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BECKWITH, Henry S.

on July 17, 2013

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

STAMPS BY YEAR

1865
Newfoundland, Definitive 2c

Beckwith Database

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BIOGRAPHY: Herbert Bourne

Herbert K Bourne (1825-1907) was born in Staffordshire in 1825, into an artistic family. He soon showed artistic talents himself as well, as becomes clear from an early 1840s census which had him down as 'historical line engraver'. He had taken local art classes but later moved to London, where his engraving career soon took flight.

Bourne could profit from a revival of the art of engraving. While he was young, it became all the rage to own engraved copies of famous paintings and other art works. Biblical scenes were very popular as well. This insatiable demand by the public meant a golden age for art journals and copper engravers. Bourne certainly knew how to ride that wave.

His work was appreciated so much, that when in the late 1860s the French artist Gustave Doré took the art-loving public by storm, Bourne became one of a small circle of engravers who dedicated themselves to translating Doré's work into engravings. These became popular all over Europe, all the while en…

BREAKING NEWS: A New Marianne

Hot off the press: today President Macron of France revealed the new Marianne.

It is a design by a street artist named Yseult Digan, also known as Yz. The stamps are engraved once again by Elsa Catelin.

Here is the moment the image was revealed:

Here are a few more images.

The stamps will be issued on the 23rd of July, so we don't have to wait that long. And what's better: they can be ordered from today! As far as I can see there will be nine different values:
regular design: four with values and two NVIs,
the ecopli design: one value;
large design: two values.

First impression is rather positive even though I was quite fond of the current Marianne.

:-)
Adrian

YAJIMA, S.

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

STAMPS BY YEAR

1976
Japan, Ships

1977
Japan, National treasures

BIOGRAPHY: Jindra Schmidt

Jindra Schmidt was born in Racice – now in the Czech Republic – on 24 July 1897. His father had a goldsmith’s shop there but both Jindra’s parents died when Jindra was only three years old. An uncle then raised him and his elder brother. From a very early age, Jindra was fascinated by painting and it was therefore no surprise he soon professed his intention to become a painter. But he did not get much encouragement from his uncle, who thought that being an artist was a rather risky and uncertain career path. It was better to learn a proper trade.

Fate, however, lend a helping hand in the shape of an aunt from Vienna who, out of the blue, descended onto the scene, listened to the wee boy’s desires, and decided he should become an apprentice at her son-in-law’s shop, where the young Jindra could learn to be a wood engraver. That way, he would learn a trade and be able to be artistic at the same time.

And so, Schmidt came to work in the Karel Kubelka workshop in Vinohrady, taking art cla…

BIOGRAPHY: Lars Sjööblom

Lars Sjööblom was born in Lidköping, Sweden in 1956. He became interested in engraving when attending the Stockholm School for Advertising from 1977 to 1979, where a teacher introduced him to the graphic art form. The teacher soon noticed how talented Sjööblom was, and encouraged him to participate in the training course set up at the School of Engraving; a joint project from the Royal Swedish Post and the printing company Tumba Bruk. While there, from 1979 to 1981, Sjööblom was taught the art of engraving by the famous stamp engraver Arne Wallhorn. He obviously became a role model for Sjööblom, although the other classes during the course, focusing on art history, instilled a deep respect and admiration for classic graphic artists such as Dürer and Rembrandt. At the end of the course, Sjööblom, just as the other eleven students, was offered a position at the printing company.

In 1982, the Royal Swedish Post held a competition for that year’s Europa stamp. Sjööblom duly entered and wo…

BIOGRAPHY: Charles Mazelin

Charles Mazelin was born in Elboeuf, France, in 1882. At the age of 15 he went to the School of Decorative Arts in Paris, but was not the most diligent student. But his talent did show through, so he furthered it by going to the École des Beaux-arts in 1899. He subsequently won the Prix de Rome in 1906 and in 1908.
During the First World War, Mazelin was mobilised and wounded in Verdun, but while convalescing he created an album of patriotic etchings based on the Somme Front theme. After the war, Mazelin started working as a reproduction engraver, illustrating many books.
It was not until 1939 that Mazelin became involved in the engraving of stamps, thanks to a bit of coaxing by his friend and fellow engraver Jules Piel. Not that Mazelin needed a job, but he liked the technical challenge of engraving on such a small scale. His first stamp was one with a portrait of the poet Frédéric Mistral. But Mazelin was especially fond of the number of stamps he engraved showing landscape scenes,…

ENGRAVING OF THE DAY

1974
France
Nature conservation
Giant Armadillo of Guiana
Illustration for philatelic document
Engraved by Claude Haley

BIOGRAPHY: Bob Godbehear

It is surprising how little is known about this engraver of quite a few iconic stamps. The main thing we know about Robert George Godbehear (1904-1998) is that he was the senior portrait engraver at Bradbury Wilkinson from 1939 until the late 1960s. But he was apprenticed there as early as 1921. During his apprenticeship he engraved a copy of a 1926 Luxembourg definitive (engraved by Robert Savage) portraying the Grand Duchess Charlotte. It is thought this essay dates from 1928.

Among his first known work after his apprenticeship is an advertising note for the firm, for which Godbehear engraved the portrait of Queen Elizabeth I. This note dates from 1940. That is also the year in which one of Godbehear’s first, if not his very first, stamps appeared: the 1d value from the New Zealand ‘Centenary of Proclamation of British Sovereignty’ set. The stamp has the Rediscovery of New Zealand in 1769 as its theme and includes engravings of HM Bark ‘Endeavour’, a chart of New Zealand and a port…

BIOGRAPHY: Zlatko Jakus

Zlatko Jakus was born in Zagreb, Yugoslavia, in 1945. In Zagreb he studied industrial engraving for three years. However, he wanted to explore his artistic talents as well, and had figured out that Sweden might be the place to do just that. And so that’s where he went in 1966. During the first couple of years he managed to work as an industrial engraver, while at the same time learning the Swedish language.
In 1969, Jakus continued his studies, among others at the Academy of Arts in Stockholm. In 1972, Jakus was discovered and given the opportunity to learn and engrave stamps. His first ‘consignment’ was to make a copper engraving of a portrait of the Swedish king Charles XIV John. After that, he had to make a steel engraving in stamp-size format.Jakus chose the Drottningholm Theatre as its subject. Although this was never meant to become a postage stamp, the engraving was used as a test stamp. After only some six months it was clear that his talent was very much suited to this kind …

ENGRAVING OF THE DAY

1961
Czechoslovakia
Butterflies and Moths
Zerynthia hypsipyle
Engraved by Jindra Schmidt

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BECKWITH, Henry S.

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