This week, I take you to a wonderful online museum called Memory of the Netherlands, where I discovered a collection called “150 Years of Design for the Dutch Postal Service.” Thinking I would find an archive only of printed stamps, I discovered something far more interesting — the preliminary sketches, production notes and overlays that tell a far different story. For me, some of these examples slip away from their hard realities and take on the momentary context of fine art collage and drawing.
The Memory of the Netherlands is an image library making available the online collections of museums, archives and libraries. The library provides access to images from the collections of more than one hundred institutions and includes photographs, sculptures, paintings, bronzes, pottery, modern art, drawings, stamps, posters and newspaper clippings. In addition there are also video and sound recordings to see and listen to. The Memory of the Netherlands offers an historic overview of images from exceptional collections, organized by subject to provide easy access.
![A Philatelist’s Dream](/media/images/06.02.13.01_525.jpg)
Designer: Dirk van Gelder, 1951
![A Philatelist’s Dream](/media/images/06.02.13.02_525.jpg)
Designer: Gerrit Noordzij, 1974
![A Philatelist’s Dream](/media/images/06.02.13.03_525.jpg)
Designer: Walter Nikkels, 1977
![A Philatelist’s Dream](/media/images/06.02.13.04_525.jpg)
Designer: Kees Kelfkens, 1985
![A Philatelist’s Dream](/media/images/06.02.13.05_525.jpg)
Designer: Kees Nieuwenhuijzen, 1986
![A Philatelist’s Dream](/media/images/06.02.13.06_525.jpg)
Designer: Auke de Vries, 1967
![A Philatelist’s Dream](/media/images/06.02.13.07_525.jpg)
Designer: Paul Roelof Citroen, 1949
![A Philatelist’s Dream](/media/images/06.02.13.08_525.jpg)
Designer: Paul Roelof Citroen, 1949
![A Philatelist’s Dream](/media/images/06.02.13.09_525.jpg)
Designer: René Put, 2008
![A Philatelist’s Dream](/media/images/06.02.13.10_525.jpg)
Designer: Cobbenhagen en Hendriksen, 2007
![A Philatelist’s Dream](/media/images/06.02.13.11_525.jpg)
Designer: Experimental Jetset, 2000
![A Philatelist’s Dream](/media/images/06.02.13.12_525.jpg)
Designer: Tessa van der Waals, 1988
![A Philatelist’s Dream](/media/images/06.02.13.13_525.jpg)
Designer: Willem van Zoetendaal, 1992
![A Philatelist’s Dream](/media/images/06.02.13.14_525.jpg)
Designer: Catherine van der Eerden, 1998
![A Philatelist’s Dream](/media/images/06.02.13.15_525.jpg)
Designer: Rineke Dijkstra, 1996
![A Philatelist’s Dream](/media/images/06.02.13.16_525.jpg)
Designer: Gielijn Escher, 1996
![A Philatelist’s Dream](/media/images/06.02.13.17_525.jpg)
Designer: Montse Hernandez Sala, 1993
![A Philatelist’s Dream](/media/images/06.02.13.18_525.jpg)
Designer: Arthur Meyer, 1994
![A Philatelist’s Dream](/media/images/06.02.13.19_525.jpg)
Designer: Harry Nico Sierman, 1995
![A Philatelist’s Dream](/media/images/06.02.13.20_525.jpg)
Designer: Irma Boom, 1992
![A Philatelist’s Dream](/media/images/06.02.13.21_525.jpg)
Designer: Tessa van der Waals, 1993
![A Philatelist’s Dream](/media/images/06.02.13.22_525.jpg)
Designer: Total Design, 1982
![A Philatelist’s Dream](/media/images/06.02.13.23_525.jpg)
Designer: Gerrit Noordzji, 1964; Illustrator: Mien van den Beucken