Antique & Vintage Postcards

A blazing orange sky bisected by electric blue cloud-forms floats above a luminous green earth-plane anchored by a spiraling target motif with a golden center — Friedensreich Hundertwasser's Little Palace of Illness (Kleiner Palast der Krankheit / Chisana shiro no bi no byoin), catalogue number 487A, dated 1970, reproduced as a sumptuous large-format art card by Gruener Janura AG of Glarus, Switzerland in 1981, with gilt corner accents on heavy stock. The work's Japanese title — visible in vertical script along the left edge of the composition — reflects Hundertwasser's deep engagement with Japanese art and culture, and the painting incorporates his characteristic Chinese/Japanese seal stamps alongside Western figuration. The detail image (_02) reveals the inscription in the lower right of the image area: 1/200 (487A) Hundertwasser Regentag 1970 — "Regentag" (Rainy Day) being one of Hundertwasser's adopted pseudonyms, alongside two red Japanese-style seals. This inscription is part of the printed reproduction, not a hand-applied signature. The Gruener Janura art card series brought Hundertwasser's paintings to a global audience; this example, unused and bright with sharp gilt corners, is among the more desirable cards in the series.