Works of Art on Stamps: Karel Spillar (1871 - 1939)

Catalogue number	0663
Date of issue	10.11.2010
Face value	30 CZK
Print sheets	4 stamps
Size of picture	50 x 40 mm
Graphic designer	Karel Spillar
Engraver	Martin Srb

Karel Spillar (1871 - 1939): Spring, 1912, National Gallery in Prague.
The Czech painter and graphic designer Karel Spillar studied with Frantisek Zenisek at the Prague's Academy of Arts (1885-1893). He was one of the members of the Manes Union of Fine Arts and a teacher (after 1913) at the Academy of Arts. His early works were influenced by his stay at Paris and expressionism (1902-1908), other styles that found a way into his works included neo romanticism and the symbolism of Art Nouveau. His decorative works followed the paintings by Puvis de Chavannes (Portrait of a Lady in Black, 1899; Shepherds, 1914). Spilar's best known masterpiece is his decoration of the Municipal House in Prague, including the mosaic Homage to Prague (1909) above the entrance and the paintings in Smetana's Hall representing an allegory of Music, Dance, Poetry and Drama (1910) in the Art Nouveau symbolic style. He was the author of a number of other decorations, such as those in the lounge of the Central Hotel in Prague. Spillar was also the author of lithographic works, posters, small graphic designs.

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Works of Art on Stamps: MilosJiranek (1875 - 1911)

Catalogue number	0662
Date of issue	10.11.2010
Face value	26 CZK
Print sheets	4 stamps
Size of picture	40 x 50 mm
Graphic designer	Miloš Jiránek
Engraver	Václav Fajt

Milos Jiranek (1875-1911): Piskari (Sand Bargemen), 1910, Moravian Gallery in Brno.
Milos Jiranek, also known as Vaclav Zednik, was a Czech painter, art reviewer, writer and translator. His paintings were mostly influenced by impressionism. He studied at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague. His teachers at the Prague's Academy of Arts were M. Pirner and V. Hynais. Jiranek was one of the leaders of the generation of founders of Czech modern art emerging in the course of 1890s. The main features of the new generation were their critical approach to the servitude of art with respect to ideology; calling for the creative freedom of individuals and for autonomous art thinking. The struggle for emancipation of Czech art life found its expression in the establishment of the Mánes Union of Fine Arts (1887) and the art magazine Volne smery (1896).
Milos Jiranek's work as a painter remained for a long time in the shadow of his activities as an art reviewer and organizer. The quality of his graphic art, tragically ended by his premature death at the age of 36 years, has not yet been fully appreciated. The series of his masterpiece White Studies is an original synthesis of the impressionist method with an intimist atmosphere, with a well-balanced composition of colours and shapes.


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Works of Art on Stamps: Karel Skreta (1610 - 1674)

Catalogue number	0661
Date of issue	10.11.2010
Face value	24 CZK
Print sheets	4 stamps
Size of picture	40 x 50 mm
Graphic designer	Karel Skreta
Engraver	Milos Ondracek

Karel Skreta (1610-1674): Paris and Helen, around 1672 National Gallery in Prague
Karel Skreta, one of the major 17th century Czech baroque painters, was born to a well-to-do Protestant family, with the noble predicate 'ze' (his full name being Skreta Sotonovsky ze Zavoric). Members of the family, originally from Olejnice in South Bohemia, lived in Prague and Kutna Hora. Karel's father Konrad died when Karel was only three years old. The little boy was placed into the care of his uncle, Pavel Skreta, who, following his brother's will, enabled his young nephew to obtain a broad humanistic education in the Prague's Tyn school. Young Karel spoke Latin, German, Italian and French, and this knowledge proved very useful in the young man's adult life.Skreta's likely teachers of painting were artists at the royal court. After his return to Prague in 1638, he became one of the most popular local painters and gradually one of the major Czech early baroque painters. Skreta's painting shop, one of the largest in Prague, employed a number of apprentices and journeyman painters. His famous works include outstanding portraits, altar paintings, drawings and illustrations. Mythological themes rarely appeared in his works. His later works were based on the chiaroscuro technique. Skreta was the author of the Saint Wenceslas series of paintings for the Augustinian Monastery at Zderaz in Prague's New Town (1641), numerous altar paintings for major Prague churches (St. Thomas and St. Nicholas at the Lesser Town, St. Stephen, Virgin Mary before Tyn) and the Assumption of the Virgin Mary church of the Cistercian Monastery in Plasy.
In countless court proceedings, Skreta eventually won back almost all of his family's property that had been confiscated after they fled the country. He died in 1674 in Prague as a very rich man.

