On August 4, four postage stamps dedicated to stained-glass artwork were put into postal circulation in the Decorative and Applied Arts of Russia series

  

 

Stained-glass artwork is a form of artistic expression that combines history, complex manufacturing techniques, and architectural elements.

In Russia, the art of stained glass originated in the first quarter of the 19th century; painted glass elements appeared occasionally in garden and park structures styled after Gothic architecture of Western Europe, or in rural palaces.

Stained glass was gradually gaining popularity, and the windows of palaces and mansions were decorated with it with increasing frequency, reflecting the status of the homeowners and the antiquity of their lineage.

By the early 1900s, the art of stained glass had reached its peak in Russia, and St. Petersburg had become its capital. Multicolored windows were no longer a luxury, and their use in buildings became widespread. Mansions, churches, hospitals, schools, stores, restaurants, theaters, and even bathhouses were decorated with glass mosaics.

Landscape, narrative, and ornamental stained-glass designs became widespread. The main theme for the artists was the imitation of natural forms in all their diversity: flowers, plant branches, stems intertwined in complex patterns, as well as orderly arranged motifs and compositions featuring flowing, gently curving lines. Alongside these, there were other styles: geometric compositions, variations on the theme of the Gothic pointed arch, stylized depictions of coats of arms, and landscape compositions. Paintings of biblical scenes imparted a national flavor and distinctiveness to the glass.

In 1917, the history of this art form in Russia came to a halt. It was not until the 1930s that interest in polychrome translucent compositions reignited in Soviet architecture; new themes and subjects emerged, and new materials and artists began to appear. It was during this time that the term stained-glass artist first came into use. Works from the Soviet era served not only as decorative elements and a source of diversity in the architectural environment but also as a tool for reflecting state ideology.

Today, the art of stained glass continues to evolve, blending historical traditions with modern technologies, materials, and design approaches.

The postage stamps feature the following stained-glass artworks:
– the mansion of B. Svyatopolk-Chetvertinsky (1887, Moscow);
– the Kul Sharif Mosque (2005, Kazan);
– the mansion of merchant A. Markov (1905, Nizhny Novgorod); and
– the building of the Rossiya Insurance Company (1905–1907, St. Petersburg).

In addition to the issue of the postage stamps, JSC Marka produced First Day Covers and special cancels for Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan, and Nizhny Novgorod, as well as maxi-cards and a souvenir set in an illustrated cover with the postage stamps of the 2-nd emission type inside.


Design Artist: N. Karpova.
Face value: 60 rubles.
Stamp sizes: 26×58, 50×50, 50×37 mm, sheet sizes: 124×141, 170×130, 170×140 mm.
Emission form: sheets with formatted margins with 6 (3×2), 8 (4×2), 9 (3×3) stamps (the 1-st emission type); sheets with formatted margins with strips with 3 (3×1) и 4 (2×2) stamps (the 2-nd emission type).
Quantity: 72 thousand each stamp – sheets with 6 and 8 stamps; 76.5 thousand - a sheet with 9 stamps (12 thousand, 9 thousand, 8.5 thousand each sheet) (the 1-st emission type); 12.28, 9.21 thousand each stamp (3.07 each sheet) (the 2-nd emission type).

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