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ENGRAVING OF THE WEEK

on April 13, 2020

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1975

Sweden

Archaeological discoveries

Iron helmet from Vendel

Engraved by Czeslaw Slania

Engraving of the week Slania

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BIOGRAPHY: Albert Decaris

Albert Marius Hippolyte Decaris was born in Sotteville-lès-Rouen, France, on 6 May 1901. At the age of fourteen he entered the Ecole Estienne in Paris. That happened inadvertently, because the school would normally only taken on pupils when they reached the age of fifteen. Again by chance, he got placed in the class of the stamp engraver Antoine Dezarrois. Four years later, in 1919, Decaris won the Prix de Rome for his engraving Eve before the fall , becoming the youngest ever to win this prize. He duly went to the Eternal City, where he stayed from 1920 to 1927, although his visit was interrupted for two years because of military service. From 1924 to 1926 he stayed at the Villa Médicis. When in Italy, he was known as the monk engraver, for he perfected his art by practising 15 to 16 hours a day! Although interrupted by severe illness and military service, his stay in Italy would leave an everlasting impact on Decaris, reflected in his style and his love for Greco-R...

DATABASE: Czeslaw Slania

STAMPS 1951 Poland, Paris commune Poland, Mining Poland, People's republic 1952 Poland, General Swierczewski Poland, Air Poland, Nikolai Gogol Poland, Proletariat party Poland, Avicenna Poland, Victor Hugo Poland, Sienkiewicz Poland, Car workers fund 1953 Poland, Renaissance 1954 Poland, Air Poland, Second republic Poland, Return of Pomerania Poland, Kosciuszko's insurrection Poland, Protected animals 1955 Poland, Chopin piano competition Poland, Warsaw monuments 1956 Poland, Warsaw monuments Poland, Olympics 1960 Sweden, Anders Zorn Sweden, Refugee year Sweden, Shooting organisation Sweden, Fröding Sweden, Europa Sweden, Branting 1961 Sweden, Definitives Sweden, Alströmer Sweden, Library regulation 1962 Denmark, Dansk Fredning (two issues) Denmark, Under-developed countries Denmark, Selandia Denmark, Value on 1k20, 1k25 and 1k50 Small Arms definitive (2) Sweden, Local mail delivery service Sweden, Monuments 1963 ...

DATABASE: Martin Mörck

STAMPS 1977 Sweden, Definitive Sweden, Public transport 1978 Sweden, Definitive Sweden, Europa Sweden, Northern arrow Sweden, Christmas 1979 Sweden, Bandy Sweden, Year of the child Sweden, Sundsvall strike Sweden, Costumes and jewellery 1981 Sweden, Norse mythology Sweden, Year of disabled persons Sweden, Sailing boats Sweden, Guest of reality Sweden, Business mail 1982 Sweden, Museum of cultural history Sweden, Buoyage system Sweden, Nobel prize winners 1983 Sweden, Postal co-operation Sweden, Europa Sweden, Hjalmar Bergman Sweden, Return of Riksdag Sweden, Nobel prize winners 1984 Sweden, Mountain world Sweden, Fredrika Bremer association Sweden, Viking satellite Sweden, Nobel prize winners 1985 Sweden, Touring club Sweden, Trade signs Sweden, Board games Sweden, Birth centenaries Sweden, Nobel prize winners 1986 Sweden, Water birds Sweden, Peace year Sweden, Nobel prize winners 1987 Aland Islands, 1m bridge definitive Icel...

DATABASE: Albert Decaris

STAMPS 1935 France, St Trophime d'Arles France, Liner Normandie French Guiana, West Indies Tercentenary, Cayenne recaptured design 1936 Ivory Coast, Definitives 1937 Cameroun, International exhibition Dahomey, International exhibition French Equatorial Africa, International exhibition French Guiana, International exhibition French Guinea, International exhibition French Indian Settlements, International exhibition French Polynesia, International exhibition French Somali Coast, International exhibition French Sudan, International exhibition Guadeloupe, International exhibition Indo-China, International Exhibition Ivory Coast, International Exhibition Madagascar, International exhibition Mali Federation, International exhibition Martinique, International exhibition Mauritania, International exhibition New Caledonia, International exhibition Niger, International exhibition Oceanic Settlements, International exhibition St. Pierre et Miquelon, Internation...

