I just finished posting all last year’s issues and I’m already plunging into France’s 2022 stamps. Hopefully this year I won’t take so long writing about them. But damnit, I kept tripping over information to include and falling down history rabbit holes. 2021 was a hell of a lot of fun to explore.

I think the highlight of 2021 was Christophe Laborde-Balen’s tribute to French author Jean de la Fontaine. The philatelic folder and detailed souvenir sheet contained references to 10 of de la Fontaine’s fables. The set was pure delight. Hungary and Monaco issued stamps for de la Fontaine’s 400th anniversary as well, but France did the best job. 

Another thrill this year was the 75th Autumn Philatelic Fair, which brought a bumper selection of Mariannes, including in two posters. 

They are prints of artist Yseult Digan’s 2018 Marianne (with Elsa Catelin on engraving duties). These are so frame worthy, I actually covet them. The 75th Fair produced so many collectibles, I would have struggled to contain myself if I’d attended. Maybe one day I’ll make it to the Fall Fair. 

New this year: When I remember, I’ll post upcoming artist signings. Le Carré d’Imprimerie arranges for designers/engravers to attend sessions to sign stamps, covers and philatelic souvenirs.  All signings take place at Le Carré d’Encre, 13 bis rue des Mathurins 75009 PARIS. 

This section covers January to May. To see June to September stamps  click here France 2022 stamps – June to Sept | Bitter Grounds Magazine.

Enough of 2021, let’s head off to 2022. Here’s hoping the year brings about easier times for all of us.  

Cheers
Catpaw

January

Our Blue Planet

Booklet of 12 stamps 
Photogravure

Designer: Etienne Théry
Théry will be signing Our Blue Planet booklets on Friday Jan. 7, depending on Covid restrictions.

Release date: January 10, 2022

Molière 1622-1673

1 stamp, sheet of 10, philatelic souvenir 
Intaglio

Molière | Alloprof – playwright, actor, director

Designer: Stéphane Humbert-Basset  
Humbert-Basset’s work may be familiar to some. His artwork has appeared on the covers of Jazzman, Harper’s and  L’Express. His interests extend into video work and music. His  portfolio now includes over 30 stamps and cancels. 
Engraver: Pierre Bara  
Bara engraved the 2021 Citroën Méhari Stamp Festival set,  the Gustave Roussy 1874-1948 stamp and Chaplin – The Kid 100 year anniversary stamp.
Humbert-Basset & Bara will be signing this set on Friday, January 14, 2022 unless Covid restrictions cause a cancelation.

Release date: January 17, 2022

Chinese New Year – Year of the Tiger

2 sheets of 4 stamps, cancel

“It has been so long since the memory of men remembers it, the Jade Emperor, in the kingdom of Heaven, decided to organize a race between all the animals.”

This legend has it that the first three to arrive were the rat, by cunning, the buffalo, by its power and, finally, the third was the tiger who crossed the river – the last obstacle – and arrived, exhausted, at the feet of the Emperor. Admiring, the sovereign granted him the third place in the Chinese calendar. Chinese New Year – Year of the Tiger | The ink square (lecarredencre.fr)

“It is important for me to bring the culture to which I am attached to life, to allow it to cross boundaries, and to allow others to be a part of it. I try to tell stories in such a way that they become universal.” Chen Jiang Hong 2013

Designer: Chen Jiang Hong 
Paris based, Chinese artist Chen Jiang Hong designed the 2021 Year of the Ox stamps. He won the Prix Albertine Jeunesse in 2019 or his book The Tiger Prince.

Chen Jiang Hong will be signing stamps on Jan. 24, depending on Covid restrictions.

Release date: January 24, 2022

Daniel Boulanger 1922-2014

1 stamp, sheet of 15, cancel
Offset

The writer Daniel Boulanger is dead (lefigaro.fr)

Designer: Valérie Besser
Besser will be signing stamps on Friday, January 21 depending on Covid restrictions
Photographer: Ulf Andersen

Release date: January 24, 2022

Valentine’s Day – Saint-Louis

2 stamps, 2 sheets of 12, souvenir sheet of 5, cancel

This year’s Valentine’s heart stamp was designed by the company Saint-Louis. Last year Chanel designed the set. This annual series began in 2000.

