Sweden 1960 - Anders Zorn

I've always been a bit of a fan of discovering firsts. What was the first stamp for a particular country? What was the first decimal stamp for that country? And so on... In this blog I'm looking forward to studying Czeslaw Slania's first stamp for Sweden. As most Slania collectors out there probably already know, Slania emigrated from Poland and moved to Sweden in 1956. He lived in Sweden for three years before he was given a position with the Swedish Post Office after one of Sweden's premiere engravers, Sven Ewert took ill and needed replacing. The first stamp Slania engraved for Sweden was issued in 1960 in two values. Let's now take a look at the subject of the stamp, then the stamp itself...

***

Anders Zorn was an incredibly gifted Swedish artist. He was born 18 February 1860 on the farm of his grandparents in Yvraden in the parish of Morna, Dalarna. He studied at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts from 1875 to 1880. There he dazzled his teachers with his amazing talent. 

Zorn quickly became and international success, practising his art in places such as London, Spain, Paris, Italy and the United States. He is primarily known for his character-filled portraits. And he painted more than a few famous people, including three American Presidents, the King of Sweden, Oscar II, the Queen consort of Sweden and Norway, Queen Sophia, and Mrs Walter Bacon to name but a few. He was also an exceptionally talented landscape artist. In fact, it was one of his landscapes, Sommamoje, that fetched the highest sale price ever for a painting in Sweden. It sold for a whopping 26 million SEK on 3 June 2010. He also painted incredibly life-like nude portraits. Click HERE for some examples of his work. Anders Zorn died at the age of 60 on 22 August 1920.

***

On 18 February 1960, Sweden issued a commemortive stamp in two values, depicting the artist, Anders Zorn. The design was engraved by Czeslaw Slania. As mentioned above, this was his first full stamp engraving for Sweden.

The 30o value. From a vertical coil. This stamp was also printed in booklet format.

This is a lovely engraving of the artist, based on an etching produced by the artist. This image suggests to me the artist, Zorn, sitting and ruminating over a potential subject with pencil poised over an art pad ready to pounce the moment inspiration strikes. In the bottom left just above the country name is a reproduction of Zorn's signature, almost as if he had signed off on the work.

The 80o value. From a vertical coil...

As mentioned above, this stamp was based on an etched self-portrait by Zorn. I'd like to thank a couple of my followers for giving me this information. Here's what the etching looked like...

Until next time...

Stay Slania Crazy!