An auction catalog with more than 200 examples of mail art — individual works of art created to be mailed and subsequently posted — dating from 1853 to 1943.
Mail Art by Edward Gorey
From Floating Worlds: The Letters of Edward Gorey & Peter F. Neumeyer (2011)
Dachshunds & Beer
Postcards from Munich, with thanks to Kelly Harris.
Wood Postcard
With thanks to L. & L. Warren
Mail Art by Franz Marc
“Two Foxes,” postcard mailed to Albert Bloch in Munich, 1913
“Four Foxes, postcard mailed ” to Wassily Kandinsky in Munich, 1913
“Two Cats,” postcard mailed to Lilly Klee in Munich, 1913
“Three Horses in Landscape with Houses,” postcard mailed to Paul Klee in Munich, 1913
“Two Sheep,” postcard mailed to Wassily Kandinsky, 1913
“Black Cow Behind a Tree,” postcard mailed in 1913
“Blue Horse, Red House and Rainbow,” postcard mailed to Paul Klee in Munich, 1913
Franz Marc (1880 – 1916) was a painter and a key figure in German Expressionism. He was a founding member of Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), a journal whose name became synonymous with the circle of artists appearing in it. Drafted to serve in the German Army at the beginning of World War I, he died at the Battle of Verdun. In the 1930s, the Nazis labeled him “a degenerate artist” as part of their suppression of modern art. But his work, and his reputation, survived.
Up and at ’em
Pine Neck
Flowers
“In an iconic photo, Stalin receives a hug and a bouquet from young Gelia Markizova, daughter of a Communist Party official. Shortly afterward, her parents were arrested and her father was shot for treason.”
— From Symphony for the City of the Dead (2015) by M.T. Anderson
Mail Art to Ellen
Mail art sent by Joseph McNeil to his fiancée, Ellen Redding, circa 1925-1933.
With effusive thanks to the Marin Library, where you can see many more envelopes.
Trees
Photos from the Annual Report of the Forest Commission, New York State Assembly, 1895:
Read, Seen, Heard 