Designer: Saint-Louis

In 1767, Louis XV authorized the construction of a glassworks on the site of the former glassworks of Münzthal of the sixteenth century. The king granted it the title of “Royal Glassworks of Saint-Louis”. Fifteen years later, with the development of the crystal formula, the Manufacture became Cristallerie Saint-Louis. Heart Saint-Louis stamp block | The ink square (lecarredencre.fr)

Release date: January 31, 2022

February

Louis Pasteur 1822-1895 – bicentennial of his birth

1 stamp, sheet of 12, philatelic souvenir, info sheet 
Intaglio

2022: the bicentenary of Louis Pasteur’s birth 
Bicentenary of the birth of Louis Pasteur | #Pasteur2022
Louis Pasteur | Science History Institute

Click on the sheet of stamps to see the details in the margins.

Designer: Patrick Dérible, using photo by photographer Atelier Nadar
Dérible was born on Saint Pierre and Miquelon. He has designed numerous stamps for the small island.
Engraver: Pierre Bara
Bara will be signing stamps etc on the first day of release.

Release date: February 4, 2022

Animals at Dusk

booklet of 12 stamps, cancel

Designer: Christelle Guénot

Release date: February 11, 2022

Crafts – Luthier

1 stamp, sheets of 12, cancel
Intaglio

A luthier is a person who builds stringed instruments. 

Designer: Florence Gendre 
Engraver: Line Filhon  

Release date: February 14, 2022

Chartres en lumières

8 stamps on souvenir sheets
digital

Release date: February 14, 2022

Shellfish & Crustaceans

4 stamps on a souvenir sheet, cancel, sheets of 15, philatelic souvenir
photogravure

Designer: Broll & Prascida
Shellfish & Crustaceans is Broll & Prascida’s 10th stamp design.  Illustrator Anne-Charlotte Laurans named her company after “two imaginary languages invented by his nephew at the age of 2”.  2021 designs weere Faience Factory of Gien and France’s EUROPA 2021 – Endangered Species. 
Photographs from the info cards: © Wil Meinderts / Buiten-beeld / Minden Pictures / Biosphoto.
© Luciano Candisani / Minden Pictures / Biosphoto. © Yves Lefèvre / Biosphoto. ©WaterFrance – Agency / Wolfgang Poelzer / Biosphoto.

Release date: February 21, 2022

Palindrome

4 stamps in booklet, cancel
digital

Designer: Sarah Lazarevic

Release date: February 22, 2022

Séraphine Louis 1864 – 1942

1 stamp, sheet of 9, cancel
photogravure

Painting: Tree of Paradise (1929) There is a second Tree of Paradise painting, created 1925 with the tree leaning to the left. This painting is held by the Georges Pompidou Center. The Tree of Paradise – Centre Pompidou

Artist: Séraphine Louis
Seraphine Louis – 14 artworks – painting (wikiart.org)
Also known as Séraphine de Senlis. Who was Séraphine de Senlis? – Women’n Art has an interesting page on Louis. 

Designer: Aurélie Baras  Aurélie Baras – Graphic Designer (aureliebaras.com)
Baras began her career as a graphic designer in 1994. She designed the first Valentine’s Day heart stamp for La Poste in 2000. She has designed stamps for New Caledonia, T.A.A.F., and La Poste. Her designs often tend towards bold prints and patterns. Stamp designs for 2021 Animal Footprints – Guess!, and Flower Motifs. 

Release date: February 25, 2022

March

Rosa Bonheur 1822-1899

1 stamp, cancel, sheets of 9, souvenir sheet in a philatelic souvenir
offset, rotogravure

Stamp features Bonheur’s work on the 200th anniversary of her birth.
Rosa Bonheur | Artist Profile | NMWA
Rosa Bonheur Biography, Life & Quotes | TheArtStory

Artist: Rosa Bonheur
Bonheur was the first female artist to be awarded the Legion of Honor.
Designer: Valérie Besser

Release date: March 4, 2022

Stamp Festival – Green Getaway

1 stamp, souvenir sheet, sheet of 15, cancel
photogravure

Souvenir sheet artist: Baptiste Stéphan
Baptiste Stéphan – Marie Bastille Marie Bastille
Designer: Elsa Catelin

Release date: March 14, 2022

Les Grands Voyageurs – from Marco Polo to Amélia Earhart

booklet of 12 stamps
photogravure

Has a QR code that links to info and engravings about each explorer/adventurer. 

