Engelien Reitsma-Valença (1889-1981) was born in Amsterdam
in 1889, as the daughter of a diamond cleaver. Her father taught her how to
cleave diamonds from an early age. In the little spare time he allowed her,
Reitsma received drawing lessons at the Academy of Visual Arts. After a number
of years she chose to specialise in engraving. Her teachers were the famous
Dutch master Pieter Dupont, and later, famous stamp engraver J.J. Aarts. They taught her that the
two most important tools for engraving were a steady hand and infinite
patience.
It was soon quite obvious the lady was talented and when she
was 24 she had already won the coveted Prix de Rome, allowing her to go to
Italy and work on her technique. Back home she soon received many consignments,
to design and engrave book covers, Ex Libris and portraits. During this time,
Mrs. Reitsma not only engraved, but painted and drew as well.
When interviewed at the time, Mrs. Reitsma complained how
hard it was to engrave stamps. She stated that one had to train one’s eye in a
completely different way, compared to a regular engraving, having to look
through a magnifying glass all the time. She said she found it incredibly hard
to include all the details she’d like to, on such a small format, and was
afraid to leave out too much so that the design would become heartless.
Nevertheless she did enjoy the work.
The Second World War saw Mrs. Reitsma, who was Jewish, being
barred from working for the Dutch postal authorities. The printers Enschedé
did, however, keep in touch with her, and let her work anonymously. That is how
she was able to design two values of the Naval Heroes definitive set of 1943.
Although the actual stamps are printed in photogravure, the original plan was
to have them all engraved and printed in recess. But because Enschedé needed
their intaglio press for printing huge quantities of new ‘germanised’
banknotes, there were no facilities to print the stamps in recess, so in the
end only the top value was printed in recess, with all others redesigned to be
printed in photogravure. However, Mrs. Reitsma did produce master dies for her
two values, the 12½c portraying Maarten H tromp and the 15c depicting Piet
Hein. When the stamps were issued, they were officially attributed to Hubert Levigne, and only after the war were they rightfully attributed to Mrs. Reitsma.
You will find Mrs. Reitsma's database HERE.
The facts that Mrs. Reitsma had been a pupil of Aarts’ and
that she was well known for her portrait work, were reason enough for the Dutch
postal authorities to ask her to get involved in stamp engraving.
Her first consignment was a value in the 1927 Dutch Red
Cross issue: the 5c depicting Prince Hendrik, Patron of the Dutch Red Cross. Mrs.
Reitsma’s had to submit three dies for that 5c stamp. The first one was
rejected because of the wording; having placed the word ‘Nederland’ on top of ‘Roode
Kruis’. On the other values of the set, which had already been approved, it was
the other way around. The second die resolved that problem but now the 8 of
1827 was not in line with the other values, having a rounded rather than a flat
top. The third and final die made the engraving finally in line with the other
values.
Despite all that, the postal authorities were so pleased
with her work that, when two values for the same set, designed by her teacher
Aarts, were rejected, Mrs. Reitsma was asked to design two more values for the
set. This she did, although those two additional values are not recess-printed
but printed in photogravure as time was running out.
When interviewed at the time, Mrs. Reitsma complained how
hard it was to engrave stamps. She stated that one had to train one’s eye in a
completely different way, compared to a regular engraving, having to look
through a magnifying glass all the time. She said she found it incredibly hard
to include all the details she’d like to, on such a small format, and was
afraid to leave out too much so that the design would become heartless.
Nevertheless she did enjoy the work.
It is true that her first stamp portraits can be described
as slightly formal, detached and almost of monumental nature. This is not
surprising, though, as they were all of the Royal Family, who at that time were
deemed to be portrayed in such an almost aloof way.
The stamps received mixed reactions from both the general
public and the philatelic press. But the postal authorities were very pleased
with Mrs. Reitsma’s work. She was therefore given more work. From 1936 to 1947,
she was part of a team of designers and engravers responsible for the annual
charity stamps. At that time, these stamps always portrayed well-known Dutch
personalities. These are much less formal, and Mrs. Reitsma’s talent was
allowed to shine through much more effectively.
In all, Mrs. Reitsma designed and engraved ten portrait
stamps for this series. Although most were based on a single existing portrait,
the 1937 stamp of the famous Dutch poet Vondel was a portrait based on three
different existing illustrations, which were amalgamated by Mrs. Reitsma into
one portrait.
Mrs. Reitsma survived the war, but only designed and
engraved one more stamp, portraying Mr Van Royen, the late General Secretary of
the Dutch PTT. On the original die essays, which were later reproduced to form
part of Enschedé’s ongoing Handbook on Dutch Postal Issues, it can be seen how
the design first included the postal headquarters in the background, but this
was later removed to let the stamp fit in better with the other values of the
set. Mrs. Reitsma’s final stamp was a fitting tribute to the man who had given
her her first job as a stamp engraver!
You will find Mrs. Reitsma's database HERE.