Pierre Gandon was a French illustrator and engraver of

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail). Then the stamp is affixed to the f ...

s. He was born on 20 January 1899 in

L'Haÿ-les-Roses L'Haÿ-les-Roses () is a Communes of France, commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. L'Haÿ-les-Roses is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Val-de-Marne ''Département ...

(

Val-de-Marne Val-de-Marne (, "Vale of the Marne") is a department of France located in the Île-de-France region. Named after the river Marne, it is situated in the Grand Paris metropolis to the southeast of the City of Paris. In 2019, Val-de-Marne had a ...

) and died on 23 July 1990.

Youth

His father

Gaston Gandon Gaston is a masculine given name of French origin and a surname. The name "Gaston" may refer to: People First name *Gaston I, Count of Foix (1287–1315) *Gaston II, Count of Foix (1308–1343) *Gaston III, Count of Foix (1331–1391) *Gaston I ...

was also an engraver at the Institut de gravure of Paris and designed stamps for some countries and two for France (Le Burelé 50 Francs in 1936 and the cathedral of Strasbourg in 1939). Pierre Gandon studied in Paris at the

École Estienne L'école Estienne is the traditional name of the l'École supérieure des arts et industries graphiques (ESAIG) (Graduate School of Arts and Printing Industry). It is located at 18, Boulevard Auguste-Blanqui in the 13th arrondissement of Par ...

, then at the

École des Beaux-Arts ; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centu ...

. He won his first of many prizes in 1921: the

Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

Stamp designer

Gandon answered an advertisement in a paper and finally obtained the right to design "Femme indigène", his first

series issued 1941 in the French colony of

Dahomey The Kingdom of Dahomey () was a West African List of kingdoms in Africa throughout history, kingdom located within present-day Benin that existed from approximately 1600 until 1904. It developed on the Abomey Plateau amongst the Fon people in ...

. The same year was issued his first stamp for France : the

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

Reims Reims ( ; ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...

. In 1941, during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, with Luigi Corbellini, Gérard Cochet, and others Gandon was one of the painters and sculptors who received the higher rate of 10,000

Francs The franc is any of various units of currency. One franc is typically divided into 100 centimes. The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription ''francorum rex'' ( King of the Franks) used on early French coins and until the 18th centur ...

from the City of Paris to compensate artists and intellectuals for loss of income. Four times he received the Grand Prix de l'Art philatélique during his career that including: * « Haute couture parisienne» (Paris high sewing), drawn by Gandon, engraved by Jules Piel, France, 1953. * « La jeune fille de Bora Bora » (The Girl of Bora Bora), Drawn and Engraved by Gandon, French Polynesia, 1955. * « ''Les joueurs de cartes'' » (''Card Players''), painting by Paul Cézanne, France, 1961. This stamp was part of the first series of paintings that the French Post issued. * « ''La Dame à la licorne'' » (''The Lady and the Unicorn''), medieval tapestry, France, 1964. Among the most famous stamps designed and engraved by Gandon are two series of female allegories in common use of the 1940s, 1970s and 1980s: three French

definitive stamp A definitive stamp is a postage stamp that is part of the regular issue of a country's stamps, available for sale by the post office for an extended period of time and designed to serve the everyday postal needs of the country. The term is used in ...

s series : * Marianne de Gandon series issued at the end of the Second World War, *

Sabine de Gandon series The Sabines (, , , ; ) were an Italic people who lived in the central Apennine Mountains (see Sabina) of the ancient Italian Peninsula, also inhabiting Latium north of the Anio before the founding of Rome. The Sabines divided into t ...

inspired by

Jacques-Louis David Jacques-Louis David (; 30 August 1748 – 29 December 1825) was a French painter in the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era. In the 1780s, his cerebral brand of history painting marked a change in ...

's ''The Intervention of the Sabine Women'', issued during the 1970s, * and Liberté de Gandon series inspired by

Eugène Delacroix Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix ( ; ; 26 April 1798 – 13 August 1863) was a French people, French Romanticism, Romantic artist who was regarded as the leader of the French Romantic school.Noon, Patrick, et al., ''Crossing the Channel: ...

's ''

Liberty Leading the People ''Liberty Leading the People'' ( ) is a painting of the Romantic era by the French artist Eugène Delacroix, commemorating the July Revolution of 1830 that toppled King Charles X (''r.'' 1824–1830). A bare-breasted “woman of the people” w ...

''. He was 82 years old when he engraved this stamp. His last stamp was issued for the ''Journée du timbre 1983''. In total, Pierre Gandon designed and/or engraved over 350 stamps for France and over double that number for the French Colonies. He designed the first stamps issued by the

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to Central African Republic–Chad border, the north, Sudan to Central African Republic–Sudan border, the northeast, South Sudan to Central ...

in December 1959.

References

* Stamps Review magazine, special issue No. 3, July–September 2003 * Alphonse Daudet's Lettres de mon moulin, illustrations Pierre Gandon, 1937 Librairie des Amateurs, Ferroud Publishers, Paris ;Notes {{DEFAULTSORT:Gandon, Pierre 1899 births 1990 deaths People from L'Haÿ-les-Roses 20th-century French engravers French engravers French illustrators French stamp designers Prix de Rome for engraving

Youth

Stamp designer

See also

References