Pour Féliciter
History, Tradition, and the Art
of the Little Card.
of the Little Card.
From Diplomacy to Art
Pavel Osipau
Within European culture there exists a distinct tradition that fuses artistry, friendly warmth, and festive symbolism: the New Year’s greeting postcards marked with “PF.” These small cards were exchanged as tokens of respect and goodwill.
The abbreviation “PF” comes from the French Pour Féliciter – “For Felicitations.” In the 19th century, when French was the language of diplomacy, culture, and refined style, these succinct letters began to appear on New Year and Christmas cards across Bohemia, Austria, Hungary and other parts of Central Europe. Over time, “PF” evolved into a standalone symbol – a brief sign of heartfelt wishes, understood without need for translation.
Originally, PF-cards belonged to the realm of aristocracy and high society. Diplomats, industrialists, bankers, cultural figures used them to convey respect to partners and to emphasize refined taste. Often, such cards were entrusted to artists, graphic designers or even well-known architects, transforming the miniature format into true works of art.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, postcard publishing flourished. In Prague, Vienna, Budapest and beyond, studios specialized in festive cards, embellishing them with elegant Art Nouveau ornamentation, fine lithography, and carefully composed layouts – turning a tiny envelope into a visual object of beauty.
As time passed, PF postcards ceased to be an exclusive privilege of the elite. Sending a celebratory card became a kind, almost domestic tradition – akin to our modern SMS greetings, yet imbued with warmth, attention to detail and an artistic sensibility felt in every stroke and motif.
The abbreviation “PF” comes from the French Pour Féliciter – “For Felicitations.” In the 19th century, when French was the language of diplomacy, culture, and refined style, these succinct letters began to appear on New Year and Christmas cards across Bohemia, Austria, Hungary and other parts of Central Europe. Over time, “PF” evolved into a standalone symbol – a brief sign of heartfelt wishes, understood without need for translation.
Originally, PF-cards belonged to the realm of aristocracy and high society. Diplomats, industrialists, bankers, cultural figures used them to convey respect to partners and to emphasize refined taste. Often, such cards were entrusted to artists, graphic designers or even well-known architects, transforming the miniature format into true works of art.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, postcard publishing flourished. In Prague, Vienna, Budapest and beyond, studios specialized in festive cards, embellishing them with elegant Art Nouveau ornamentation, fine lithography, and carefully composed layouts – turning a tiny envelope into a visual object of beauty.
As time passed, PF postcards ceased to be an exclusive privilege of the elite. Sending a celebratory card became a kind, almost domestic tradition – akin to our modern SMS greetings, yet imbued with warmth, attention to detail and an artistic sensibility felt in every stroke and motif.
A Mirror of the Ages
With the advent of photography, PF-cards took on new life. Already in the 1920s and 1930s in Czechoslovakia and Austria, greeting cards featuring photographic imagery began to appear. Intimate in mood, yet rich in artistic expression.
Photographers experimented boldly: some captured snow-blanketed city streets, others winter landscapes and holiday fairs, still others staged theatrical compositions with models in festive attire. The obligatory “PF” notation and the next year’s digits were incorporated organically into the image, becoming inseparable from its composition.
During the 1960s and 1970s, PF postcards became a field for design innovation. Graphic artists treated them as canvases upon which to express the spirit of the times – ranging from strict modernist geometry to lyrical graphics and abstraction.
Remarkably, PF-cards also reflected historical context. During World War I they sometimes bore martial imagery – soldiers, flags, heroes. In the interwar period, they radiated optimism and belief in progress: industrial motifs, steamships, airplanes, new power lines. In the postwar years, the mood shifted to a more intimate, lyrical tone – snow-laden villages, children by Christmas trees, family scenes, quiet winter harmony.
Each era left its imprint on PF. These cards became a kind of cultural diary, recording people’s hopes and anxieties, aesthetic tastes, and the spirit of their times. The PF postcard transformed from a mere greeting into a miniature artwork capable of conveying a whole history within its compressed frame.
Photographers experimented boldly: some captured snow-blanketed city streets, others winter landscapes and holiday fairs, still others staged theatrical compositions with models in festive attire. The obligatory “PF” notation and the next year’s digits were incorporated organically into the image, becoming inseparable from its composition.
During the 1960s and 1970s, PF postcards became a field for design innovation. Graphic artists treated them as canvases upon which to express the spirit of the times – ranging from strict modernist geometry to lyrical graphics and abstraction.
