A series of local artists self portraits. A fitting complement to the self reflection that must go on during a period of heavy change. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
A large well printed stamp in bold colors is always a pleasure. Doubly so when the art being displayed is actually local to the place. The stamp designers in this case decided on a group of Romanian artists’ self portraits. This can be seen as a country looking in the mirror. How appropriate at a time of great change. There is always the fight over what to preserve and what to renew. A great time to look in the mirror.
Todays stamp is issue A608, a 6.5 Lei stamp issued by the Peoples Republic of Romania on August 10th, 1972. The stamp features Romanian artist Ion Andreescu’s self portrait ninety years after his death. It was part of a four stamp issue in various denominations featuring self portraits of local artists. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 30 cents in its cancelled to order state.
Romania in the 1960s had its communist government go through a period of maturation. Many of the Warsaw Pact allies found themselves with governments that were much more hardline than the Soviet Union itself as their leaders did not change when Khrushchev came to power in Russia. This left an opening for China that was much more doctrinally pure. Romania itself was coming out of a period of punishment for being on the wrong side in World War II. It was only just wrestling control of its industries that had been taken over by Russian entities as to guarantee payment of reparations due the Soviet Union.
In 1965, Nicolae Ceausescu took over as part boss. He was able to use some of the developments of the past government to his advantage. Romania had come a long way to transition from a peasant country to an industrial one with the concomitant move to the cities. The previous government had also managed to get Soviet troops out of Romania in 1958. This made it much more difficult to snap Romania back into line as was done with Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968. Ceausescu had more freedom to operate.
Operate he did. He opened relations both with Red China and with the west. Romania always had a closeness with France and this rematerisalized. The ties with the west led to an influx of consumer goods into the cities that was very popular. Also the contacts with China and North Korea inspired Ceausescu to embark on a plan to renew the cities in a Communist modern image. This lead to much construction of apartments and subways and large public edifices. This tended to wipe clean the vestiges of old Romania. The industrialization and urbanization led to a reduction in birth rates. This was addressed by banning abortion and a big push to more children that lead to the largest generation Romania as seen to date. Ceausescu was out to make Romania an important country.
Ion Andreescu the artist on todays stamp had a short life. He was allowed into a local art school and soon was staying on as a teacher of drawing and calligraphy. He was allowed to go on to Paris where he was able to refine his skills and take in the influence of the impressionist movement. He did both landscapes and portraits including a series of portraits of a Romanian peasant girl. At age 32 he returned to Romania sick with tuberculosis. He died of this the next year.
Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to celebrate introspection. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.