Issue date: 29 Mar, 2019
NOTABLE FIGURES. MARIANO BERTUCHI NIETO
Mariano Bertuchi Nieto (Granada, 1884 – Tetouan, Morocco, 1955) was a painter from an early age. From the start, he was interested in exotic North African scenes, which led to a general fascination with light and colour, views, people and places of the coast: Ceuta and northern Morocco. He would spend most of his life in Morocco, working for the Spanish government during the Protectorate in various posts, including inspector of the Fine Arts Services and director of Tetouan’s Art School and the Fine Art Preparatory School.
The light and the human space of the world around him became the main subjects of his work, which included oil paintings, watercolours, drawings, etc. He designed all the stamps issued by the Protectorate Post Office over that period (1928-1955), as well as stamps for Spain, Ifni and the Sahara, and posters and signs for other institutions. This made him into one of the most important Spanish stamp designers.
Mariano Bertuchi’s stamps are like tiny windows which Spaniards could look through to get a glimpse of everyday life in Morocco. He was also aware of the power of postage stamps as an advertising medium. His early designs all highlighted the art and heritage of the area and were clearly intended to encourage tourism. After 1944, the stamps explore the rich cultural and artisanal traditions of the north of the country, in genre and ethnographic scenes that sought to depict “the soul of Morocco”.
Correos is now paying homage to Mariano Bertuchi in his role as a stamp designer with an issue in the style of fold-out postcards, printed on the front and the back. On the front, to illustrate the stamp there is a photograph of the painter in his studio in Tetouan (©Sucesión Mariano Bertuchi Nieto) with an easel displaying his design for a stamp from 1928; the next three panels correspond to his Ceuta triptych, “Trade, Agriculture and Industry” (©Museo de Ceuta).
On the back we see another stamp designed by Mariano Bertuchi and issued in the protectorate in 1928, depicting the Alcazaba of Larache, and in the other panels, reproductions of his pen-and-ink postcard designs from the period.
Rate A - €0.75. For a “standard” letter or postcard within Spain, up to 20 g.
Rate A2 - €0.85. For a “standard” letter or postcard within Spain, between 20 g and 50 g.
Rate B - €1.65. For a “standard” Ordinary International letter or postcard addressed to Europe (including Greenland), up to 20 g.
Rate C - €1.75. For a “standard” Ordinary International letter or postcard addressed to the rest of the world (except USA, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand), up to 20 g.
Rate D - €2.10. For a “standard” Ordinary International letter or postcard addressed to the USA, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, up to 20 g.