Prominent Poles

Czeslaw Slania, Polish-Swedish master engraver and designer of postal stamps and bank notes, Swedish, Danish and Monaco Court Engraver

Born:  October, 1921, Czeladz, Poland

Died: March 17, 2005, Cracow, Poland

Summary. The British Postal Authorities wrote in 1999: “ Polish-born Czeslaw Slania has earned himself a place in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's most prominent and prolific stamp engraver. Now in his late seventies, the eminent master-craftsman has worked most extensively for the Swedish Post Office, but has also produced stamps for postal authorities all over the world. He is the inheritor of a centuries-old skill that has been practiced by some of the greatest artists, including Rubens, Rembrandt and Dürer. His dexterity and attention to detail is quite remarkable; he has the ability to engrave at an astonishing 10 lines per millimeter. Slania's versatility is evident in the broad range of subject matter he happily tackles, from royal portraits and flora and fauna to film stars. He even finds time (and space) to include the odd personal reference within his minuscule canvas: a caricature of himself or the names of friends. Besides for Sweden, Czeslaw Slania has engraved stamps for numerous other countries, often as joint issues. He has also engraved banknotes, and further there exists unofficial water colors being perfect "forgeries". Finally he has made a large number of private works serving as practice work. For the record, he has engraved 1,049 stamps so far - and more are waiting in the wing. “

United Nations information: “On 4 February 2005, the United Nations Postal Administration (UNPA) issued three commemorative stamps and three souvenir sheets on the theme “United Nations General Assembly at Headquarters — Celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the United Nations”. The stamps are hand-engraved by the world-famous stamp designer Czeslaw Slania, of Sweden.”

Press release from Sweden Post: “The Royal Court Engraver of Sweden Czeslaw Slania died the night of Thursday, March 17 after a long period of illness. Czeslaw Slania was 83 years old. Czeslaw Slania was born in Poland on October 22, 1921 … ‘A great artist has passed away. His over one thousand stamps are admired and treasured around the world. We at Sweden Post are grateful to have been part of his work,’ says Britt-Inger Hahne, Managing Director Posten AB, Sweden Post Stamps.” Early days. The Slania family consisted of father Ignacy, mother Jozefa, sister Leokadia and Czeslaw. As a young boy Czeslaw Slania was making sketches all the time, and most of all he liked to make miniatures. He amused friends by sketching banknotes where he replaced old men's faces with girlfriends’ faces. When Slania was six years old his parents moved to Lublin. After the outbreak of WWII Slania joined the partisans and became member of the communist Armia Ludowa. After the war in 1945 he came to Cracow and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts which included one of Europe's most reputed Art Graphic Centers. He studied there engraving technique, etching and copper plate engraving. During the studies he was employed it the Polish Stamp Printing House where he learned steel engraving. The engraving Slania submitted for graduation was showing the battle at Grunwald (Tannenberg ) after a painting by Jan Matejko (1838-1893). It took Slania two years to engrave this painting.

Professional activity. In 1950 he was employed as an engraver by the Polish Security Printing Works (Polska Wytwórnia Papierów Wartościowych =PWPW) in Warsaw. During the years 1951-56 Slania engraved 23 stamps for Polish Post Office. In August 1956 Slania left Poland. He came to Sweden and a great man in Swedish stamp production, Sven Ewert were impressed by Slania’s engraving works. Unfortunately there was no need for a new engraver at that time. He got some small tasks for the Post Office. He engraved "Post Saving Bank notes" and a radio license "stamp". and he also worked with retouches. In order to get more money he worked, as many other immigrants, with jobs such as dishing. He was employed at the Central Station Post Office Restaurant in Stockholm. During this time he looked for, and did get, a job in Canada. At the same time Ewert was ill and Czeslaw Slania became a deputy and stayed in Stockholm. Slania formally joined the Swedish Postal Service as a full time engraver in 1960. Since then, in 1972, he has been appointed Royal Court Engraver in Sweden, and later in Denmark and Monaco. He won numerous awards for the beauty, speed and proliferation of his engravings. Because of the number of items he has engraved and their beauty, Czeslaw Slania was the world's most famous engraver. His first stamp in Sweden was, designed in 1960, the portrait of the poet Gustav Froding. All together he designed for the Swedish Post Office more than 300 stamps, among others sets devoted to 90-th birthday of Gustav VI Adolf, the travels of Linneus, mushrooms, butterflies, marine research etc. He engraved stamps also for other countries: Australia, Belgium, China, Denmark, Faroes, France, Germany, Iceland, Monaco, Poland, San Marino, Switzerland, Thailand, UNO, USA, Vatican and other - together more than 1,000 stamps, On many stamps he left secret signs: hidden in the background names of his friends or family members. In addition to stamps he also designed bank notes for: Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Israel, New Zealand, Singapour, Spain, Hong Kong, Canada, Kazachstan, Lithuania, Portugal and Venezuela.
His most famous stamps (see the photos in the links): souvenir sheet issued by the Icelandic Post for Stamp Day 1988; a series of eight for San Marino (1974); "The Lady with the Fan" issued by Sweden in 1972; "The Postillion" issued for HAFNIA 76 issued by Denmark in 1976. His stamp Nr.1,000 was the remarkable 50 SKr Swedish stamp titled “Czeslaw Slanias 1000:e frimaerke”. It represents the middle portion of “Great Deeds of Swedish Kings” an Ehrenstrahls painting from 1695
Czeslaw Slania was buried in March, 2005 in the Rakowicki Cemetery in Cracow, Poland.

Honors, awards.
Royal Golden Cross, awarded by King Gustav VI Adolf, Sweden
Knight of the Dannebrogenorden awarded by Queen Maragaret II, Denmark
St. Charles Cross, awarded by Prince Rainier III, Monaco
Commander’s Cross of the order of Polonia Restituta awarded by the President of Poland Aleksander Kwasniewski (1999)
The prize for the world’s most attractive stamp, Sweden’s “Ballet” (1979)
The first Swedish Academy of the Philatelic Art was named after Slania (1981)
Robert Stolz prize for the set, Music in Sweden, awarded by the Philatelic Music Circle (1983)
The catalog Mesteren Czeslaw Slania, Biografi og Katalog was published in Denmark (1986).
Czeslaw Slania's Life Work (Bernadotte, 1989; Das Lebenswerk von Czeslaw Slania) A true masterwork by the world's leading macro-photographer (and member of the Swedish royal family).
Guinness Book of Records for the record number of engraved postal stamps (1999)
Honorary citizen of Czeladz, Poland (1999)
British Royal Mail Lifetime Achievement Award for his 50 years in design (2002)
Study groups of his methods of work have been organized in several countries: “Czeslaw Slania Samfundet” in Stockholm, Sweden; "Czeslaw Slania Study Group" started in 1985 in Milwaukee, USA; “Danpolphil” in Copenhagen, Denmark; “Stowarzyszenie Czeslawa Slani” in Jelenia Gora, Poland.

Source:
This article uses, among others, material from the Wikipedia article "Czeslaw Slania" licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. :
Wikipedia (Judycki)
Other sources:
Color photos of all his stamps
United Nations
Jay Smith
Obituary
The Buffalo (Winnipeg)
Czeslaw Slania Study Group (Milwaukee)

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