Jens Rosing
Jens Christian Rosing (28 July 1925 – 24 May 2008) was a Greenlandic artist notable for designing the coat of arms of Greenland, many Greenlandic postage stamps, as well as illustrated children's books and water colors.
Rosing was born in Ilulissat (Jakobshavn), Greenland, son of priest and artist Otto Rosing. He married Dagny Rosing (maiden name Nielsen), who is Danish, and they had 3 boys and one girl. Until the late 1950s, they lived in the fjords of Nuuk, Greenland. They lived for many years in a suburb of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Rosing was known as the number one stamp designer for Greenland. Throughout his 50-year career, Rosing produced 130 stamp designs, and his first design was produced in the 1950s.
The first design was a commemorative stamp for Greenland. It had a scene featured on it from the Mother of the Sea. There are two versions of the stamp. The first stamp was printed in 1957 in a green-blue color. The reprint was in 1961, in just a blue color.
In 1962, another stamp was created from Drum Dance, and in 1966 a stamp showing The Boy and the Fox was created. In 1985, the coat of arms stamp was designed by Rosing. The stamp does feature a standing polar bear, in which Rosing did not design. The last stamp was created in 2007. It features dogs pulling a sled in an unknown place in Greenland.
All Greenlandic stamps were printed in only one color until the 1980s. Beginning in 1985, stamps became printed in offset, or in a combination of offset and recess-type printing. The later versions are brighter. However, they fail to show the appearance of the one color recess printing stamps.
Publications
- Hvis vi vågner til havblik, Borgens Forlag, Copenhagen, 1993
- Si nous nous réveillons par temps calme ..., éditions Paulsen, Paris 2007
- Things and Wonders, the Norsemen in Greenland and America, Gavia, Humlebæk, 2000
Sources
- Brunstrom,C. [2010]. Jens Rosing: Greenland’s Grand Old Man. http://www.philatelicdatabase.com/stamp-designers/jens-rosing-greenlands-grand-old-man/