When I first signed a postcard to Deanne (Westland, MI, USA), I didn't know that we will have such interesting correspondence. She sends me real pearls! Two cards related to my beloved Frida in January and now these incredible three artworks:

Marc Chagall
The Glowing Bouquet, 1972. Oil on canvas.
Deanne's favorite painter.

Wiki says:
Marc Chagall (1887-1985), was a Jewish Russian French artist, associated with several major artistic styles and one of the most successful artists of the 20th century. He was an early modernist, and created works in virtually every artistic medium, including painting, book illustrations, stained glass, stage sets, ceramic, tapestries and fine art prints.
Art critic Robert Hughes referred to Chagall as "the quintessential Jewish artist of the twentieth century."
Before World War I, he traveled between St. Petersburg, Paris, and Berlin. During this period he created his own mixture and style of modern art based on his idea of Eastern European Jewish folk culture. He spent the wartime years in Russia, becoming one of the country's most distinguished artists and a member of the modernist avante-garde, initiating the Vitebsk Arts College before leaving again for Paris during 1922.

Norman Rockwell
Who Is Having More Fun?, 1939.
Advertisement for Green Giant canned corn.

Wiki says:
Norman Percevel Rockwell (1894-1978) was a 20th-century American painter and illustrator. His works enjoy a broad popular appeal in the United States, where Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations of everyday life scenarios he created for The Saturday Evening Post magazine for more than four decades. Among the best-known of Rockwell's works are the Willie Gillis series, Rosie the Riveter (although his Rosie was reproduced less than others of the day), Saying Grace (1951), and the Four Freedoms series. He is also noted for his work for the Boy Scouts of America (BSA); producing covers for their publication Boys' Life, calendars, and other illustrations.

Maurice Sterne
Entrance of the Ballet, 1904. Oil on canvas.

Wiki says:
Maurice Sterne (1877/78 - 1957) was an American sculptor and painter remembered today for his association with philanthropist Mabel Dodge Luhan. He began his career as a draftsman and painter, and critics noted the similarity of his work, in its volume and weight, to sculpture. A trip to Greece in 1908 introduced him to archaic Greek statues, inspiring him to experiment with the form himself in stone. He also traveled to Bali to paint and sketch, which further informed his later work. He was one of a dozen sculptors invited to compete in the Pioneer Woman statue competition in 1927, which he failed to win.
Sterne died in 1957.

I was really pleasantly surprised when I opened the envelope from Nina. Five (!) incredible cards with Frida! Thank you my dear Nina, you made me happy :)

Self-portrait Wearing a Velvet Dress, 1926.

Self-portrait with Necklace, 1933.

Frida, c.1943. Photo: Courtesy Guillermo Monroy.

Frida in a white dress.

The Suicide of Dorothy Hale, 1939.

Wiki says:
Dorothy Hale (1905-1938) was an American socialite and aspiring actress who committed suicide by jumping off a building in New York City. Hale was considered a remarkably beautiful woman with less remarkable talents who was introduced to high-society and luxury living. Her husband's death, followed by several unsuccessful relationships, left her financially dependent on her wealthy friends. Artist Frida Kahlo created a famous painting based on the incident titled The Suicide of Dorothy Hale.

Today I received a letter from Felice and it simply fascinated me. It is imbued with the romance and special charm.

"My burning passion
And my deep desire
Like a slow waltz
Will make us dizzy"

A reproduction of the vintage postcard.

Five amazing stamps!!!

This postcard from Daniel depicts two span-, 280 ft. long Dummerston Bridge, built by Celeb B. Lamson in 1872. It is Vermont's longest covered bridge and historically one of the most important of its in United States. This bridge carries East-West Road over the West River.

The card from California Wine Country sent by Julie. July loves Lady Earl Grey tea and the smell of freshly rained on pavement.

Wiki says:
The Wine Country is a region of Northern California in the United States known worldwide as a premium wine-growing region. Viticulture and wine-making have been practiced in the region since the mid-19th century. There are over 400 wineries in the area north of San Francisco, mostly located in the area's valleys, including Napa Valley in Napa County, and the Sonoma Valley, Alexander Valley, Dry Creek Valley, Bennett Valley, and Russian River Valley in Sonoma County. Wine grapes are also grown at higher elevations, such as Atlas Peak and Mount Veeder AVAs. The region is defined not only in terms of viticulture, but also its ecology, geology, architecture, cuisine, and culture. The majority of the grape harvest, in terms of both area and value, derives from Sonoma County.

