The collection

For many years now we have been collecting artist postcards, especially from Art Nouveau and Art Deco periods, and at the same time we have conducted studies and research work on these postcards produced at the beginning of the 20 th Century and on their illustrators.

In our research, we have been especially fascinated, from the start, by the enchanting young women created by Raphael Kirchner. We have been to meeting for specialists in postcard collecting in Italy and abroad, scrutinized auction catalogues, and selling lists, visited flea markets and antique fairs, written to collectors and merchants all over the world and little by little we have created "our own collection" of Kirchner postcards, one of the jewels of our vaster collection of artists' postcards.

Many other illustrators are in our postcard collection: Alphonse Mucha, first of all, and then Jack Abeille, Basch Arpad, Paul Berthon, Hans Christiansen, Gisbert Combaz, Eva Daniell, Dohuin, Adolf Hohenstein, Karl Jozsa, Mela Koehler, Laskoff, Lessieux, Henri Meunier, Elizabeth Sonrel, the Italian artists Baruffi, Bompard, Brunelleschi, Busi, Cappiello, Chiostri, Codognato, Corbella, Dudovich, Gobbi, Alberto Martini, Mataloni, Meschini, Metlicovitz, Nanni, Scattina, Seneca, Tafuri, Terzi, and also the advertising postcards by Maga, the deco postcards published in Italy by Degami, the risque postcards published in France by Librairie de l'Estampe and by Delta, and last but not least some postcards from the "great series" such as the Ver Sacrum, the Job, the Cinos, the Philippe & Kramer, the Jugend, the Wiener Werkstatte.

So far, a part of the results of our research has been included in various articles of the Italian reviews "La Cartolina" and "Charta", but we have also worked in collaboration with the English journal "Picture Postcard Monthly" and with the French review "Cartes Postales et Collection".