Graphic designs and line drawings

The original graphic designs, starting from Alfons Mucha's design of the first Czechoslovak postage stamp "Prague Castle" (as well as his other designs of newspaper, express and postage-due stamps issued in 1918-20), reflect the work by designers of Czechoslovak (1918-39 and 1945-92) and Czech (1993 onwards) stamps. In addition to Alfons Mucha, other graphic masters, such as Eduard Karel, Max Švabinský, Jakub Obrovský, Jaroslav Benda, Vratislav H. Brunner, Jan Vondrouš, Karel Vik, Vladimír Silovský, Jindra Vlček, Cyril Bouda, helped the birth process of interwar Czechoslovak postage stamp. After 1945, these masters were followed by generations of renowned artists - Karel Svolinský, Josef Liesler, Jaroslav Lukavský, František Gross, Zdeněk Sklenář, Anna Podzemná, František Hudeček and others.

While the sub-collections Impressions of postage stamps and first day covers, taken from engraved plates and Imprimatur - Let It Be Printed are a survey of famous engravers' names and signatures, this sub-collection offers a gallery of works produced by leading 20th-century Czechoslovak and Czech and contemporary Czech artists. Oldřich Kulhánek, Adolf Born, Vladimír Suchánek, Zdeněk Mézl, Karel Franta, Jiří Bouda, Jan Kavan, Jan Solpera, Libuše and Jaromír Knotek are some of the renowned artists who contributed to post-1993 Czech stamp design. Line drawings used for printing from steel plates are an integral part of the sub-collection.