20th anniversary of death of cardinal Clemens August Graf Galen - Germany / Federal Republic of Germany 1966 - 20 Pfennig

Clemens August, Cardinal Count of Galen, is honored with this commemorative stamp on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of his death. He was born on 16 March 1878 in Dinklage and has become widely known for his courageous resistance to National Socialism. Ignoring the danger, he made his manifestations against the church and racial policies of the regime of violence. He died on March 22, 1946 in Münster. Such a man, who boldly dared to make the most of his efforts, is best honored by the fact that his significant outward appearance is shown to posterity. Thus the artists commissioned with the processing of proposals were given the task from the outset to deal again with the difficult problem of the portrait mark. The variety of possibilities becomes clear in the study of the received solutions. Karl Oskar Blase brought a design in three different color variations. Horst A. Rischka also received a paper, while Hella and Heinz Schillinger and Herbert Kern with two each, Erika and Gerd Aretz took part in three works. It can be seen that the portrait can be applied in many ways and in many graphic techniques. The variability are in principle no limits. But to fulfill the demand that the portrait satisfies the self-evident claim of likeness and, at the same time, fits into the "mark" as its typical component, will succeed only in rare cases. To achieve a good result was here only with the pure profile. The choice fell on the solution of Karl Oskar Blase. It was the only one in this series of proposals that could be realized with full conviction. The result obtained after numerous color experiments, however, is an example that may well be considered a cabinet piece of the brand art. After the Federal Minister for the Post and Telecommunications had given the proposal of the Art Advisory Board for the execution of this draft, the Bundesdruckerei Berlin got the three-color offset printing with all circumspection. From the cardinal red background the picture lights up brighter. The black of the writing stands in effective contrast to the internal drawing of the portrait.