Passion Play Oberammergau 1960 - Germany / Federal Republic of Germany 1960 - 10

The world-famous Oberammergau Passion Play, whose origins date back to the 17th century, takes place every ten years. For the game year 1960, the Deutsche Bundespost is issuing a special stamp, with which the cultural significance of this religious game is to be appreciated. It was suggested to the artists commissioned with the drafting of the proposal that the seriousness of the event and the nature of the Bavarian country folk be equally reflected in their proposals. Bert Jäger sent a draft. Werner Labbé received two, Herbert Kern and Prof. Georg Trump each three solutions, to which the last mentioned artist provided a colored version. There are three versions by Otto Rohse, some of which have been modified several times in different color combinations. It is all about serious and worthy achievements that could well do justice to the purpose. Nonetheless, some narratives came together in a narrowest choice because they proved to be particularly apt and serene formulations: the heraldically rigorous and well-balanced groupings of Prof. Georg Trump, the freer, almost one might say, narrative narrative account of Bert Jäger, which, however, is in a beautiful unity, and finally the solution of Herbert Kern, originating from the peasant cabinet and votive painting, in the middle of which, as a filling of a medallion, the martyr tools of Golgotha ​​stand like heraldic emblems. The obvious quality of these services made the Art Council a difficult choice. After all, the decisive factor was that Herbert Kern's work fulfilled the task in the most obvious way and with a happy mixture of seriousness and grace. In a restrained colourfulness she revives the buoyancy of the Bavarian baroque with today's stylistic devices, which also influenced the text of the Passion plays. The Federal Minister for the Post and Telecommunications has complied with the recommendation of the Art Advisory Council and this draft intended for execution. The stamp has been produced in four-color offset printing with green, yellow and two gray tones at Bundesdruckerei Berlin.