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Commemorative stamps April
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Multifaceted art This year’s motif for the stamp series "Contemporary art in Austria" comes from Austrian painter and photographer Rudi Molacek, renowned for his versatile artistic work.
Rudi Molacek was born in 1948 in Kindberg, Styria. He studied economics in Vienna and worked as a model ("dressman") in the 1970s before moving behind the camera, successfully staging campaigns for major brands. From 1986 to 1991, he taught photography as a guest professor at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. In the 1980s, he came into contact with the "Neue Wilde" (New Wild Ones) movement, during which time he created some of his most famous artist portraits. Initially a collector of their works, he increasingly devoted himself to painting. In his artistic practice, he experiments with media such as oil painting, photography, screen printing, digital prints, and video, and also creates metal sculptures. Molacek spent many years in New York and now lives and works in Berlin and Vienna.
One of his recurring motifs is flowers. The painting Midmorning, created in 2022, was painted purely in morning light, as the title suggests. Its oversized format — approximately 3.60 metres wide — poses a great challenge. The artist stands in the middle of the canvas while painting, feeling the dimensions and working in a continuous flow without stepping back to check his progress, as doing so would cause him to "fall out of the painting," so to speak.
Mobility made in Vienna
In the 1920s, motorcycles known for their high manufacturing quality were produced at the Liesing Motor Factory (Liesinger Motorenfabrik AG) in Vienna. The 1927 D3 model was known as the "mountain type."
The Liesing-based Motorenfabrik was formed from the Georg Roth group of companies. Founded in 1866, Roth was once one of the monarchy’s largest munitions manufacturers. After the First World War, auxiliary engines for bicycles and motorcycles were produced at the Vienna-Liesing site under the names Roth and Geroth. In 1921, the Liesinger Motorenfabrik became an independent joint-stock company, and from 1924 onwards, its motorcycles were branded as LAG. By 1929, the company ceased production, though LAG motorcycles from remaining stock were sold until 1931. In total, around 800 Geroth and LAG motorcycles were manufactured, making LAG the second-largest motorcycle brand from Vienna after Delta-Gnom.
This year’s motif for the stamp series "Motorcycles" features the most successful model from the Liesing Motor Factory: the LAG 350 D3, introduced in 1927. The D3 was equipped with a LAG-designed two-stroke piston-port engine with 350 cubic centimetres displacement, producing 10 horsepower, and featured a modern saddle tank. The carburettor was supplied by Amac, and the gearbox by Sturmey-Archer. Particularly striking were the voluminous aluminium cooling fins on the exhaust manifold. Due to its excellent performance in mountainous terrain, the D3 was known as the "mountain type" and was also advertised as suitable for sidecar use. Only a few examples of the D3 have survived to this day.
When? 9.04.2025, 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., stamp presentation at 10:00 a.m.
Where? Federation of Austrian Philately Association (VÖPh), Getreidemarkt 1, 1060 Vienna Group picture: Picture of presentation: © Ö. Post AG Group picture, left to right: Helmut Kogler (President, VÖPh), Patricia Liebermann (Head of Philately at Austrian Post), David Gruber (stamp designer)
