Preissig, Vojtěch, artist, and Československá Armáda v Rusku [The Czechoslovak Army in Russia].

[CZECHOSLOVAK LEGION PUBLISHING IN SIBERIA] "V srdci zpěv, v ruce zbraň, vlasť svou proti vrahům chraň!" [A song in your heart, a weapon in your hand, protect your homeland against murderers]. Lithographed postcard printed by Czechoslovak Legion troops in Siberia.; Knihovna Československého Denníku, sv. 17 [Library of the Czechoslovak Daily, vol. 17].

[Irkutsk or Vladivostok?]: Litografie Inf.-osv. odboru čsl. vojska na Rusi, [1919 or 1920?]. Postcard (14.3 × 9.5 cm) with chromolithograph illustration (signed "P") and text "Dopisnice/Pochtovaia kartochka" in Czech and Russian. Unused; very light crease to corner; else very good. Item #55202

Lithographed postcard by Vojtěch Preissig (1873–1944), issued by Czechoslovak Legion soldiers who fought alongside the White Army in Siberia after WWI and controlled large stretches of the Transsiberian Railroad from 1918–19. By 1919, the Legion soldiers retreated further eastward alongside Kolchak’s army, while transporting the bulk of the Imperial gold reserves for the Whites. In 1920, the Czechoslovak Legion was gradually evacuated by ship from Vladivostok and over 60.000 soldiers returned to the Czechoslovak Republic. Despite the precarious conditions, the Legion issued a daily newspaper using a printing press on board the train, as well as numerous brochures, books, as well as handwritten lithographed bulletins printed in small print runs. During longer stops, such as during their time in Vladivostok, a printer’s shop was set up outside the train and the operations significantly expanded.

Preissig was an important Secessionist painter, graphic, artist, and book designer, who worked with Alfons Mucha, among others. In the 1910s, he taught art in the United States, at the Art Students’ League and Columbia University, as well in Boston. While still abroad, Preissig met future Czechoslovak president T. G. Masaryk and became involved in the independence movement, which he supported graphically by designing posters and postcards. He returned to Prague in 1931, establishing himself not only as a leading typographer and book designer, but also as a pioneering abstract artist. Following the German Occupation of Czechoslovakia, Preissig became involved in the resistance, editing and designing an illegal journal. He was arrested and died at Dachau in 1944.

Price: €150.00

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