Remarkably, PF-cards also reflected historical context. During World War I they sometimes bore martial imagery – soldiers, flags, heroes. In the interwar period, they radiated optimism and belief in progress: industrial motifs, steamships, airplanes, new power lines. In the postwar years, the mood shifted to a more intimate, lyrical tone – snow-laden villages, children by Christmas trees, family scenes, quiet winter harmony.
Each era left its imprint on PF. These cards became a kind of cultural diary, recording people’s hopes and anxieties, aesthetic tastes, and the spirit of their times. The PF postcard transformed from a mere greeting into a miniature artwork capable of conveying a whole history within its compressed frame.
PF Today
The PF-postcard is no longer simply a relic of the past – today it represents a dynamic genre that merges photography, graphic design, personal style and creative expression. In the digital era the PF-format transcends private greeting cards and becomes a means of visual communication, artistic statement and self-expression.
Modern authors do not confine themselves to the standard postcard: they experiment with formats, combine techniques (photography + digital effects), and explore typography, texture and colour. For example, current trends show a heightened interest in personalization: designers incorporate calligraphy, bespoke fonts, unconventional layouts – turning the postcard into a miniature piece of design.
Today postcards are not just paper greetings. Electronic PF-works are gaining ever greater significance: digital catalogues, online exhibitions, virtual galleries. Even if a printed card exists, how it appears on screen – and how it is perceived in the digital realm is equally important. Many competitions now require both print and digital versions because the online audience is enormous and the PF-card lives simultaneously in both worlds.
The world is becoming more global, and PF-cards reflect this: themes, stories and visual motifs intermingle across cultures. Authors draw inspiration from simple daily scenes, winter landscapes, festive decorations, urban lights, quiet domestic moments. What matters is not a specific scene – but an emotion: warmth, anticipation, the moment when the outgoing year and the incoming year meet in a frame.
It is also notable that PF-cards are increasingly regarded as contemporary art objects. Collectors, galleries and cultural projects include them in exhibitions and albums. The work on such a card can demand as much time and attention as a conventional art piece: choosing the light, composing the shot, detailing the visual – all of it matters.
Finally, PF today is about looking inward: authors’ personal stories, individual symbols, unique visual solutions. It is no longer simply “snow and a tree”, but about the manner of presentation, about the character of the image, about you as the artist. The PF-postcard remains a gesture of attention, but rendered in a contemporary key – where every element has meaning and every format is part of a wider visual narrative.
Modern authors do not confine themselves to the standard postcard: they experiment with formats, combine techniques (photography + digital effects), and explore typography, texture and colour. For example, current trends show a heightened interest in personalization: designers incorporate calligraphy, bespoke fonts, unconventional layouts – turning the postcard into a miniature piece of design.
Today postcards are not just paper greetings. Electronic PF-works are gaining ever greater significance: digital catalogues, online exhibitions, virtual galleries. Even if a printed card exists, how it appears on screen – and how it is perceived in the digital realm is equally important. Many competitions now require both print and digital versions because the online audience is enormous and the PF-card lives simultaneously in both worlds.
The world is becoming more global, and PF-cards reflect this: themes, stories and visual motifs intermingle across cultures. Authors draw inspiration from simple daily scenes, winter landscapes, festive decorations, urban lights, quiet domestic moments. What matters is not a specific scene – but an emotion: warmth, anticipation, the moment when the outgoing year and the incoming year meet in a frame.
It is also notable that PF-cards are increasingly regarded as contemporary art objects. Collectors, galleries and cultural projects include them in exhibitions and albums. The work on such a card can demand as much time and attention as a conventional art piece: choosing the light, composing the shot, detailing the visual – all of it matters.
Finally, PF today is about looking inward: authors’ personal stories, individual symbols, unique visual solutions. It is no longer simply “snow and a tree”, but about the manner of presentation, about the character of the image, about you as the artist. The PF-postcard remains a gesture of attention, but rendered in a contemporary key – where every element has meaning and every format is part of a wider visual narrative.
PF-Postcard
Belarusian Collection.
The Belarusian PF-Postcard
Belarus has a rich and in many ways distinctive history within the genre of the greeting postcard. As early as the late 19th and early 20th centuries, printing houses in Minsk, Vilnius and Hrodna were already producing festive cards for Christmas and the New Year. These cards depicted winter landscapes with Belarusian forests, snow-covered city streets, angels, traditional Christmas trees and ornaments characteristic of local decorative art. Although the French abbreviation “PF” (Pour Féliciter) appeared only occasionally, the very idea of an artistic greeting – a visual message carrying good wishes – gradually became an established part of the country’s cultural life.
