Sending Greetings

"A P.F. is a special wish, drawn by an artist for his friends or on commission for the friends of others, which they will receive as a small original souvenir; and since they are artists, the subject can be whimsical, sometimes bizarre, not always respectful of saints, indeed a little irreverent, winks at you with irony or takes you to the magical world of childhood... It can also be serious, of course, in this case it will cause you to meditate... P.F.: read it as you like it. Per Festeggiare in Italian, Pro Festivitate or Pro Fausto if you're a Latin nostalgic..., Pour Féliciter, with the chic sound of the French language. The meaning is always the same: remember me as I remember you, and don't forget a pinch of art and poetry among the ingredients that give taste to life". [L. Pecorella Vergnano, Un augurio speciale, in P.F. un augurio speciale, Fondazione Italo Zetti, dicembre 2006]

When did the habit of greeting cards for Christmas or New Year become popular? As early as 1790, in Germany were imprinted cards with phrases of circumstance, but the actual origin of the greeting cards dates back to 1846, when the English artist J.C. Horsley produced a lithographed paper in 100 copies for his friend Henry Cole: the image on the card portrayed a family during a festive dinner, framed, on both sides, as a representation of mercy and charity.

Some English print houses specialized soon in the use of these cards and, within a few decades, the use of sending messages spread by means of artistic cards, on the occasion of Christmas holidays, Easter and early holidays: a new fashion that involved both well-known artists, on specific commission, and "simple" typographers, who reproduced in a serial way holy cards, flower frames or winter landscapes with children playing in the snow. In both cases, however, there was no lack of inserts, lace and technical experiments, so much so that the commercial cards soon took over the artistic ones, appreciated and then reproduced throughout Europe.

In Italy and in the countries where the Christian tradition is strongest, the P.F.s often represent scenes from the Nativity or the Three Wise Men on their way to go and honor one God all together, in peace.

In any case, there are also representations of Christmas as a time of the year when families get together in celebration, decorate the house, children receive the much desired toys while, outside, the snow covers the whole landscape with its immaculate cover.

Among the themes that recur in the first decades of the Twentieth Century, we find the representation of war scenes and the wish that peace can soon be reached and kept for as long as possible. For instance, some ex-libris from Gianni  Mantero (1897 - 1985) collection. During the war, Mantero was an engineer engaged on many fronts and in particular in the realization of the welfare state, such as marine and alpine colonies, the Mother and Child's House and the Balilla House in Como. He participated in the Second World War as Captain of the bridgeworker of the Mantova autotransport division, stationed on the Cyrenaic front. During the years of reconstruction, he designed workers' quarters in some municipalities in the province of Como. From the mid-1960s, however, the Mantero's exclusive activity became the collecting of engravings and art ex libris: an interest he had begun to cultivate in his youth and had consolidated in 1937, when he met M. Fingesten, one of the most appreciated engraving artists in the international field.

Alongside the production of cards with a Christmas theme, there is the use of cards dedicated to generic "Happy Holidays" or "Happy New Year" greetings, whose themes range from a bouquet of flowers to the to the celebration of a particular anniversary, to the glimpse of a city. Anyway there are always two fundamental elements: the name of the person who wishes and the year for which peace, health and serenity are hoped for.

Anniversaries related to the world of literature, art or music are often the "pretext" for iconographically very detailed executions, where in a small space elements are condensed to allow an immediate identification of the celebrated character.

We have almost reached the end of this very short selection of P.F. and we could only conclude with these cards dedicated to the views of Milan made on original woodcuts by Gian Luigi Uboldi for Liliana and Sergio Guidi. Uboldi  (1915-2005) was a particularly prolific Milanese artist: painter, engraver of woodcuts, many of which have a sacred subject, etchings, lithographs, ex libris and P.F. If you retrace our exhibition again, you will find other works of his along the way, all characterized by the clear and confident line of the woodcut engraver. Sergio Guidi (Milan 1914-2009), on the other hand, was a manager of an important pharmaceutical company, but above all a passionate lover of exlibris, a refined collector of these works, as well as curator of exhibitions and events, and also collaborated with the Sormani Municipal Library.