Institutions
Marcel Marceau
Stamp — La Poste
♦ Informartions
On March 20, 2023, La Poste issues a stamp with the effigy of Marcel Marceau, known as the mime Marceau, on the occasion of the centenary of his birth. He will become over the years one of the most famous artists in the world.
With his body as his only instrument, Marcel Marceau (1923-2007) brought the art of mime to stages all over the world, imposing a universal language. The man who knew how to "make the invisible visible" gave life to characters who, without saying a word, express life as it is, with its struggles, its hopes, its dreams.
Marcel Mangel, his real name, was born in Strasbourg on March 22, 1923. At the beginning of the Second World War, his family of Polish Jewish origin had to leave Strasbourg for Périgueux. Marcel was 16 years old and already imitated Chaplin, his hero, to perfection. In 1942, he joined the Resistance, taking the pseudonym of "Marceau" which he would keep all his life. While in hiding, he sent many children to Switzerland, saving them from deportation.
The human condition, made of laughter and tears, will be the breeding ground of his art. On March 22, 1947, Marcel Marceau created the silent character of Bip at the Théâtre de Poche. The costume of this alter ego, a hero of modern times, with a white face, light pants and a large buttoned camisole closed over a sailor's jacket, and the famous top hat on which a red flower trembles, will make him one of the most famous Frenchmen abroad.
Whether he is chasing invisible butterflies, climbing imaginary stairs, walking against the wind, inspiring Michael Jackson's famous "moonwalk", the mime Marceau, by turns lyrical, poetic, sometimes serious or funny, fills the empty space with allegorical or everyday stories with only his gestures and his looks as weapons. In 1978, he created the International School of Mimodrama, where he teaches his students the demanding conventions of mime such as the sense of ellipsis, the play between space, time and movement.
Marcel Marceau crossed the XXth century as a virtuoso of the "silent comedy". An immense artist, he reinvented pantomime to raise it to the rank of classical art.
♦ Informartions
- Product reference: 11 23 005
- Creation: Benjamin VAN BLANCKE
- Presentation: 15 stamps per sheet
- Impression: Intaglio printing
- Engraving: Pierre BARA
- Stamp format: 30 x 40,85 mm
- Draft: 705 000 copies
- Face value: 1,80 € International letter
