The five rush jobs of designer Ootje Oxenaar
You are already aware that relational similarities and contrasts exist between stamp images in terms of form (NVPH 965, designer Oxenaar), color, detail, and structure (NVPH 978/82, designers Graatsma and Slothouber). However, it is less generally known, yet interesting, that there are also 'causal relationships in the circumstances of stamp design' and that stamps are linked to them.
That is why I cite a few examples of emergency emissions by designer Oxenaar from the recently published book 'Ootje Oxenaar designer + client' (author Els Kuijpers) about the now 81-year-old Robert Deodaat Emile Oxenaar (second son 'given by God' to Oot and Mien Oxenaar).
Oxenaar was initially a freelance graphic designer, but subsequently became head of the PTT's Aesthetic Design Department (DEV) for many years, thereby commissioning and supervising (stamp) designers as an aesthetic advisor (period 1970 – 1994). In the fourth quarter of the last century, he left his mark on the design of our country.
Emergency emissions!
Rush jobs, or five 'emergency issues', relate to stamp issues that were forced to be designed in-house by the PTT Aesthetic Design Department (DEV) because the design process with an external designer failed for one reason or another. Sometimes the project is abandoned by the designer in the early stages of the assignment, and sometimes at the very end if approval from those ultimately responsible (DEV, Philately, the printing press, and the designer [even the minister or management]) is not forthcoming. It is interesting to gain insight into this and to learn about the reason and/or cause of rejection and/or termination.1) Fourteenth Census (nvph 984)
In 1971, Jan van Toorn returned the 'Fourteenth Census' stamp commission. Van Toorn “understood the disciplinary effect the stamp would serve rather than the public interest, and withdrew from the commission.” Every stamp in Van Toorn’s design proposal bears a separate number, which brings the personal registration character of the census too clearly to the fore.
After Oxenaar consulted a series of designers (no one wanted to take on the design: a tainted assignment!), he was finally commissioned by the board to design the stamp himself, placing him in the same precarious position as Van Toorn. Ultimately, Henk Gilhuis designed the stamp (Oxenaar provided some assistance). The image area of the stamp features characteristic elements of the census punch card: rounded and beveled corners and rectangular punch holes. The entire design is executed in a varied purple color (purple is the color of justice).
2) Groen van Prinsterer stamp (nvph 1090)
A Groen van Prinsterer commemorative stamp was requested at a late stage. For this issue, there was insufficient time available to engage a designer. Given that the normal design and production time for a stamp takes approximately six months, the expertise available at PTT was called upon, namely Oxenaar, Head of the Aesthetic Design Department. This issue will soon be richly provided with information in a more responsible perspective (of a historical nature). So, please be patient a little longer.
3) European Convention on Human Rights (NVPH 1157)
In 1978, Hans Koetsier's draft process for the 'European Convention on Human Rights' was called off. State Secretary for Transport, Neelie Smit-Kroes, did not appreciate the interpretation "My right?": "My duty, you mean!"
Click on the image to enlarge
Visual artist Hans Koetsier regularly concerned himself with typography and the meanings of words in advertisements at the time, seeking tensions between the readability of letters and numbers. Words, when enlarged, can have an alienating effect, giving rise to new meanings. This visual use of language by Koetsier would also be applied in a varied way to the abstract stamp subject mentioned above. In preparation for the design process, Koetsier posed the same question to a great many people (from high to low, in various locations and to different types of people): “Human rights, what do you say about that, what do you think about it?” It turned out that many took the question personally, made it personal, and interpreted it. Their own rights consistently came to the fore. In other words, 'My rights'.
For Koetsier, this was the starting point for a typographically executed stamp. He developed it ('My rights' in white cut-out letters on a purple background) and sought opinions on it again. A stimulating and provocative concept, very literal and very direct. A design with a certain monumentality and great typographical power, but it found no favor with the State Secretary, partly because the legal concept of (coal) mining rights could be confusing as an interpretation.
The NVPH catalogue lists "Aesthetic Design of the PTT" as the designer. This refers to Oxenaar. He took over the commission and executed it in a sober and businesslike typographic style, featuring a symmetrical arrangement of the words on a grey grid. As a result, the subject possesses calm and harmony, and certainly no stimulating emotional value of Koetsier's preliminary design. The final stamp has acquired a neutral and unremarkable appearance.
4) Jan Steen emission (nvph 1185)
In 1979, PTT management saw no merit in the 'Jan Steen stamp' issue by pop artist Reinier Lucassen: “The styleless style was a nihilistic affront (reprehensible insult).”
The NVPH catalogue also lists Aesthetic Design for the PTT as the designer. Naturally, this refers to Oxenaar. He took over and executed the commission. A monochrome detail image, in a grey-brown colour, of a self-portrait by Jan Steen, represents the painting 'Merry Company'. The painter shows himself laughing in the background of a family scene. In this way, Oxenaar strikingly depicts the cheerfulness and lively vision of the painter Steen regarding his own time. Something of the vitality of Jan Steen's world is evoked by [1] contrasts in the size of partial images, [2] by the dynamic diagonal placement of the country name, [3] the application of warm colours green, yellow and red. The geometrically checkered triangle in the lower left refers to the tiled floors of Dutch interiors, on which many of Steen's scenes take place.
5) Children's stamps 1993 (nvph 1575/78)
In 1993, Wim Dik took offense at the racy execution of Max Kisman's children's stamp designs. These designs mocked the conventional idealized image of children. Once again, Oxenaar became the saving grace.
Children see newspapers, children devour television, and they hear the radio. Everything from sweetness, misery, human warmth, affectation, information, and nonsense comes at them. Sometimes compelling and aggressive, sometimes like sweet syrup. The cheerfully colored stamps show something of these confusing aspects of modern media in a simple form. Concepts and feelings are summarized in simple symbols. Children experience all those wonderworlds, actively or passively. Some wise children put the headphones on the sweet elephant. See also the article 'Child on children's stamps 1993: newspaper, radio + media TV' of 21 November 2010.
Remaining designs
In addition to the five emergency issues mentioned above, Oxenaar also designed stamps that followed the established and normal channels and for which sufficient time could be allocated, such as 150 Years of Independence (1963), children's stamps 1964, children's stamps 1968, summer stamps 1970, Delft University of Technology (1992), children's stamps 1993, and the KPN IPO (1994).
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