Postage stamps: Important Germans - Germany / Federal Republic of Germany 1961 - 8

All values ​​were printed in portrait size I portrait format (21.5 x 25.5 mm) in 100 pieces on the counter. For printing, fluorescent postage stamp paper with watermark "DBP" is used. On white paper with watermark "DBP" in the beginning only the values ​​5, 7, 8, 10, 15, 20 and 40 Pf were printed. This only applies to the issue with the inscription "Deutsche Bundespost", but not for the version "Deutsche Bundespost Berlin". The new postage stamp permanent series bears portraits of great German intellectuals. In a publication initiated by the Art Advisory Council, the design of the drafts states: »In order to find a useful basic form, four artists were invited to make experiments with the portraits of Robert Bosch, Gerhart Hauptmann and Albert Einstein. From the graphic artists Hans Michel and Günther Kieser received four designs. Prof. Paul Dietrich and Bert Jäger each provided three suggestions, Herbert Kern participated with eleven sheets. The main objective of the assessment was to obtain a form that not only solves the difficult problem of presenting a portrait in a brand-fair way, but at the same time guarantees that a uniform, self-contained, but at the same time also living row arises. The obvious danger of monotony and schematic equanimity was to ban it from the outset. Nevertheless, the uniform standard had to be maintained, and it was not difficult to see that this principle alone would be opposed by the variety of head shapes, for example, medieval beard or Baroque curls. These and many other complications, which could jeopardize the perseverance of such a long series, had to be foreseen in order to make the right choice of the artist, and thus to achieve a good result. Because it was clear from the outset that the processing of the entire episode should be put in one hand. The work of the graphic artists Hans Michel and Günther Kieser showed to a special degree the characteristics that led to the emergence of real brands. Image and writing, in their arrangement to each other and in the lines, grow together into a structure closely related to the coin. The Art Advisory Board therefore proposed to commission these artists with the development of the entire series. The new brands continue to meet a technical requirement related to their use in modern launching machines. For this automatic letter set up a fluorescent additive must be added to the common Postwertzeichenpapier whose effect depends on the correct ratio of printed and unprinted surface parts. To create this relationship, the selected designs had to be reworked. The form of a strong frame proved to be useful, enclosing a nearly square surface for the portrait. The Federal Minister for the Post and Telecommunications has approved the proposal of the Art Advisory Board. Bundesdruckerei in Berlin is printing the series. «