Vliegtuig van Antoinette met vijf portretten van vliegeniers before 1912

This postcard, made by an anonymous artist, probably used a photographic process and some kind of printing technique. It’s amazing how the artist combines these formal portraits of pilots with a more dynamic image of an early aircraft. The stamp right there in the center is a nice touch, isn't it? Accidental maybe, but it adds another layer of texture to the surface. There’s something very modern about how the artist uses the juxtaposition of different images to create a whole. The pilot portraits, each carefully framed, give way to this almost ghostly image of the plane. I think the way the artist played with the contrasts and tones, highlights the exciting possibilities and new approaches that modern art was developing at this time. You can see the influence of Cubism and Futurism in the way that the picture plane is treated like a collage space. Think of Kurt Schwitters, or maybe even Hannah Höch. They were also playing with these sorts of ideas. Art’s always talking to itself, isn’t it?