Hellenic Post honors the most important creators of the Greek stamp and releases on 29 January 2025 the Commemorative Series of Stamps "Iconic Greek Stamp Artists", which includes 3 stamps.

DIMITRIS BISKINIS (1891-1947)

Dimitris Biskinis lived at the crossroads between the realistic, classical art style of the 19th century and the radical changes of the 20th. Born in Patras in 1891, he had his first painting lessons in the workshop of his grandfather, the icon painter Giorgis Zografos. In 1901, he entered the School of Fine Arts, where he was first taught by Georgios Roilos and Konstantinos Volanakis. However, he left for a period, returning in 1906, this time to study under Dimitrios Geraniotis and Georgios Jakobides. He won all the school’s prizes, and in 1914 was awarded the Averoff Scholarship, which he used to continue his education at the Académie Julian and the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris. His work gained swift recognition in the French capital, and he was invited to participate in the Salon des Artistes Français with four paintings.

His art is chiefly inspired by mythological and religious themes, moving between symbolism and allegory. What dominates, though, whatever the subject, is the compositional integrity of the image, which Biskinis considered to be the most important aspect of the painter’s craft.

In 1928, he was appointed a professor at the Athens School of Fine Arts.

His association with Hellenic Post began with the decorative elements of a set commemorating the Greek Revolution. In 1933 and 1935, he was asked to design the issues Democracy and Mythology, respectively. Here, within a framework of symbolism, Biskinis found new ways to present even the most ancient archetypes.

He regarded Mythology as one of his finest achievements. Indeed, at the 1951 World Philatelic Congress in Buenos Aires, it was singled out to receive first prize among the world’s best stamps.

Unfortunately, this came four years after his premature death. ­

YANNIS KEFALLINOS (1894-1957)

Yannis Kefallinos was born in 1894 in Alexandria, Egypt. In 1912, he graduated from the Averoff School and enrolled at Ghent University to study Engineering. The following year, however, he moved to Paris to study first at the École des Beaux-Arts and then at a free academy of painting. He graduated in 1920, and a decade later, in 1931, became Professor of Engraving at the School of Fine Arts in Greece.

Kefallinos was a reforming figure in his department. He set up a printing workshop, convinced that engraving should transcend the confines of book illustration to encompass all forms of printed material, whether large or small, public or private, official or commercial. For him, no aspect of the craft was unworthy of attention or exploration.

His first commission from Hellenic Post was a stamp to commemorate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Universal Postal Union. In Greece, the competition held to choose a design was unsuccessful, even though it was held twice. With time running short, the art historian Pantelis Prevelakis suggested that Kefallinos be invited to create it. Although its presentation was – unsurprisingly – delayed, it received two accolades. First, in 1950, it was named the best of all the postal issues marking the occasion worldwide, and then it was announced as one of the ten top designs of the year by the philatelic magazine Stamp Collector’s Annual of London.

During Prevelakis’s four years on the Hellenic Post advisory board, Kefallinos put himself forward to design the sets Paul the Apostle, Reconstruction, National Products and Ancient Art, which can be seen within the context of a wider move to reassess the historical and aesthetic continuity of Greek art.

Yannis Kefallinos’s work earned widespread admiration, particularly for the unparalleled aesthetic quality of his stamps. His legacy extends also to his teaching and the example he set, which would inspire future generations of young engravers.

TASSOS (1914-1985)

Tassos Alevizos was born in Lefkochora, Messinia, in 1914. He studied painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts and was an apprentice in the studios of Thomas Thomopoulos and Konstantinos Parthenis. He was also one of Yannis Kefallinos’s first engraving students. He initially signed his engravings ‘Tassos’, before adopting the name by which he became widely known, ‘A. Tassos’.

In the 1950s he produced colour woodcuts, while in the 1960s he began to focus on the human figure, gradually abandoning colour. From that point, the wooden panels on which he worked increased in size, and he began to tackle monumental themes. He called this his ‘Black and White Period’.

Tassos began working with Hellenic Post in 1954. The 58 sets of stamps he created between then and 1967 were steeped in ancient Greek and Byzantine tradition, while his study of the austere simplicity of the Cretan School of Byzantine icon painting taught him how to distil the essence of his subjects into his designs.

Tassos eliminated anything that might hinder clarity, producing works that followed their own internal rules, even within the limited space of a stamp. Simultaneously, he played a key role in the technical changes that were taking place, and in the transition from monochrome to colour images.

Through his personal style and practical expertise, Greek stamps gained a distinct identity. They immediately stood out from the hundreds of other issues from postal services around the world, displaying all the characteristics of true works of art, and received numerous awards. 

His influence was so profound that the history of philately in Greece is often divided into the pre- and post-Tassos periods.

DENOMINATIONS	DESIGNS	QUANTITY
0,70 €	A. Tassos (1914-1985)	20.000 pieces
1,20 €	Dimitrios Biskinis (1891-1947)	40.000 pieces
3,00 €	Yannis Kefallinos (189-1957)	40.000 pieces

Please note, that of the above-mentioned quantities, are available 5.000 numbered souvenir sheets, which contain one single set of stamps.

Hellenic Post would like to thank the Philatelic and Postal Museum (PPM), for providing the archival and photographic material with which the brochure and the FDC were illustrated.

Issue Date: 29 January 2025
Withdrawal Date: 28 January 2027
Design: Myrsini Vardopoulou
Stamp Format: 35 X 45 mm 
Sheet layout: Sheet of 25
Printing process: Multicolored (offset)
Printer: «VERIDOS MATSOUKIS S.A. SECURITY PRINTING»