Belgium 1974 - Focus

[euroswiss]

Belgium

4th May 1974 - "Sculpture"
design : Jean Malvaux
engraver : Jean de Vos
printer: Zegeldrukkerij van Mechelen - Belgium

The first stamp (5 Belgian francs) shows the work De verwoeste stad (The Destroyed City) by the French naturalized Belarusian artist Ossip Zadkine (1888-1967).

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image source Ibolli​

This sculpture conceived in 1947 represents a man without a heart. It is a memorial to the destruction of the centre of Rotterdam in 1940 after the Luftwaffe bombing.

The figure holds both hands aloft, with its head thrown back as if crying in grief, and a gaping hole in its chest and abdomen. The absence of a heart is said to symbolize the destruction of the centre of Rotterdam. Zadkine described it as "A cry of horror against the inhuman brutality of this act of tyranny".

image source Wikimedia​

At the 1958 Brussels World Fair (Expo 58), a smaller bronze version (128 × 57.5 × 56.5 cm) was exhibited and acquired by the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium.
The second stamp (10 Belgian francs) shows the work Solidariteit (Solidarity) by the Flemish artist George Minne (1866-1941).

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image source Ibolli​

This work of 1934 represents two men supporting each other. The bronze work is located in the centre of a pond in the municipal park of Boom.

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