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Stamp booklet Hugo Simberg

New booklet

In the series Pro Filatelia Finland issued a stamp booklet in honor of one of its special painters. It is published on occasion of the internordic stamp exhibition Nordia 99, which was held in Turku from 24 untill 26 September 1999. Two stamps in the booklet show paintings of an artist who was for a long time misunderstood: Hugo Simberg.

Hugo Simberg

Hugo Simberg was born in 1873. He died in 1917. For him symbolism was the only way of expressing his own internal world. His artistic ambitions met with little understanding. The only one who believed in him and supported him was his master, the painter Akseli Gallen-Kallela. He encouraged him even when Hugo Simberg was publicly humiliated by others. His autumn exhibition of 1898 became a turning point in his life. Finnish critics began to take Hugo Simberg seriously. Still in 1898 Hugo Simberg was accepted as member of the Artists' Association of Finland. But only after his death the real importance of his work was recognised.

Wounded Angel

One of the stamps picture de painting 'Wounded Angel': Solemn boys are carrying an angel who has hurt her wing. The angel, a young girl, is sitting on a stretcher. She has a bandage covering her eyes and in her hand she is holding a small wilted bunch of flowers. The group is set in a somewhat mystic empty plain with a lake in the background. A few years later Simberg reproduced this work as a fresco in a church in Tampere, but now with the industrial background of that town.

Garden of Death

On the other stamp the painting 'Garden of Death' (water colour and gouache) is pictured. The work expresses Simberg's thoughts on death. In general the artist did nothing to make interpretation of his work easy, but in this case he wrote on some sketches that de Garden of Death depicts a place where the souls must go before they can enter Heaven, the purgatory. Also from this work the artist made a fresco in the same church as from the Wounded Angel. Besides Hugo Simberg used the same motif in other works, such as woodcuts and etches.
The woodcut of Simberg's "Autumn" is pictured on the front of the booklet.

Details of the postage stamps

Face Value: 2 x 3.50 + 0.50 FIM (booklet price FIM 8.00).
Graphic design: Pentti Rahikainen from photographs of Jouko Könönen (Garden of Death), Hannu Aaltonen (Wounded Angel) and Janne Tuominen (Autumn).
Perforation: 13 1/4 x 13 3/4.
Size: stamps 36 x 40.6 mm each, in a sheet of 100 x 54 mm; booklet 105 x 50 mm, folded.
Printing method: stamps offset 4/0; cover offset 4/1 by Joh. Enschedé Security Printers, The Netherlands.