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Love on Postcards


By Birgitte Agersnap

In 1871 the postcard was introduced in Denmark. It was hopelessly unsuitable for solemn love letters. Nevertheless, within a few decades, it became the preferred media of love.


In Short
Maybe it was just the open form that appealed to lovers, because words are not the crux of the love post cards. On the contrary, the message was normally carried solely by the motif on the postcard. Although it was visible to everybody, it could be loaded with sympathetic understandings and create intimacy between the lovers. The criticism of the postcards for only being able to forward the "naked message" was put to shame by the innovative lovers. And the many daily postal deliveries at that time almost gave the postcard the nature of the SMS messages of our days.

Intimate Glances
It was widespread among people in love to send portraits to each other. Not self-portraits, but something of the sort. The girl would send beautiful portraits of female music-hall stars and the man would send male portraits to her: Attractive carriers of the unspoken message. The communication form which emerged with the postcard among lovers became a new language of love; a language of glances rather than words. However, small hand-written compliments are often seen on the pictures. They could emphasize that the fascinating look of the actress was not a neutral choice of motif. Often initials or small codes were enough to suggest the connection between picture and recipient.

Series of Love
In the early 20th century it became popular to send series of postcards to each other. It was typically a series of six postcards which by means of photos or drawings were showing a sequence of situations which all together formed a story – usually with piquant and erotic undertones. Normally the story is about a bold man making advances to a demure girl. She is not easily seduced – at least not until the last postcard featuring some innocent kissing or an affectionate, but cautious embrace.

The motifs of the cards were suitable for expressing the feelings which one dared not or could not express in any other way due to the social norms of the time. Moreover, the series served to emphasize the desire to build up a sincere love affair.


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