometimes the postcard has featured in larger collages as just one element. There already exists a culture of collecting and categorizing the postcard and artists have worked with this too.

Another more conceptually based and intriguing category is that of mail art, where the postcard plays a role in communication, identity and collaboration. As with any aspect of the printing industry the technological and material history provides another stimulus for artists.

The postcard has another powerful dimension in relation to social and political history, and this too is explored in this book. Postcards, as a category of graphic arts in the world of promotion, is one complete section. Finally, the book ends with a look at postcards as pictures and as a visual art in their own right.

So, ‘wish you were here’, as it’s a wonderful publication. Inevitably, there will be some key moments missed, one such being Martin Parr’s Postcards collection published in 2008. Nonetheless, for someone already interested, it’s an excellent resource and for someone new it’s a great introduction. Well produced and accessible, this publication is probably the key text so far in this rich niche of the art world.

Artists’ Postcards: A Compendium  by Jeremy Cooper is published by Reaktion Books. 344 pp., 392 colour & 45 mono illus, £35.00. ISBN 978 1 86189 852 4