Historical glossy pictures between kitsch and culture: New collection from Quagga Illustrations

Berlin, November 27, 2025 - The picture agency Quagga Illustrations presents a new collection dedicated to historical glossy pictures, also known as 'poetry album pictures', 'Vielliebchen', 'album pictures' or 'gingerbread pictures'. Under the overarching term "Kitsch", the agency presents a selection from its holdings that documents the popular aesthetics of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The collection includes chromolithographic pictures with a variety of motifs - from flowers, angels, and depictions of children to seasonal scenes. A separate printing plate was made for each color: High-quality glossy images could require over ten color passes to achieve vibrant, detailed images. After printing, the entire sheets - on which dozens of glossy pictures were often arranged close together - were coated with a glossy protective layer based on starch (gloss varnish), which gave them their characteristic glow. The outlines of the individual motifs were punched by machine. For particularly elaborate wafers, embossing of the paper or gold plating was also common. Originally used as collector's pictures, gift tags or pictures to decorate friendship albums, boxes and tins and even furniture, glossy pictures are among the earliest examples of mass-produced picture culture in Europe.

With the new collection "Kitsch and Culture", Quagga Illustrations focuses on the historical and cultural significance of this type of image. The compilation shows how visual preferences and social values are reflected in these often sentimentally exaggerated depictions. At the same time, it sheds light on the technical development of colour lithography and its significance for the democratization of visual motifs.

The collection is now available in the agency's online archive:

https://www.quagga-illustrations.de/kollektionen/historische-glanzbilder-kitsch-und-kultur

It is aimed at editorial offices, museums, research institutions, and publishing houses that deal with everyday culture, graphic and art history, or visual mass communication.

About Quagga Illustrations
Quagga Illustrations specializes in historical illustrations and graphic sources up to the early 20th century. The archive includes natural history, art history, and cultural history images that can be licensed for scientific, cultural, and commercial applications.

Press contact for queries and sample material
For image inquiries, viewing material and further information, please contact:

Isabel Meraner
Press Officer Quagga Illustrations
presse@quagga-illustrations.de
https://www.quagga-illustrations.de

QUAGGA Media UG (haftungsbeschr?nkt)
Sommerfieldring 27
14109 Berlin
Germany

https://www.quagga-illustrations.de

Frau Isabel Meraner
0039 331 4074014
030 / 788 9 777 4
presse@quagga-illustrations.de

Quagga Illustrations is part of the company Quagga Media UG (haftungsbeschr?nkt). Quagga Media was founded in Berlin in 2010. In the first few years, we focused on building an image database of historical drawings/illustrations. This database currently consists of around 150,000 drawings/illustrations and covers all areas of Central European natural and cultural history. A number of by-products have been created or are still under construction, in particular databases (anniversaries, botanical and zoological names, personalities, thesauri). Since 2010, we have also been involved in the creation of digital and analog products (ebooks, apps). We have also accumulated IT expertise in the creation, digitization and use of digital collections and pass this knowledge on.

This release was published on openPR.