This tradition developed further during the Soviet period. While the PF designation practically disappeared, the postcard itself became an integral part of mass culture. New Year series were printed in millions of copies and circulated throughout the entire country. Belarusian artists and photographers infused them with national motifs – rural fairs, winter markets, folklore characters, family celebrations. These postcards served not only a decorative purpose but also a symbolic one: they created a sense of community and celebration, becoming a kind of visual language of the era.
From the late 1950s onward, numerous publishing houses and art workshops in Minsk specialized in festive imagery, helping Belarus form its own cultural tradition within the postcard genre.
After the 1990s, the situation changed. The opening of borders and renewed cultural dialogue with Europe brought the PF symbolism back to Belarus. Many artists once again began creating small cards bearing the letters “PF”, often by hand or using photographic techniques. These were intimate, highly personal works – miniature art objects that carried the imprint of the author’s individuality. The PF-postcard became both a means of artistic self-expression and a gesture of respect toward the European tradition. For photographers, it also became a school of craftsmanship: the ability to express a large idea within a small format, to encapsulate a complete visual world in a single card.
Today, the PF-postcard in Belarus is experiencing a new stage of development – as a distinct form of photographic art. The Belarusian Union of Photographers actively supports this practice through competitions, exhibitions and international collaborations. Since the 2000s, exhibitions dedicated to the PF-postcard have been regularly held in Minsk and other cities, with selected works published in catalogues that now form a visual chronicle of modern Belarusian culture. The international PF competition, initiated by Belarusian photographers, has become a platform where emerging talents meet established masters. These exhibitions have grown into significant cultural events, drawing large audiences and strengthening Belarus’s image as a country with a vivid artistic identity.
In Belarus, PF is more than a tribute to the past – it is a living form of cultural dialogue. Within these small cards, history, national symbolism and contemporary artistic exploration converge. Belarusian photographers aim to capture not only the festive mood but also the spirit of the times – social transformations, cultural expectations, personal hopes. Thus, the PF-postcard becomes a kind of social mirror: a concise yet profound document reflecting both the departing year and dreams of the future.
Today, as visual culture increasingly moves into the digital realm, the PF-postcard retains its unique value. It remains a tangible witness to human connection, a cultural code that bridges generations. For Belarus, PF is at once a tribute to tradition, an element of national identity, and a vital part of the contemporary artistic process.
This tradition developed further during the Soviet period. While the PF designation practically disappeared, the postcard itself became an integral part of mass culture. New Year series were printed in millions of copies and circulated throughout the entire country. Belarusian artists and photographers infused them with national motifs – rural fairs, winter markets, folklore characters, family celebrations. These postcards served not only a decorative purpose but also a symbolic one: they created a sense of community and celebration, becoming a kind of visual language of the era.
From the late 1950s onward, numerous publishing houses and art workshops in Minsk specialized in festive imagery, helping Belarus form its own cultural tradition within the postcard genre.
After the 1990s, the situation changed. The opening of borders and renewed cultural dialogue with Europe brought the PF symbolism back to Belarus. Many artists once again began creating small cards bearing the letters “PF”, often by hand or using photographic techniques. These were intimate, highly personal works – miniature art objects that carried the imprint of the author’s individuality. The PF-postcard became both a means of artistic self-expression and a gesture of respect toward the European tradition. For photographers, it also became a school of craftsmanship: the ability to express a large idea within a small format, to encapsulate a complete visual world in a single card.
Today, the PF-postcard in Belarus is experiencing a new stage of development – as a distinct form of photographic art. The Belarusian Union of Photographers actively supports this practice through competitions, exhibitions and international collaborations. Since the 2000s, exhibitions dedicated to the PF-postcard have been regularly held in Minsk and other cities, with selected works published in catalogues that now form a visual chronicle of modern Belarusian culture. The international PF competition, initiated by Belarusian photographers, has become a platform where emerging talents meet established masters. These exhibitions have grown into significant cultural events, drawing large audiences and strengthening Belarus’s image as a country with a vivid artistic identity.
