With 19th century Japanese artists of the floating world very much in vogue this spring with two major exhibitions running in European capital cities at the moment - Utagawa Hiroshige in Rome and Utagawa Kuniyoshi in London - I thought I'd share this 1971 Hungarian postage stamp featuring the work of another master of Japanese woodblocks - Utagawa Toyokuni (1769 - 1825). Toyokuni I - (the Roman numeral is used to distinguish him from the later artists who, following Japanese tradition, also used the art-name of their master) is probably best known for his portraits of Kabuki actors.
Issued by the Hungarian Postal Service and instantly identifiable by Magyar Posta written in white letters at the bottom of the stamp (Hungarian for Hungarian Post) this large stamp features a work by the Toyokuni School - A Walk in the Garden (Toyokuni Iskola - Seta a Kertben). Read the rest of this entry »
These four stamps were issued as joined pairs as part of a six stamp set - sadly I don't have the 4 Zt value stamps - on 30 September, 1975 to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Polish Mountain Guides.
The stamps feature scenes of mountains paired with flowers and were designed by well-known Polish graphic artist Alojzy Balcerzak.
Here's an interesting example of a vintage postcard design issued on the occasion of the XX National Philatelic Convention in Rome in 1965 (Convegno Nazionale Filatelico) which includes a 1961 Italian postage stamp within the design - in the carriage window there is a 30 lire stamp featuring the Sibilla Eritrea which was issued as part of a set of nineteen Michelangelo-themed stamps on 6 March that year.
The 15 lire stamp actually used on the postcard meanwhile was originally issued on 6 December 1964 to celebrate the 6th Stamp Day (6ª giornata del francobollo) and depicts six Italian sports stamps within its own design. Here it has been postmarked on the first day of the stamp fair - 20 February, 1965.
This very curious and hard hitting message stamp was issued on May 31, 1994 in Slovakia on the occasion of the World Health Organisation's International Day of No Tobacco after the idea was suggested by the National Oncology Institute in Bratislava.
The stamp was designed by Zdeno Brázdil and was engraved by Martin Cinovský. It was printed in the Czech Republic by the Postal Stationery Printing House, Prague, with a print run of 5,450,000 stamps.
Nobody living in Italy could have failed to notice that 2008 is the centenary year of the birth of one of Italy's greatest and best loved actresses, Anna Magnani, with numerous television documentaries, exhibitions, DVD releases and book publications accompanying the event. Sadly, Nannarella as she was affectionately known in Italy, died in 1973 but left behind a long list of performances which have since become iconic in the world of cinema, most notably perhaps, the desperate plight of Pina in Rossellini's Roma, città aperta. International audiences probably remember her best for her Oscar winning role as Serafina Delle Rose opposite Bert Reynolds in The Rose Tattoo, in a part written specifically for her by Tennessee Williams.
The Italian Post Office issued a stamp on her birthday 7 March, but this wasn't the first time that she has appeared on an Italian postage stamp. This philatelic postcard was issued on the occasion of the second edition of the Rome Film Festival and was cancelled on 19th October 2007 although the 800 lire Anna Magnani postage stamp was originally issued on 27 August 1997 as part of a series celebrating Scenes from Italian cinema (Scene di film del cinema italiano ). In fact, this stamp shows a portrait of La Magnani in Pier Paolo Pasolini's Mamma Roma . The stamp was designed by R.Morena and had a print run of 3.000.000.
![[Bloglines]](http://www.pennyblack1840.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/bloglines.png)
![[del.icio.us]](http://www.pennyblack1840.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/delicious.png)
![[Digg]](http://www.pennyblack1840.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/digg.png)
![[Facebook]](http://www.pennyblack1840.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/facebook.png)
![[Furl]](http://www.pennyblack1840.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/furl.png)
![[Google]](http://www.pennyblack1840.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/google.png)
![[Propeller]](http://www.pennyblack1840.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/propeller.png)
![[Reddit]](http://www.pennyblack1840.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/reddit.png)
![[Squidoo]](http://www.pennyblack1840.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/squidoo.png)
![[StumbleUpon]](http://www.pennyblack1840.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/stumbleupon.png)
![[Technorati]](http://www.pennyblack1840.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/technorati.png)
![[Twitter]](http://www.pennyblack1840.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/twitter.png)
![[Windows Live]](http://www.pennyblack1840.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/windowslive.png)
![[Yahoo!]](http://www.pennyblack1840.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/yahoo.png)
![[Email]](http://www.pennyblack1840.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/email.png)
| RSS