Please adopt a shelter pet!

I'm starting to jump, when I find in my mailbox an envelope from Felice. She always writes me inspirational letters, not to mention the cards that she sends.

Frida in a white dress. One of my favorite photos of her. Bought in Kansas City.

Hat, Paris 1952. A photograph by Fred Brommet.

Gorgeous card showing Sant Antoni marketplace in Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain) in 1915.

Wiki says:
Sant Antoni is a neighborhood in the Eixample district of Barcelona, Catalonia (Spain). Its non-official centre, the marketplace of the same name, designed by Antoni Rovira i Trias and built between 1872 and 1882, is one of the oldest and most popular in the city, with second-hand book stalls on Sunday mornings. I
The streets of Sant Antoni follow the grid pattern prevalent in all of Eixample, except for a central throughfare, Avinguda de Mistral, built on the site of an important medieval road which lead out of Barcelona. Another well-known landmark of Sant Antoni is the bar called Els Tres Tombs, right next to the market.

History
Although its origins are tied to the (no longer in place) Saint Anthony church of Raval, the urbanisation of the neighbourhood dates from the 1880s onwards: very few houses stood around the market when it was built, and most buildings visible nowadays in Sant Antoni date of the 1920s and 1930s, when major urban changes occurred in the city on the occasion of the 1929 International Exposition. A working class area during most of the 20th century, it has undergone important changes in the last decades.
As of 2009, the Mercat de Sant Antoni is currently being refurbished, and a temporary market site along Ronda de Sant Antoni has been set in the middle of the road. In the meantime, this major road has become pedestrianised.

On the stamps: * Julia de Burgos - a poet from Puerto Rico, who is considered as one of the greatest poets of Latin America. * Katharine Hepburn - an American actress of film, stage, and television. 

A vintage postcard sent by Jacqueline, a writer and photographer, now living in rural Pennsylvania (USA). 

Amazing vintage royal postcard from Micaela. Adore it!

One more AMAZING card from Nina. "Afghan Girl" was a postcard I dreamed about for a long time. And Nina made my dream come true! Thank you so so much!

Wiki says:
Sharbat Gula (born ca. 1972) is an Afghan woman who was the subject of a famous photograph by journalist Steve McCurry. Gula was living as a refugee in Pakistan, during the time of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan when she was photographed.
The image brought her recognition when it was featured on the cover of the June 1985 issue of National Geographic Magazine, at a time when she was approximately 12 years old. Gula was known throughout the world simply as the Afghan Girl until she was formally identified in early 2002. Some view her as an Afghan Mona Lisa.
The identity of the Afghan Girl remained unknown for over 17 years; Afghanistan remained largely closed to Western media until after the removal of the Taliban government by American troops and local allies in 2001. Although McCurry made several attempts during the 1990s to locate her, he was unsuccessful.
In January 2002, a National Geographic team traveled to Afghanistan to locate the subject of the now-famous photograph. McCurry, upon learning that the Nasir Bagh refugee camp was soon to close, inquired of its remaining residents, one of whom knew Gula's brother and was able to send word to her hometown. However, there were a number of women who came forward and identified themselves erroneously as the famous Afghan Girl. In addition, after being shown the 1985 photo, a handful of young men falsely claimed Gula as their wife.
The team finally located Gula, then around the age of 30, in a remote region of Afghanistan; she had returned to her native country from the refugee camp in 1992. Her identity was confirmed using biometric technology, which matched her iris patterns to those of the photograph with almost full certainty. She vividly recalled being photographed - she had been photographed on only three occasions: in 1984 and during the search for her when a National Geographic producer took the identifying pictures that led to the reunion with Steve McCurry. She had never seen her famous portrait before it was shown to her in January 2003.
More recent pictures of her were featured as part of a cover story on her life in the April 2002 issue of National Geographic and she was the subject of a television documentary, entitled Search for the Afghan Girl, which aired in March 2002. In recognition of her, National Geographic set up the Afghan Girls Fund, a charitable organization with the goal of educating Afghan girls and young women. In 2008, the scope of the fund was broadened to include boys and the name was changed to Afghan Children's Fund.

Interesting fact:
* Gula's photograph was taken on Kodachrome color slide film, with Nikon FM2 camera and Nikkor 105mm F2.5 lens.

Adore these stamps!

