Chinese on a Californian Peach Farm: Set of 6 Oilette Postcards by Graham Hyde

 Perhaps the first, or one of the first picture postcards, were those created in England by RaphaelTuck in the early 1900s by different artists including Graham Hyde who made these lovely six scenes of Chinese on a Californias peach farm in 1908.

All Tuck collectors recognize the trademark "Oilette". This was a type of card used by Tuck, starting in 1903, with a surface designed to appear as a miniature oil painting. Early "Oilettes" had a brush stroke simulation, but the vast majority of Tuck "Oilettes" have a smooth surface. Many collectors refer to any facsimile of an artist's work as an "Oilette". The cities of New York, Quebec, Montreal, Toronto, Atlanta, New Orleans, Baltimore, Santa Fe and Ottawa were all well covered by Tuck "Oilettes". State views of Maine, the Adirondacks in New York, Jamestown Virginia, and others are well represented among the "Oilettes". Many "Oilettes" also exist for many of the other countries in the "Americas". Raphael Tuck in their catalogs described "Oilettes" as "veritable miniature oil paintings". Prominent artists for American and Canadian "Oilettes" included Charles Flower and Albert Operti. 

Graham Hyde also created a set of six caricatures of Chinese expressions. An open-ended phrase in cursive (in blue)was part of the postcard and the sender completed the phrase with his or her own sentiment (in black) to send to the recipient of the card.