In Belarus, PF is more than a tribute to the past – it is a living form of cultural dialogue. Within these small cards, history, national symbolism and contemporary artistic exploration converge. Belarusian photographers aim to capture not only the festive mood but also the spirit of the times – social transformations, cultural expectations, personal hopes. Thus, the PF-postcard becomes a kind of social mirror: a concise yet profound document reflecting both the departing year and dreams of the future.
Today, as visual culture increasingly moves into the digital realm, the PF-postcard retains its unique value. It remains a tangible witness to human connection, a cultural code that bridges generations. For Belarus, PF is at once a tribute to tradition, an element of national identity, and a vital part of the contemporary artistic process.
PF-Postcard
Belarusian Collection.
Why PF Cards are so Valuable?
There is a certain magic about PF cards.
Their value lies not only in their festive nature but also in their unique ability to connect art, history, and personal memory. Each card is a miniature artwork – a meeting point of typographic tradition, graphic design, photography, and visual composition. Unlike mass-produced greetings, PF cards carry an unmistakable sense of individuality: whether it is a 19th-century lithograph, a 1930s photographic experiment, or a contemporary digital composition.
A PF is never just a card. It is a gesture of attention, a token of respect – a small work of art created to convey the joy and spirit of the New Year.
For art historians and collectors, the PF postcard is especially fascinating as a document of its time. It reflects the artistic styles of each era – from the refined elegance of Art Nouveau to minimalist graphic design, from intimate black-and-white photography to vivid modern abstraction. Through these small cards, one can trace shifts in culture, society, and even politics: from wartime symbolism and industrial optimism to lyrical scenes of domestic warmth.
The Belarusian PF postcard holds a special place within this heritage. Here, the tradition of the greeting card found its own national voice, blending the European visual code with distinctly Belarusian motifs. Local artists infused their PF creations not only with the festive spirit but also with the character of their time – landscapes, folklore, and everyday details. Each work thus becomes more than a seasonal message; it becomes a fragment of Belarus’s visual heritage, preserved for future generations.
Today, the PF postcard is seen not merely as a personal greeting, but as a collectible art form. Galleries, archives, and private collections increasingly include them in exhibitions and catalogues, recognizing both their aesthetic and historical significance. For the artist, a PF offers a compact format for creative expression; for the collector, it preserves a unique piece of cultural history; for the viewer, it provides a direct encounter with a living tradition that bridges past and present.
PF postcards are precious precisely because of their dual nature: at once personal and collective, functional and artistic, ephemeral and timeless. Within their small frames, they hold an astonishing amount – the history of an era, the artist’s hand, and the emotion that makes art truly alive.
Their value lies not only in their festive nature but also in their unique ability to connect art, history, and personal memory. Each card is a miniature artwork – a meeting point of typographic tradition, graphic design, photography, and visual composition. Unlike mass-produced greetings, PF cards carry an unmistakable sense of individuality: whether it is a 19th-century lithograph, a 1930s photographic experiment, or a contemporary digital composition.
A PF is never just a card. It is a gesture of attention, a token of respect – a small work of art created to convey the joy and spirit of the New Year.
For art historians and collectors, the PF postcard is especially fascinating as a document of its time. It reflects the artistic styles of each era – from the refined elegance of Art Nouveau to minimalist graphic design, from intimate black-and-white photography to vivid modern abstraction. Through these small cards, one can trace shifts in culture, society, and even politics: from wartime symbolism and industrial optimism to lyrical scenes of domestic warmth.
The Belarusian PF postcard holds a special place within this heritage. Here, the tradition of the greeting card found its own national voice, blending the European visual code with distinctly Belarusian motifs. Local artists infused their PF creations not only with the festive spirit but also with the character of their time – landscapes, folklore, and everyday details. Each work thus becomes more than a seasonal message; it becomes a fragment of Belarus’s visual heritage, preserved for future generations.
Today, the PF postcard is seen not merely as a personal greeting, but as a collectible art form. Galleries, archives, and private collections increasingly include them in exhibitions and catalogues, recognizing both their aesthetic and historical significance. For the artist, a PF offers a compact format for creative expression; for the collector, it preserves a unique piece of cultural history; for the viewer, it provides a direct encounter with a living tradition that bridges past and present.
PF postcards are precious precisely because of their dual nature: at once personal and collective, functional and artistic, ephemeral and timeless. Within their small frames, they hold an astonishing amount – the history of an era, the artist’s hand, and the emotion that makes art truly alive.