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Christmas - Zlutice Hymn Book

Catalogue number	0664
Date of issue	10.11.2010
Face value	10 CZK
Print sheets	50 stamps
Size of picture	40 x 23 mm
Graphic designer	Fabián Puléř, Zdeněk Ziegler

The 1558 Zlutice Hymn Book is a rare renaissance parchment folio (sized 63x40x16cm, weighing 28kg), containing 471 sheets of Czech utraquist liturgical texts for the divine services and hymns, decorated with remarkable paintings. The book was ordered by the Zlutice town councillors for the local literary brotherhood, for the considerable expense of 283 threescore of Meissen groschen, of which the sum of 23 threescore was contributed by the lord of the estate. Jan Táborský of Klokotská Hora, owner of a painting shop in Prague, used the following words to appreciate their generosity: "Eager to sing, the people of Zlutice ordered costly scripts to be made and written in a reasonable (i.e. Czech) language." The author of the letters (Czech bastarda) and notation was Vavrinec Bily. The book was illuminated by the famous painter Fabian Puler of Usti nad Labem. The 16 miniature paintings in the initial letters and arabesques are particularly well appreciated. They contain the coats of arms of Zlutice and each of the donators and guilds, scenes from the Old and the New Testaments as well as from the life of the townspeople (feasts, bull slaughtering, Sunday rest), paintings of famous Czech historic persons (Saint Wenceslas, John Hus, Jerome of Prague; the two latter ones being erased in the 17th century) as well as certain of the donators, both townspeople and lower noblemen from the neighbourhood.
The Hymn Book, until 1977 deposited in the Prague's City Museum, is now a part of the collections of the Museum of Czech Literature in Prague. The City Museum keeps a replica of the book.

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Historical stoves: Art Deco

The Stamp will be issued on October 20 th

	Catalogue number 0656 Date of issue 20.10.2010 Face value 20 CZK Print sheets 50 stamps Size of picture 23 x 40 mm Graphic designer Michal Vitanovský Engraver Bohumil Šneider
	Art Deco stoves - as indicated by the variety of its names, the Czech version of the Art Deco style had its special features. The names, such as rondocubism, curved or national style, show the embarrassment of theoreticians in naming this local style orientation. In any case, the common denominator was the bombastic decorativism, occasionally inspired with folklore. Stoves had a form similar to the contemporary architecture. The predominant material, used in the already large-scale production of Art Deco stoves, was enamelled sheet iron. The occasional burnt clay stoves, intended by the author as an original piece, represent the final stage of the unbroken historical line of glazed-tile stoves' development starting in the Middle Ages. The ceramic cover of the heating body in the chateau in Nove Mesto nad Metuji, created by Helena Johnova in 1939, is an example of the latter category. Do You like it? You can order it here

Historical stoves: Art Nouveau

The Stamp will be issued on October 20 th

Catalogue number	0655
Date of issue	20.10.2010
Face value	10 CZK
Print sheets	50 stamps
Size of picture	23 x 40 mm
Graphic designer	Michal Vitanovsky
Engraver	Bohumil Sneider

Art Nouveau, considered as the last comprehensive style, tried to replace the existing academic historicism with new, original ornaments. Art Nouveau gradually expanded into all areas of decorative art, glazed-tile stoves including. The architecture of Art Nouveau stoves, with its rather cold structuring in comparison with certain other historical styles, is not revolutionary. What makes it rich, however, are the gentle and noble ornaments covering the glazed tiles. The rich vegetable decorations of typical Art Nouveau stoves, including this South Moravian one, are a unique feature distinguishing them from other styles. The cast iron door whose decor often becomes a part of the overall art design is another special feature of Art Nouveau stoves. At the same time metal doors signal an alternative material that began to gain ground in the contemporary production of stoves.