Frida Kahlo’s "Fulang-Chang and I" (1937). Fulang-Chang was one of several spider monkeys that Frida kept as pets. The pet monkeys that frequently appear in her paintings are often interpreted as surrogates for the children she and her husband, the artist Diego Rivera, were unable to conceive. This postcard came from Nina, who always knows what card will make me happy. Thank you!

An amazing bronze sculpture of a lifelike cattle drive, sculpted by Texan Robert Summers, graces this 4.2-acre plaza in front of City Hall and the Convention Center (Dallas, Texas, USA). Sent by Bradley.

Hank Ketcham's Dennis the Menace:) 

Amazing postcard sent by Barrett from Richmond (Virginia, USA). "Gee!! I Wish I Were a Man. I'd Join The NAVY":) World War I poster by Howard Chandler Christy. 

Postcard with the view of Carolina Coast "where the sunrise reflects off the beautiful waters of the golden coast". Sent by "Lady Wolf" from Wilmington (North Carolina, USA).

Nina from Narberth (PA, USA) sent me this postcard with Frida Kahlo's self-portrait "The Broken Column" (1944). "The Column itself shows one of the sources of her pain, the nails in her body show in a physical way the pain she was enduring, and the tears in Frida's eyes show that her pain was excruciating". (c)

Mysterious and charming Marilyn Monroe from Julie (Jacksonville, Florida). Adore it!

Today I found in my mailbox a real treasure. Felice from Chicago (USA) sent me an amazing postcard of Frida Kahlo and an envelope with two cards of Diego Rivera murals!
Thank you Felice ^_^
Especially for such a heartfelt letter you wrote.

My beloved Frida Kahlo in 1924, Mexico (age 16).

Diego Rivera's fresco Detroit Industry or Man and Machine (1932-1933, front wall). The Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan).

Diego Rivera's fresco Commercial Chemical (1932-1933, south wall).
The Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan).

The postcard from Lisa. She is living in Boston (Massachusetts, USA) and dreaming about a trip around the world.

My first card with "The Beatles" and the second one from Nina (Narberth, Pennsylvania, USA). Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da! 

Amazing Gary Cooper stamp.

Silver coffeepots.

"The Baleful Head", c.1876 by Sir Edward Burne-Jones. This postcard came from Monique. She is from Bowling Green (Kentucky, USA), loves candy, indie-folk & "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy".

Wiki says:
Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet (28 August 1833 – 17 June 1898) was a British artist and designer closely associated with the later phase of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, who worked closely with William Morris on a wide range of decorative arts as a founding partner in Morris, Marshall, Faulkner, and Company. Burne-Jones was closely involved in the rejuvenation of the tradition of stained glass art in England; his stained glass works include the windows of St. Philip's Cathedral, Birmingham, St Martin's Church in Brampton, Cumbria, the church designed by Philip Webb, All Saints, Jesus Lane, Cambridge and in Christ Church, Oxford.
Burne-Jones's early paintings show the heavy inspiration of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, but by the 1860s Burne-Jones was discovering his own artistic "voice". In 1877, he was persuaded to show eight oil paintings at the Grosvenor Gallery (a new rival to the Royal Academy). These included The Beguiling of Merlin. The timing was right, and he was taken up as a herald and star of the new Aesthetic Movement.
In addition to painting and stained glass, Burne-Jones worked in a variety of crafts; including designing ceramic tiles, jewellery, tapestries, mosaics and book illustration, most famously designing woodcuts for the Kelmscott Press's Chaucer in 1896.

The magnificent Audrey Hepburn went window shopping :) This is the scene from "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (1961) one of my beloved films. Nina from Narberth (Pennsylvania, USA) send it to me and I'm oh so happy! 

Wiki says:
"Breakfast at Tiffany's" is a 1961 romantic comedy film starring Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard, and featuring Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen, Martin Balsam, and Mickey Rooney. The film was directed by Blake Edwards and released by Paramount Pictures. It was loosely based on the novella of the same name by Truman Capote.
Hepburn's portrayal of Holly Golightly as the naïve, eccentric woman is generally considered to be the actress's most memorable and identifiable role. She herself regarded it as one of her most challenging roles, since she was an introvert required to play an extrovert. Hepburn's performance of "Moon River" helped composer Henry Mancini and lyricist Johnny Mercer win an Oscar for Best Song.

Interesting facts:
* Hepburn as Holly, carrying an oversized cigarette holder, is considered one of the most iconic images of 20th century American cinema.

* One of three dresses designed by Givenchy for Hepburn for possible use in the film sold at auction by Christie's on December 5, 2006 for £467,200, about seven times the reserve price.