Pierre Gandon


Pierre Gandon was a French illustrator and engraver of postage stamps. He was born on 20 January 1899 in L'Haÿ-les-Roses and died on 23 July 1990.

Youth

His father Gaston Gandon was himself an engraver at the Institut de gravure of Paris and designed stamps for some countries and two for France.
Pierre Gandon studied in Paris at the École Estienne, then at the École des Beaux-Arts. He won his first of many prizes in 1921 : the Prix de Rome.

Stamp designer

Gandon answered an advertisement in a paper and finally obtained the right to design "Femme indigène", his first postage stamp series issued 1941 in the French colony of Dahomey.
The same year was issued his first stamp for France : the coat of arms of Reims.
Four times he received the Grand Prix de l'Art philatélique during his career that including:
Among the most famous stamps designed and engraved by Gandon are two series of female allegories in common use of the 1940s, 1970s and 1980s:
three French definitive stamps series :
His last stamp was issued for the Journée du timbre 1983.
In total, Pierre Gandon designed and/or engraved over 350 stamps for France and over double that number for the French Colonies.