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Technical Monuments: Historic bridge

The Stamp will be issued on October 20 th.

Catalogue number	0654
Date of issue	20.10.2010
Face value	12 CZK
Print sheets	50 stamps
Size of picture	40 x 23 mm
Graphic designer	Jan Ungrad
Engraver	Jaroslav Tvrdon

The Stone Bridge in Pisek (also known as the Stag Bridge) is the oldest still standing stone bridge in Bohemia. The bridge, spanning the Otava river, was the second stone bridge in Bohemia (after the already not existing Judith bridge in Prague). The exact date of its building is unknown, but the style is gothic. It was first mentioned in writing in 1348 when Charles IV ordered the town councillors to use fines collected in the town for maintenance of the bridge. A couple of gates with towers protected the bridge as well as the present historic town centre on either side. The left-hand tower was destroyed by the flood of 1768, the other one succumbed to wear and tear in 1825. The bridge is adorned by copies of the original, mostly 18th century baroque sculptures and the Cavalry. The 6.5m wide structure, slightly bulging up the river, consists of six arches spanning 111 metres, built on pillars with an upward save edge. The normal height above the water level is 5.5m. As one of the few medieval bridges, still standing and used in Central Europe, the stone bridge is a unique rarity.

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Technical Monuments - Cable-stayed bridge

The Stamp will be issued on October 20 th.

Catalogue number	0653
Date of issue	20.10.2010
Face value	10 CZK
Print sheets	50 stamps
Size of picture	40 x 23 mm
Graphic designer	Jan Ungrad
Engraver	Jaroslav Tvrdon

Cable-stayed bridge - Mariansky Bridge in Ustí nad Labem, designed by the renowned architecture studio Roman Koucky, is one of the most distinctive and disputed projects built in the post-November 1989 Czech Republic. Following years of lengthy discussions about location of the bridge, the city councillors decided to place it under the Mariánska Rock, a site best suited for the bridge's main role, i.e. combining the city's three quarters - the city centre, Krasne Brezno on the left bank and Strekov on the right bank of the Labe river. The 70m high bridge was built in 1993 to 1998 and became the city's new dominant. The height is not the only feature attracting the attention of people: the impossible-to-overlook system of steel cables suspending the 170m long bridge is similarly provoking. The architect designed the number of cables, the height and shape of the pylon not only with respect to static but also to his artistic visions. For instance, the height of the pylon was to counterbalance the Mariánská Rock on the other side of the river. It also matches the height of the tower of the gothic church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary nearby. According to the Structural Engineering International (SEI), quarterly Journal of the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE), it is one of the ten most beautiful 1990s world buildings. It has also become the most expensive local project in the area of transport infrastructure since 1948, financed by a city. The city had to postpone the project of reconstruction of the Mírove Square and other projects. Last year the bridge changed its owners: it has become the property of the Road and Motorway Directorate of the Czech Republic since June 26th, 2008.

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The CTYRLISTEK COMICS - STAMP BOOKLET

The Booklet will be issued on October 20 th.

Catalogue number	VZS04
Date of issue	20.10.2010
Face value	100 CZK
Print sheets	á 10 die-cut self-adhesive stamps
Size of picture	23 x 31 mm
Graphic designer	Jaroslav Němeček

Myspulin a Cat Scientist
As a true scientist, Myspulin, the second of the four Ctyrlistek comics characters featured on a stamp, creates a chemical reaction setting off a firework of flowers coming out of the heated flask. Stamps with Bobik the Pig and Pinda the Rabbit, the other two 'boys' of the four Ctyrlistek characters, are to follow.

A stamp identified with the letter A corresponding to the price of Ordinary Letter - Standard up to 50 g in domestic service (current price according to the Price List of Basic Postal Services: CZK 10). Price of the booklet as of the date of issue: 10times CZK 10, i.e. CZK 100.

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