50 Years of Greenlandic Stamps: culture, nature, history and present.

More than 130 stamps in half a century: No other Greenlandic artist has created stamp designs for POST Greenland for so many years, and to such an extent, as Jens Rosing. To many collectors, Jens Rosing almost has become synonymous with Greenlandic stamps, an area on which he has left a significant mark through his work.

“The Grand Old Man”, who turned 80 years in 2005, made his stamp debut back in 1957. Since then Jens Rosing has created many stamps depicting especially mythological themes, the Greenlandic fauna, Arctic Vikings, and many other interesting themes.


POST Greenland has specifically asked Jens Rosing to create the motif for a last stamp, as a gesture for his lifelong artistic commitment as the fantastic painter, story-teller and person he is.
It is not visual art alone, which Jens Rosing is so acclaimed and popular for. For instance, he has also written about his experiences as a reindeer guard in Northern Norway, in the book “Den dragende flok” (1954), which formed his debut work as an author. He also wrote three books on the Arctic Vikings, the Norsemen who settled in Greenland. Moreover, he has collected – and retold – legends and stories from Greenland.

His interest in art, and his devotion, can be traced back to his ancestors. The early Rosings are wellknown in Greenland for their accomplishments within arts and crafts. Jens Rosing has passed this artistic heritage on to his daughter Ina, who has also contributed to Greenlandic stamp art, among others the series “Edible Plants in Greenland” and the commemorative G380, “West Nordic Council – Hydro Power”, issued in January.

From a postal administration’s viewpoint, it is essential to cooperate with artists who understand the tiny format, demanding greater and different competence from the artist in the creative process than ordinary painting.

And like no one else, Jens Rosing has had the skills to profit from the tiny format to bring out precisely what Greenlandic stamps are supposed to reflect: Greenland’s culture, nature, history and present.
The design of his last stamp, to be issued on 21st May, reflects in a classical way this extraordinary ability.

On top of this new art stamp Jens Rosing literally sets his mark on the whole series, since he has also created the design in the first day cancellation. With his permission, POST Greenland uses Jens Rosing’s private wax seal signature, depicting the Sun, the Cresent, a human and a Great Northern Diver as symbols.

It is said that the Great Northern Diver provided us humans with language and songs, enabling us to interpret and tell about the world. No one but Jens Rosing has been gifted with the art of telling the world about Greenland, literarily as well as artistically.





Son of author, clergyman and painter Otto Rosing
Married to Dagny Rosing
Children: Aslak, Øyvind, Minik and Ina
1925 Born in Ilulissat (28th July)
1944 Lower secondary school leaving examination in Denmark
1944-46 Employment at Royal Greenland Trading Company
1947-1948 Academy of free and mercantile art
1948-1950 Art Academy’s painter school
1952 Married to Dagny Nielsen
1954 Debut in book form - ”Den dragende flok” (memoirs)
1957 First stamp designed for the Greenlandic postal administration
1976-1978 Head of Greenland’s National Museum in Nuuk
1979 The Danish Authors’ Association’s Specialist Literature Award
1985 Greenland Home Rule Culture Award
1989 The State’s Art Fund, lifelong performance
1999 Greenland Home Rule Decoration given for meritorious services
2004 Gurli and Charles Haugbøll-Award – the specialist literature group of the Danish Authors’ Association

01100384
Contemporary Art I/1
DKK 3.00
Issue date: 21.05.2007
8 stamps per sheet
Size: double E – horizontal
Artist: Jens Rosing
Outside measurements: 101 x 43.26 mm
Printing method: Offset
Paper: TR8 Stamp Paper PVA

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