BIOGRAPHY: Josef Hercik

Josef Hercik (1922-1999) was born on 23 March 1922 in Uhersky Brod which at the time was in Czechoslovakia. He started his engraving career quite young, in the arms producing company in his home town, where the young Hercik learned how to engrave gun stocks. In 1940, he moved to Prague where he immersed himself completely in the artist scene. Within a year he managed to get enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, although his actual studies had to wait until 1945, with all academies being closed during the war. With his main interest being the graphic arts, he soon developed himself in the fine arts, and started to focus on the various engraving techniques.

But it was as a book illustrator that Hercik first made fame. This led to a fruitful cooperation with graphic designer Vaclav Sivko, who introduced him to the world of postage stamp engraving. This was not a new world for Hercik, because he had already been very impressed by the work of stamp engravers, especially that of Jiri Svengsbir, and had hoped to be one day able to work as a stamp engraver as well.

In the early 1960s, Hercik himself became involved in engravings for postage stamps. His first stamp engravings were for the 1962 set depicting beetles, for which he engraved two values. Issued in December 1962, these were not, however, his first stamps to be issued. That honour went to the four values of the Praga 1962 airmail set issued in May 1962, designed by said Sivko. More than 400 stamp engravings were to follow, right up until 1999, the year of his death. In doing so, he surpassed even the huge amount of stamps engraved by Czechoslovakia’s most famous engraver Jindra Schmidt, making Hercik the most prolific stamp Czechoslovak engraver.

Needless to say, Hercik’s work has been honoured quite a lot. The Czechoslovakian newspaper Mlada Fronta used to run an annual stamp poll, in which it asked its members to vote for various categories. The category “Engraver’s Best Interpretation of a Work of Art” was won by Hercik no less than five times. Of these, it is his work for PRAGA 1978 which is still hailed as one of his masterpieces. It is a miniature sheet depicting Titian’s The Flaying of Marsyas. The two stamps show details of the painting with the whole of the painting being included in the miniature sheet as well. Although the idea was his, Hercik later admitted he himself was not very pleased with the end result. 

Stamps he himself was very proud of, were values from the annual Art series, and in particular the 1968 Preisler's 'Black Lake' stamp and the 1972 Picasso self-portrait.

An added bonus to any such Art stamps collection is the artwork on the accompanying first day covers, which consists of hand-engraved work linked to the artwork on the actual stamp, usually by the engraver of that particular stamp, and printed directly from the master die.

Mlada Fronta used to issue annual souvenir folders accompanying their public polls. This folder would include a specially engraved souvenir sheet, which would be based on the winner of the ‘Best Stamp’ category. Again, we find several of these souvenir sheets engraved by Josef Hercik. They’re not easy to find but form an interesting addition to a collection of Hercik’s work.

Hercik’s talents didn’t fail to impress in official quarters either, and so in 1982 Hercik was named Merited Artist. His talents were noted abroad as well. In 1967, Hercik was bestowed the Grand Prix in Naples, for his engraving of Picasso’s Guernica painting on a Czechoslovakian stamp of 1966. Hercik even received a personal thank you from Picasso himself!

Hercik himself was not too pleased with the end result and thought the quality of the printed stamp didn't do the engraving justice. Thankfully for him, the same engraving was used on a miniature sheet in 1981, to mark the 45th anniversary of the International Brigades in Spain and also to mark the birth centenary of the painter Picasso. Printing quality had by then very much improved, leading to a much more satisfactory end result.

Other international engravings by Hercik which were praised both at home and abroad were his Prague panorama stamp issued in 1967, as part of the PRAGA 1968 stamp show promotional issues and the engraving of Mt. Fuji in Japan, issued in 1970 to promote EXPO 70, the World Fair held in Osaka, Japan.

His international fame resulted in him being asked to engrave the odd stamp for Kuwait, Monaco and the United Nations. He was even approached by the German publisher Hermann  Sieger Verlag who asked him to engrave a copy of the famous Mauritius Blue which they used on their promotional souvenir sheets.

Apart from the odd souvenir sheet for stamp shows such as Nordposta, Belgica, Wipa and Philexfrance, Hercik became especially involved in the Japanese philatelic world, thanks to the tireless efforts of the Japanese philatelist Meizo Mizuhara. From 1990 to 1994, Hercik engraved souvenir sheets for the annual Japex show, and he also engraved a souvenir sheet in 1996 for the opening of the Tokyo Philatelic Museum.

Hercik's admirers often became close friends of his. Another philatelic friend, the Londoner George James Firmage, never tired of promoting Hercik's work in the Czechoslovak Philatelic Society of Great Britain, eventually resulting in Hercik becoming an honourable life-long member of that society.

But Hercik’s heart lay very much in his homeland. He once said that he engraved stamps with his heart, but above all his heart belonged to Czechoslovakia. For him, creating stamps for his home country not only meant he understood the psyche of the recipients of his art, but it also meant he could have one foot firmly in the Czechoslovak present and the other firmly in the country’s past, honouring master engravers before him by continuing the great Czechoslovak tradition of the engraved stamp.

Hercik is well known for his many iconic engravings of the various architectural highlights of his beloved city of Prague. Although some of these are private engravings, others have been used on first day covers or the Post Museum’s publicity material.

In the 1990s, the Hercik family, (Josef, his wife and his son and daughter-in-law) founded a publishing company which soon managed to secure a good reputation for producing high quality products.

In 1993, he was asked to design and engrave the first stamp of his new country, the Czech Republic. With that stamp, he could also give vent to his interest in heraldry. It was to be his proudest moment.

Josef Hercik passed away on 9 July 1999.

You will find Josef Hercik's database HERE.