Putting Their Stamp on Design

One of the anniversaries I missed earlier this year was the 180th anniversary of the postage stamp in May. Even though many believe the postage stamp will become obsolete I doubt it will happen in my lifetime. Judging by the popularity of stamp collecting I also think that the postage stamp will live on as a collectors item long after its practical use has ended.

I’ve written one previous article on postage stamps, concentrating on the subject of AIDS and HIV awareness in stamp design. I also mentioned the most prolific collector of these stamps, Blair Coldwell Henshaw (1949-2002).

Members of the lgbt community have been depicted on thousands of stamps around the world. Among the most recent have been Harvey Milk on US stamps and actors Mark Gatiss and Andrew Scott on a set of UK stamps celebrating the BBC series “Sherlock”. There has also been members from many different sections of the community, ranging from the Emperor Hadrian to Mr. Gay Europe 2014.

Works by lgbt artists have also featured on stamps many times. I haven’t checked how many stamps have featured Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” but I expect it’s quite a few.

There have been a few lgbt artists who have designed postage stamps. These stamps are individual works in their own right and not reproductions of existing works. So think about this – by just buying a postage stamp designed by a famous artist, whether lgbt or not, you are buying an original work, albeit a tiny mass-produced one, for just a few pennies. Occasionally the design has also been made available as a full-size print or some other form without the country name or stamp price, but the original is still the postage stamp.

(left to right) postage stamps designed by David Hockney, Jean Cocteau, Sir Howard Hodgkin and two by Hubert de Givenchy.

Postage stamp design has its own requirements and specifications. Images need to be clear, have the price visible but not intrusive, and have the name of the issuing nation (except the UK, which shows the head of the monarch). A lot of postal services have their own design department who, as well as stamps, also design first day covers and promotional material.

One of the most prolific postage stamp designers who is openly gay is Sergio Baradat. Cuban-born Sergio is currently the Art Director of the United Nations Postal Administration (Global Graphics and Communications). His most recent design was to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the eradication of smallpox. The stamp was issued by the UN and World Health Organisation on 8th May this year.

Last year Sergio designed stamps depicting heritage sites in his native Cuba for the UN. He and his family left Cuba and moved to the USA (via Spain) when he was a child. Eventually they settled in Miami where his parents opened a pharmacy. Perhaps this is why they hoped their son would enter the medical profession. Instead Sergio’s heart was set on an artistic career.

Before becoming involved in stamp design Sergio worked as an illustrator and designer on many well-known publications, including “Vanity Fair”, “Time”, “Vogue” and “GQ”. In 2012 the UN Postal Administration approached him to head their design department, and since then Sergio has designed and overseen hundreds of stamps issued by the UN. In addition he has designed stamps for the USA.

Of particular significance to the lgbt community are his designs for a set of stamps issued by the UN on 5th February 2016. These were issued to promote lgbt equality, diversity and inclusion worldwide (shown below). The UN issues stamps in three languages – English, French and German – and in US dollars, Swiss francs and Euros. Sergio has always been influence by art deco of a century ago and the lgbt equality stamps show this influence clearly.

All of Sergio Baradat’s design have been for commemorative stamps and special issues. The general stamp used of each nation around the world is called a definitive. Enid Marx (1902-1998), a British lgbt artist, designed some of the most familiar definitive stamps of my childhood (shown below).

Although not nearly as prolific in stamp design as Sergio Baradat Enid produced sketches and preliminary designs for around a dozen UK stamps, both definitive and commemorative. She was first asked to submit a design in 1947 for a commemorative stamp for the forthcoming Festival of Britain in 1951. Her design was one of several submitted by other artists and hers was rejected by the Royal Mail Stamp Advisory Committee. However, she was asked to submit designs for the definitive issues shown above, which were accepted, and several other commemorative issues.

Among the other designs Enid was invited to submit were for stamps for the Queen’s Coronation in 1953, the 1958 Commonwealth Games, and National Nature Week in 1963. Her only commemorative designs that were accepted were those of the 1976 Christmas set, of which I’ll write more in my Advent series.

Enid Marx was much more than a stamp designer. She was a photographer, illustrator, textile designer, graphic artist and print-maker. She also wrote and illustrated a very popular children’s book during World War II called “Bulgy the Barrage Balloon”. In 1944 she was appointed Royal Designer for Industry by the Royal Society of Arts, an award given to designers who have “sustained excellence in aesthetic and efficient design for industry”.

Throughout the 180-year-long history of the postage stamp many lgbt artists and designers, known and unknown, have produced miniature works of art that most people throw away (those who use them at all). Thank goodness there are stamp collectors who make sure that these little masterpieces, important pieces of lgbt and social history, are not lost forever.