Volume 20–4.pdf - U&lc

DE VARBEWMOING.
PTT. DESIGNER: WILD PLAKKEN.
ART DIRECTOR: ROYAL PTT
NEDERLAND ART & DESIGN
DEPARTMENT.
STAMPS COMMEMORATING
DUTCH LABOR UNIONS.
DUNMORE.
PTT. DESIGNER: ALEX SCHOLING.
ART DIRECTOR: ROYAL PTT NEDERLAND
ART & DESIGN DEPARTMENT.
COMMEMORATING A PEACE WALK IN
NIJMEGEN. THE BAND-AID
INDICATES THE BLISTERS RECEIVED
DURING THE LONG MARCH.
supplement their national budgets or subsidize their postal
services. In those countries where the postal service is privatized,
such as the Netherlands, brisk sales can mean the
difference between the success or failure of the enterprise.
Like stocks and bonds, stamps can be profitable investments,
but like other commodities, their supply can be
controlled so as to inflate their value.
Philatelic shows abound with hundreds of thousands of
stamps from all nations. The imagery runs the gamut
from official portraits of presidents, kings and queens, to
indigenous fish, fowl and insects, with a wide range of issues,
events and information wedged in between. For example,
41 EUROPA.
PTT. DESIGNER: MARTEN JONGEMA.
ART DIRECTOR: ROYAL
PTT NEDERLAND ART & DESIGN
DEPARTMENT.
ABSTRACT DESIGNS SUGGESTING
THE EXPLORATION OF SPACE.
(SURROUNDING ART IDENTIFIED
ELSEWHERE.)
ASTRONOMY STAMPS.
THE POST OFFICE.
DESIGNER: JEFFERY FISHER.
SERIES HONORING
ASTRONOMY IN GREAT BRITAIN.
many nations have a tradition of issuing health awareness
stamps that remind citizens of the dangers (and the
victims) of dread diseases, such as polio, tuberculosis and
AIDS. Some countries donate the income from the sale of
these stamps to research. Depending on the subject,
thematic stamps are usually issued in limited quantities
and aimed at specific segments of the population.
STAMP DESIGNERS
While the quality of stamp design has been high, until recently
most designers of stamps have had a low profile. In
some countries design is routinely carried out by anonymous
BEATER & CLAUS
1966-1991.
PET. DESIGNER: TOM VAN BRAGT,
STUDIO DUMBAR.
ART DIRECTOR: ROYAL PTT NEDERLAND
ART & DESIGN DEPARTMENT.
THIS INNOVATIVE DIPTYCH CELEBRATES
THE 2511I WEDDING
ANNIVERSARY OF THE ROYAL COUPLE.
engravers and artisans. In small countries, design and printing
are contracted out to firms that specialize in stamps
and bank notes. A few postal services hold competitions to determine
who will get their precious stamp commissions; others
have in-house art and design boards or studios that make
MESA ZS. DOMOVINU U
EATEDREAL.
REPUBLIC HRVATSKA (CROATIA).
DESIGNER: BORIS BUCAN.
BLOCK OF STAMPS CELEBRATING
THE NATIONAL CATHEDRAL.
KINDER POSTEIGEL Aril&
PTT. DESIGNER: EVER MULLEN.
ART DIRECTOR: ROYAL PTT NEDERLAND
ART & DESIGN DEPARTMENT.
FIRST DAY COVER AND PLATE BLOCK OF
STAMPS CELEBRATING CHILDREN
AND MUSIC. THE PROCEEDS FROM THE
STAMP ARE DONATED TO CHILDREN'S
AID SOCIETIES IN HOLLAND AND
OTHER COUNTRIES.
these decisions. Concurrent with a greater recognition of
graphic design in recent years, well-known graphic designers
and illustrators have been commissioned. In the Netherlands,
the United States and England, designers and artists are routinely
drawn from a widening freelance talent pool.
Designing postage stamps is not easy. With the eyes
of a nation focused on the result, these Lilliputian images are
scrutinized intensely. When the Croatian artist Boris Bucan
designed his nation's first air mail stamp in 1993 he quickly
came under fire for his satiric creation. Since this breakaway
Yugoslav republic had few commercial airplanes at its disposal,
his design showed a paper airplane against a blue sky.
Although the stamp was published, his sarcasm was not appreciated
by those unamused countrymen who petitioned for
its recall. Conversely there were few, if any, notes of displeasure
about a design created by the Dutch designer Rick
Vermullen of Hard Werken Design of Rotterdam. Vermullen
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