First day of the commemorative stamps “Modern architecture in Austria” DC Tower 1, “Old masters” Samuel von Hoogstraten – Old man at the window, 1653, “Literature from Austria” Stefan Zweig; “Young art in Austria Charlotte Klobassa - Rumours, 2023
Samuel van Hoogstraten – Old man at the window, 1653
The art of illusion
The remarkable painting by the Dutch painter, author, and art theorist Samuel van Hoogstraten has a special connection to Vienna.
Samuel van Hoogstraten was born in 1627 in Dordrecht, the Netherlands, as the son of a painter. He became a student in Rembrandt van Rijn's workshop, where he was trained in the 1640s. His works from this time clearly show Rembrandt's influence, but his style changed in the 1650s. Van Hoogstraten travelled extensively and spent considerable time in Vienna, where he was received by Emperor Ferdinand III and awarded an honorary medal. He also trained students in painting. He spent his last years in his hometown, where he wrote a treatise on painting ("Introduction to the Academy of Painting, or the Visible World"), which is still considered a classic of art literature, and where he died in 1678. His works included portraits, genre scenes, landscapes, historical paintings, and still lifes.
Van Hoogstraten was intensely interested in perspective in painting. His speciality was "trompe-l'œil" ("deceive the eye") works like the painting "Old Man at the Window". From a meticulously painted window emerges the head of an old man, seemingly detached from his body. The artist created the work in 1653 during his time in Vienna. It was part of the imperial collection from the start and is now housed in the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna's painting gallery.
Charlotte Klobassa – Rumours, 2023
Art as composition
A colourful, large-format work by the young Viennese artist Charlotte Klobassa is this year's motif in the series "Young art in Austria".
Charlotte Klobassa, born in 1987, lives and works in Vienna and Berlin. She graduated with distinction from the University of Applied Arts under Judith Eisler.
The artist explores the porous polyphony of memory through the process of painting. Her abstract paintings are preceded by an exploration of unconscious signs and gestures in her spatial and social surroundings, which she incorporates through a process of appropriation. Scribbles by strangers in stationery shops, details of situations, or a person's traits are extracted from their original context and inscribed into her subtle oil paintings. With her gentle brushstrokes, Charlotte Klobassa precisely reconstructs relics of these encounters, blurring not only the boundaries between what is borrowed from others but also highlighting the constructiveness of the artist persona itself. Klobassa assumes various positions by mimicking both foreign and personal gestures, striving to depict imagined possibilities. "Rumours" is part of an oil painting triptych. The exaggerated scale and theatrical staging of forms, originally created unconsciously and incidentally, are playful expressions of an idea of pathos, gesture, and authenticity.
Stefan Zweig
Masterful storyteller
The second motif in the series "Literature from Austria" features Stefan Zweig, a prominent Austrian writer and intellectual of the first half of the 20th century.
Stefan Zweig was born on 28 November 1881, the son of a Jewish factory owner in Vienna. He studied philosophy, German literature, and Romance languages. Even during his school years, he wrote poetry, followed by numerous short stories, novellas, essays, monographs, plays, and an opera libretto. He also worked as a journalist for the Neue Freie Presse and as a translator. During World War I, he worked in the war archive. He travelled extensively throughout his life, including to British India, the USA, and South America. In 1934, Stefan Zweig emigrated to England and became a British citizen in 1940. Via New York, he travelled to Brazil, where he settled. As a convinced pacifist, he was appalled by the developments in Europe – plagued by depression, he and his wife took their own lives in February 1942.
"Decisive Moments in History" (1927), the novel "Beware of Pity" (1939), and "The Royal Game" (1942) are some of his most famous works, distinguished by his vivid narrative style. Influenced by Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis, Zweig was a master at portraying the human psyche. The quote featured on the stamp comes from the novella "Twenty-Four Hours in the Life of a Woman", which was published in 1927 as part of the collection "Confusion of Feelings."
DC Tower 1
Reaching for the sky
The impressive DC Tower 1 in Vienna's Donau City, Austria's tallest skyscraper, is this year's motif in the series "Modern architecture".
At 250 metres tall, DC Tower 1 is just two metres shorter than the country's tallest structure, the Danube Tower in the adjacent Donaupark. Spread across 60 floors and a gross floor area of around 93,600 square metres, the tower houses offices, seminar, event and hotel rooms, restaurants, and a fitness centre. The prestigious project was designed by French architect Dominique Perrault, and the official opening took place in February 2014. Photovoltaic systems and other sustainability measures helped the slender tower achieve certification as a "Green Building", and a pendulum inside the building acts as a tuned mass damper in windy conditions. The distinctive wavy structure on one side of the black glass facade is intended to resemble a fractured monolith and also connect to the nearby Danube.
DC Tower 2, intended as a visual counterpart to the imposing DC Tower 1, is currently being constructed in a revised design. The DC Tower 3, completed in 2022, is used as a student residence. The three towers are meant to form a striking entrance to Donau City, which was developed in the 1990s as a "second city centre" for Vienna. The modern district on the eastern bank of the Danube is intended to provide a contrast to the historic city centre.
When?
17 July 2024, 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., presentation at 10:00 a.m.
Where?
Federation of Austrian Philately Associations, Getreidemarkt 1, 1060 Vienna
Group pictures: Bild 1
Picture of presentation: © Ö. Post AG
Group picture, left to right:
Helmut Kogler (President, Federation of Austrian Philately Associations), Susanna Hiegesberger (stamp archive curator, Austrian Post), Kirsten Lubach (stamp artist), Charlotte Klobassa (artist)
