Elisabeth von Janota-Bzowski

Elisabeth von Janota Bzowski born Rupp (born November 21, 1912 in Prague , Austria-Hungary , † August 15, 2012 in Marl , North Rhine-Westphalia ) was a German artist and graphic designer . She has designed numerous postage stamps and portrayed famous politicians for US magazines.

Life

Elisabeth von Janota-Bzowski is often only called "the Janota" in professional circles. Her parents discovered her talent at an early age and enabled her to take painting and drawing lessons when she was ten. At 17 she was already selling her first pictures. After studying at the Reimann School , she began her international career, which also took her to the United States.

There she worked in the advertising industry for the American tobacco company RJ Reynolds , the hotel chain InterContinental and the chemical groups DuPont and Bayer . She designed portraits of well-known politicians for large magazines. The pictures appeared on the covers of the US magazine Time , Vogue and Spiegel , among others . She drew pictures of Franz Josef Strauss , Gerald Ford and US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger for Time Magazine . In Germany she made a name for herself in the 1960s by working as a graphic designer on advertising campaigns for Burda , C&A and Henkel .

In Germany, Elisabeth von Janota-Bzowski is best known for her postage stamp designs. Her art has graced numerous Deutsche Post stamps since 1977. Her postage stamp designs show many portraits, for example of Martin Luther, Goethe or Anne Frank. Many of these portraits are drawn with such attention to detail that you might think you are holding a photograph in the form of a postage stamp. Her last stamp design appeared in 2002 on the occasion of Hermann Hesse's 125th birthday .

In 1983 she worked on an art paper for the United Nations flag series, in which works by Marc Chagall , Salvador Dalí and Andy Warhol appeared. "The Janota" drew the head of a white horse as a symbol of peace: "Its strength, its peace-loving nature, its loyalty in danger, its perseverance and camaraderie on the side of man are a high ethical example," she said. His head is adorned with ribbons that carry the colors of the five continents and are attached to the emblem of the United Nations. She explained her thoughts at the time as follows: “The strength of the UN's vision as a community of peoples is symbolized. It takes courage and strength, energy and perseverance to achieve peace. ”Some time later, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the United Nations, twelve postage stamps by famous artists were issued - among other things, it was their image of the symbolic and graceful horse that was selected .

auction

The Michel catalog contains numerous postage stamps with their designs, for example by Wilhelm Hauff , Anne Frank , Elly Heuss-Knapp , Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , Johann Peter Hebel , Friedrich Hölderlin or their European stamps on the history of the postal and telecommunications system.

The Düsseldorf auction house Felzmann, which has already auctioned three valuable Audrey Hepburn brands , has exclusively secured numerous designs by Elisabeth von Janota-Bzowski. They show the way from the first to the finished draft of your stamps. These include, for example, the drafts of the horse's head for the United Nations leaflet, for Anne Frank, the folklore dancers with traditional costumes from the Black Forest and Friesland, and the special stamp that she designed on the occasion of Clemens Brentano's 250th birthday.

Awards

Most beautiful postage stamp international 1981

Elisabeth von Janota-Bzowski is often quoted as saying: “A postage stamp is a mini-poster and a poster is a telegram. The message must be captured immediately, quickly and completely. Therefore the task is always the same: to make each topic as memorable as possible. "

• In 1981 , its stamp on "Stamp Day 1981" won the "Most Beautiful Election" carried out by Deutsche Post. She drew a scene in front of a Prussian post office and won over the stamp lovers who took part in the election. It was also chosen internationally as the most beautiful postage stamp.
• In 1982 , her stamp “400 Years of the Gregorian Calendar ” again won the title “Choice of the Most Beautiful”.

Postage stamp designs (selection)

1977-1988

1978: Clemens Brentano

• October 13, 1977: 100 years of the telephone in Germany
• November 10, 1977: 150th anniversary of Wilhelm Hauff's death
• August 17, 1978: Clemens Brentano's 200th birthday

1979

• February 14, 1979: Agnes Miegel's 100th birthday
• May 17, 1979: European stamps on the history of post and telecommunications: Telegraph office, 1863 and post office counter, 1854
• May 17, 1979: Anne Frank's 50th birthday

1980

• May 8, 1980: European stamps with the theme “Famous Personalities”: Scholars Albertus Magnus and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
• July 10, 1980: 1500th birthday of St. Benedict of Nursia

1981

• January 15, 1981: 100th birthday of Elly Heuss-Knapp
• February 12, 1981: Georg Philipp Telemann's 300th birthday
• May 7, 1981: European stamp with the theme of folklore: dancing couple in Black Forest costume and dancing couple in Frisian costume
• October 8, 1981: Day of the postage stamp "Scene at a post office around 1855"
• November 12, 1981: 150th anniversary of Carl von Clausewitz's death

1982

• January 13, 1982: The Bremen Town Musicians
• February 18, 1982: 150th anniversary of the death of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
• October 14, 1982: 400 years of the Gregorian calendar

1983

• May 5, 1983: 150th birthday of Johannes Brahms
• August 11, 1983: 250th birthday of Christoph Martin Wieland
• August 11, 1983: 100th birthday of Otto Warburg
• October 13, 1983: 500th birthday of Martin Luther

1984-1985

• January 12, 1984: 150th birthday of Philipp Reis
• January 10, 1985: 200th birthday of the Brothers Grimm
• April 16, 1985: 225th birthday of Johann Peter Hebel

2000-2002

• August 14, 2000: 100th anniversary of Friedrich Nietzsche's death
• July 4, 2002: Hermann Hesse's 125th birthday

• 

  1985: 200th birthday of the Brothers Grimm

• 

  2000: 100th anniversary of Friedrich Nietzsche's death

Appreciation of the life's work

In memory of the artist and in recognition of her life's work, Deutsche Post AG published a book about her life, which took her from Prague and Berlin to the USA and Chile.

Exhibitions

• "Personality, history, culture - postage stamp designs by Elisabeth von Janota-Bzowski"
  • November 26, 1982 to January 9, 1983: Goethe Museum Düsseldorf
  • September 11th to October 30th 1983: "The Luther Brand", Heylshof -Atelier-Presentation for the Luther year 1983, Worms
  • October 2 to 28, 1984: Rotenburg local history museum (Wümme)
• "Worldwide communication through the art of postage"
  • July 2 to August 28, 1987: Cologne
• "Personality and History - Postage Stamp Designs by Elisabeth von Janota-Bzowski"
  • April 2 to Sunday June 25, 1995: Britz Palace, Berlin

"History has many faces" - original drafts for postage stamps for the Deutsche Bundespost. August 11 to October 29, 1995: Museum of the Reich Chamber of Justice in Wetzlar.

• "Postage stamp art - impressions from the life's work of Elisabeth von Janota-Bzowski"
  • from October 6, 2010, Felzmann Auction House, Düsseldorf

Web links

Commons : Janota-Bzowski  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Leaflet Sheet 31: Personality, History, Culture. Postage stamp designs by Elisabeth von Janota-Bzowski for the exhibition in the Goethemuseum
• Briefmarken-Kunst - An exhibition ( Memento from October 10, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Information about Elisabeth von Janota-Bzowski and her designs for the exhibition at the Felzmann auction house (German / English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Obituary notice in Rheinische Post from August 18, 2012
2. ↑ ^{a b} The woman for character heads  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Deutsche Post Archive  
3. ↑ Hartmut Schmidt (preface) in: "Worldwide communication through the art of postage" - catalog for the exhibition from July 2nd to August 28th, 1987.
4. ↑ Book about the life of Elisabeth by Janota-Bzowski