Marie-Noëlle Goffin was born on 11 December 1935. Even as a little girl, she knew she wanted to become a designer, and she couldn't wait for her normal school years to be over so she could go to art school.
When she was 19, she entered the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Rouen, where she stayed for four years. She decided to specialise further in engraving and sculpting and for this moved to Paris in 1959. There, she received her engraving diploma in 1962 and a scholarship to study further at the School of Fine Arts in Amsterdam (1963-1964). Furthermore, she was chosen by the Wicard organisation to hone her talent even further in their villa in Rome.
When she was 19, she entered the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Rouen, where she stayed for four years. She decided to specialise further in engraving and sculpting and for this moved to Paris in 1959. There, she received her engraving diploma in 1962 and a scholarship to study further at the School of Fine Arts in Amsterdam (1963-1964). Furthermore, she was chosen by the Wicard organisation to hone her talent even further in their villa in Rome.
Back in France, Goffin became a teacher at the Ecole des
Beaux Arts in Lille, where she remained for 26 years. It is not until 1976 that
she finally moved into the realms of stamp engraving. Her first engraved stamp
appeared in 1977. It is a value from the annual Tourism series, depicting the
church at Le Dorat in Haute-Vienne. Since then, Goffin has engraved dozens of
stamps for France and her territories.
But sculpting was her first love and this remained a force
in her life, while reconstructing the old castle she lived in. In fact, the
money Goffin earned by engraving the 1989 revolution set was used by her to
repair the destruction made by those very same revolutionaries! How’s that for
history coming full circle!
In 1993, Goffin won the Grand Prix de l’Art Philatélique for
her Ducks set. She repeated this feat in 1995 with her set depicting figures
from the Provence. That later set also won her the Ceres prize.
These rank among her favourites, especially the 4f value from the Ducks set, depicting the common shelduck. But in a 2003 interview she said that her Viollet-le-Duc stamp, issued in 1980 as part of the Red Cross charity set was her favourite of them all, because she likes doing portaits and she enjoyed trying to bring across his incredible intensity.
These rank among her favourites, especially the 4f value from the Ducks set, depicting the common shelduck. But in a 2003 interview she said that her Viollet-le-Duc stamp, issued in 1980 as part of the Red Cross charity set was her favourite of them all, because she likes doing portaits and she enjoyed trying to bring across his incredible intensity.
In that same interview, Goffin stated she regrets the fact
that stamps are always classed in two categories: engraved ones and ‘the others’.
According to her, they are both valid ways to produce stamps and should happily
live together rather than being pitched against each other. She also stated
that designing her own stamps is an absolute must as she values the research
period it involves which will result in a better work rather than just being an
engraver of an image.
For some time (at least from 2010-2014), Goffin was Vice-President
of the Académie Mondiale de Philatélie. Goffin is also a member of the Académie
Européenne de Philatélie and she is a member of the Art du Timbre Gravé
organisation, for which she produced a special engraving in 2014.
Goffin’s 2011 stamp depicting Moulins attracted much press
coverage in France. When asked, Goffin said she was always nervous when her
stamps were printed, wondering how they would turn out, especially with regard
to the chosen colours. But in this case the printers understood exactly which
colour shades she was looking for. The stamp was printed in six colours, which
necessitated the engraving of two dies: one for the background and one for the
actual image.
On 14 August 2015 an exposition was held where Goffin lives
which showcased her engravings.