There is a type of flamenco-inspired embroidered postcard that dates back to the 1940s and 1950s, and they were very trendy in Spain at the time. Due to their popularity, many people believe that this was a Spanish invention. However, the history of old embroidered postcards goes back a long way. Let’s go back a few decades…
Embroidered silk postcards in the First World War
Although there are records of them almost a decade earlier, embroidered silk postcards did not become popular until the early 20th century. They consisted of a piece of silk, embroidered with coloured threads and various motifs. This fabric was then glued to a blank cardboard base and to complete the composition and close the edges, an embossed paper frame was added.
Production peaked during the war of 1914-18, as the format proved to be very popular with the Allied officers and soldiers stationed in France. Many combatants, especially the British and Canadians, sent them massively to their loved ones back home.
The designs were very elaborate, usually with military, patriotic or sentimental themes. Flags, insignia and important dates abounded, but there were also more dreamlike illustrations, with flowers, butterflies, birds, ribbons and rainbows. The bright colours of the threads and the imposing composition helped to distract from the pain of war. Soldiers could use them to send hope to their loved ones.
After the First World War, the popularity of these cards was revived in 1939-40, when they were again sent home by those fighting in the Second World War. These later units tend to have duller colours and a ‘wavy’ border. It is thought that more than 10 million of these cards were produced and sent out all over the world by the 1950s.
Embroidered cards in Spain
The embroidery fever also reached Spain, but a little later than the rest of the continent and with important differences. First and foremost, the country remained neutral during the two world wars. As a result, the military theme was completely replaced by images of the everyday reality of the region’s population. The embroideries show the local costumes of each region, characters such as bullfighters, flamenco dancers, religious figures…
Another important difference is that most embroidered cards in Spain were not made on silk fabric, but on a cardboard base that had been printed with an illustration. Instead of creating a design with threads, the embroideries completed a printed design, mixing two types of textures. Over the years, pieces of fabric were added to the embroidery to create striking three-dimensional effects, as in the case of the flamenco dancers. All this meant that embroidered postcards became very popular here too, and remained so until almost the end of the 20th century.
One of the names that has always been associated with these cards in Spain is that of the artist Elsi Gumier, who was not only a pianist and actress but also a highly skilled illustrator. She worked in the film industry as a musical performer and animator and was a pioneer of animated films in the country. After the Civil War, Elsi devoted herself to illustrating postcards of typical costumes and to giving occasional piano recitals in Cuenca, her home town. She began to collaborate with large publishing houses such as Postales Alcalá and Heliotipa Artística Española, which distributed the cards throughout the country. Other artists were Isabel Iraola and María Rosa Bendala.
Embroidered postcards today
In contrast to the rest of Europe, where their popularity declined after the Second World War, embroidered postcards remained in vogue in Spain until the 1980s or so.
The early post-war years in Spain were marked by a precarious economic situation, repression and international isolation. The Franco dictatorship tried to clean up its image by using flamenco as a symbol of national identity and the basis of the regime’s entertainment industry. Perhaps for this reason, the detailed drawings of regionalist costumes on the cards were gradually replaced by colourful photographs of dancers in tablaos.
In any case, the move paid off and reproductions of these postcards are still sold as kitsch souvenirs in every corner of the country and internationally, evoking a decadent nostalgia mixed with a somewhat murky past… You’ve probably seen one of these in a souvenir shop, haven’t you? And the fact is that, for better or worse, a flamenco dancer stamped on a postcard is the most recognisable and clichéd icon in the world’s collective imagination of Spain.