BIOGRAPHY: Karl Bickel

Karl Bickel was born on 13 February 1886, in Zürich-Hirslanden, Switzerland. He lost his father when he was only four and was then raised mainly by his mother, even though she did remarry after a while. Karl enjoyed a free upbringing and spent his time dreaming of various careers, ranging from entering a monastery to something to do with machines, and everything in between. It was quite a coincidence that he entered the lithography business. After having applied for various apprenticeships in 1900, Paul Bleuler’s well-known graphic art company was the first to react, offering him a position to learn the art of lithography. Karl Bickel stayed for four years during which time he occupied himself mainly with designing and drawing picture postcards. After his apprenticeship, Bickel was employed by the graphic art company Hüttner where he soon made it to technical head. Again, Bickel created picture postcards, but also fashion and other catalogues. ...

The Two Masters

I have felt for some time, in fact ever since the Czech Republic abandoned the idea of high quality engraved stamps, that my interest in stamp engravings and engravers has sort of run its course. The vast majority of new issues may have some hand-engraving at the core, but the actual stamps are really just computer generated, and only by collecting die proofs can one still hold a piece of craftmanship in one's hands. So I've decided to call it a day and end this blog on this special day. And it is a special day, because today we celebrate the 100th birth anniversary of that great master Czeslaw Slania. So what better way to see this adventure off than with a stamp honouring a Master Engraver, engraved by that other Master Engraver, Martin Mörck! I want to thank you all for the many years you've spent with me, all your kind comments, and the joy we all felt while walking together through this world of art. Take care Adrian

Pierre Gandon: An artist outwith fashion (part 1)

The phone rang just as his statuette of the Virgin Lady took a direct hit from a German bullet. It was the head of the French Post. “Quick, Pierre, General de Gaulle is coming to Paris tomorrow morning and he needs to choose the new French definitive design. There are four of you in the frame: Cheffer, Mazelin, Piel and you. Better get a design ready. Make haste, make haste!” And so, in August 1944, while French and German soldiers were fighting all around him, Pierre Gandon sat down in his ravaged studio at Place de Furstenberg in Paris, and worked all night on his Marianne. He modelled her after his wife Jacqueline. This stamp, once chosen by De Gaulle, would revive his career as a stamp engraver. And his career badly needed reinvigorating, because Gandon had been blacklisted for three months, for having engraved the French Tricolour Legion stamps back in 1942, and one of a number of non-postal labels associated with this issue. Those issues had become a symbol for the hated Vichy re...

BIOGRAPHY: Czeslaw Slania

“Engraving is a matter of light and shadows” If there is one name synonymous with the art of stamp engraving, it must be that of Czeslaw Slania (1921-2005). During his career, spanning over fifty years, his more than 1,000 engraved stamps have attracted at least as many superlatives. Born near Katowice, Poland, on 22 October 1921, it was clear from an early age that Slania had a special talent for drawing and apparently he was fond of miniatures. Although it has to be said that he had some trouble finding a proper outlet for it. Slania started out young by selling his drawings to fellow pupils at school so they could get good marks. He later got found out for having perfectly forged the headmaster’s signature. As early as then, it was generally thought Slania would become an important artist. But that was not before he could once again execute his forging techniques, in the Second World War, by copying identity cards and other documents for the Polish underground forces. After ...

BIOGRAPHY: Alfred Jones

Alfred Jones (1819-1900) was born in Liverpool, England, on 7 April 1819. When he was 15, he emigrated to the United States with his family. He attended the National Academy of Design in New York, and in 1839, after having secured first prize at the Academy, he served an apprenticeship in banknote engraving at Rawdon, Wright, Hatch and Edson in Hudson, New York. He also started attending evening classes in the evening, at the National Academy. In the 1840s, he went back to Europe for a while, working in France and also in Great Britain, where he spent time working under London’s various master engravers, perfecting his skills. Back in the United States, he became an independent engraver. Although Jones was also known as a landscape and figure painter, he became famous for his line-engravings in illustrated publications such as Harper’s Weekly. Some of his engravings are still considered by many to be the best that were ever made in the United States. Jones’ status would...

BIOGRAPHY: Martin Mörck

Martin Mörck (born 1955) was raised in a family of artists and from a young age was emerged in the world of artists such as Dürer. Moreover, Martin’s father was a graphic artist and a stamp collector and as such the first to plant the seeds of love of both graphic art and philately in his son. It clearly worked for Mörck sees stamps as unique pieces of art, appreciating the artistic value of each and every one. What he loves about his work as an engraver is that ideas in your head end up on paper via your hands. He has a reputation as being insatiable and regularly spends a minimum of 60 hours a week on his engravings. Mörck was never officially trained to become an engraver. He got his first engraving tools when he was 15, and soon got the hang of it, but felt he needed a bit more guidance. So, at 16, he went to a general art course which opened up the possibility of becoming the apprentice of an engraver, which happened to be the stamp engraver Arne Wallhorn . This led to Mörc...

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