During his lifetime Raphael Kirchner was one of the most prolific illustrators of picture postcards. To date nearly eight hundred postcards of diverse subjects designed by him have been descovered. In the three periods in which we have subdivided the whole production of Kirchner's postcards, we have also individuated homogeneous groups, separating, above all, the signed sets from those unsigned.

THE BEGINNINGS

Kirchner's first works were published in Vienna, his native city. Our research leads us to believe that one of the first set published, in 1897, was the Wiener Typen set, signed simply with the initial R. The Auf Sommerfrische published by Philipp & Kramer, and all the others published by Back and Schmitt, both Viennese publishing companies, belong to those of the first published sets.

We have catalogued the Kirchner s postcards of the beginning according the following sets.

A - Different publishers and various signatures

B - Publisher Back & Schmitt, Vienna

C - Unsigned