Raoul Serres was born in Cazères in the French Pyrenees, on
18 October 1881. His father was an official working for the French Post, which
meant that Raoul was aware of stamps from a very early age. His artistic talents, too, were obvious from
an early age and Serres went on to win the coveted Prix de Rome in 1906. Soon
after, Serres embarked on a career producing watercolours and engravings.
It would take a long time before Serres would enter the
philatelic fray. The hand-engraved, recess-printed stamp in France would only
gain prominence in France from the 1930s onwards. But it did so with a
vengeance, leaving the French Post always on the lookout for new talent to add
to their pool of engravers.
Serres, having made a name for himself in the art world, was headhunted at the end of the 1930s. His first stamp would be a value from
the 1940 issue with a surcharge for the Soldiers’ Comfort Fund. It was an impressive
debut which had Serres accepted as a regular contributor straightaway. It was
also the first of a number of war-related issues which characterised his early
philatelic career. A number of unadopted engraved essays exist which depict the
plight of the French people and especially its soldiers.
Serres engraved two non-postal charity labels on the theme:
one for war victims and another especially for French Post war victims, both
poignantly depicting the hardship suffered during the war. Serres also contributed
an engraving to each of the three souvenir sheets issued for the national stamp
exhibitions held in Paris in 1941 to 1943. Although these too were meant to aid
the various victim funds, the subject matter was not explicitly war-related but
themes such as Parisian sights, literature and operas were chosen.
The theme was continued soon after the war, with Serres
engraving charity stamps for the Postal Employees War Victims Fund, and a
joyful Liberation of Alsace-Lorraine stamp. Finally, in October 1945, a stamp
was issued which Serres regarded as one of his best. It was a single stamp
depicting the destruction of Oradour-sur-Glane. He designed the gloomy stamp by
visiting the site of the church himself and spending a couple of hours among
the ruins, thereby feeling the devastation of the place deeply.
Another of Serres’ favourites still prolonged the war theme.
In 1948, he engraved a single stamp commemorating General Leclerc who had
passed away in 1947. In all, Serres was the engraver who portrayed France
during the dark war years like no other did.
Serres’ philatelic career did not follow the usual pattern
of starting with stamps for the overseas territories first, but he did of
course engrave many of those issues during his career. Of note is the omnibus
series he engraved in 1949 to mark the 75th anniversary of the
Universal Postal Union. It was a single design showing people of the five
races, a Lockheed aircraft and a globe. The stamp was issued in some ten French
colonies.
Another well-known part of Serres’ stamp work was the range
of Stamp Day issues for France. The annual issue of a Stamp Day stamp was
introduced in 1945, and Serres was chosen to engrave the first one. It
portrayed King Louis Xi, the king who had set up the Royal Postal Service in
France in 1477. Eight more issues were to follow engraved by Serres. He was
always very fond of this particular series. His favourite of the nine stamps
was the 1949 issue, portraying the Duc de Choiseul. The latest Stamp Day issue
Serres engraved appeared as late as 1961, at the very end of his career.
Actually, it was the last stamp he would ever engrave.
Raoul Serres passed away on 7 January 1971.
You will find Raoul Serres' database HERE.