Designer: Agence Huitième Jour
Agence’s extensive portfolio includes over 20 stamps. They designed the 2021 N7 The holiday route and Louis de Funès 1914 -1983 stamps.
Their Spring Fruits won the Most beautiful Stamp Collector 2020.

Release date: March 14, 2022

Cité Internationale de la Langue Française – Villers-Cotterêts

Site officiel de la mairie de de Villers-Cotterêts – Accueil (mairie-villerscotterets.fr)

Designer: Clovis Rétif using original photo by Benjamin Gavaudo / Centre des Monuments Nationaux
Engraver: Louis Genty 
Genty is a new face for French engraver fans. His first stamp, which he both designed and engraved, was last year’s Napoleon I for Andorra. You can read about his first philatelic design here Louis Genty engraves his first postage stamp for Andorra – Art of the Engraved Stamp (artdutimbregrave.com).  

Release date: March 19, 2022

Solar oven of Odeillo – Pyrénées-Orientales

1 stamp, sheets of 15, info page, cancel

Odeillo is home to the world’s most powerful solar oven in the Catalan Pyrenees (pyrenees-cerdagne.com)  (in French)

Designer: Stéphane Humbert-Basset  
Stéphane Humbert-Basset maintains a fascinating website that includes a blog and numerous videos that offer a glimpse into where he finds inspiration. His portfolio includes over 30 stamps, including last year’s Chaplin – The Kid 100 year anniversary. Humbert-Basset designed the 2022 April 100th anniversary of the Territoire de Belfort set.

Release date: March 25, 2022

April

Spring Vegetables – Asparagus
2nd in collector’s series Les Exclusives

4 stamps in a booklet
offset

4,000 copies issued  and sent with subscriptions

Designer: Absinthe Agency

Release date: April 1, 2022

Henri Rouart 1833 – 1912

1 stamp, sheets of 15, info page, cancel
Photogravure

Impressionist artist Rouart was co-founder of ‘Société Anonyme des Artistes. Rouart, Henri (impressionism.nl)

Artist: Edgar Degas | painting oil on canvas, 1871, © Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris
Designer: Mathilde Laurent  

Release date: April 11, 2022

100th anniversary of the Territoire de Belfort

1 stamp, sheets of 15, cancel
photogravure

Centenary of the Territoire de Belfort: official website of the event (centenaire90.fr)

The stamp goes on sale in April, but the cancel bears a March date to coincide with a signing session with Stéphane HUMBERT-BASSET at the Carré d’Encre from 10:30 to 12:30 on Friday, March 11.  

Release day: April 14, 2022

Treasures of Notre-Dame – The Great Organs of Notre-Dame

1 stamp on a souvenir sheep, cancel
intaglio

Notre Dame’s Famous Grand Organ is being restored | 2020 (friendsofnotredamedeparis.org)

Designer: Sarah Bougault Transmission of a craft – Atelier Bougault – Desquand
Bougault is both a designer and engraver. Her first stamp was the 2010 Mother Teresa for France.  
Engraver: Elsa Catelin

Release day: April 18, 2022

Cross-impressions
Annual Red Cross stamp

10 stamp in booklets format, cancel
photogravure

The booklet shows samples of printed wool from the Museum of Printing on Fabrics/Le Musée de l’Impression sur Etoffes  collection. 

Designer: Corinne Salvi 

Release date: April 25, 2022 (general sale date)

European Capitals – Ljubljana

4 stamps on souvenir sheet, cancel
Mixed intaglio offset

Visit Ljubljana – capital of Slovenia

Designer: Alain Bouldouyre  Alain Bouldouyre | Collaboration and more | Memo Paris US The Journey is the Destination blog 
Bouldouyre is an illustrator and writer of travel sketches
Engraver: Line Filhon  

Release date: April 25, 2022

May

Flowers and Sweets

12 stamp in booklet format, cancel
Photogravure

Designer: Isabelle Simler
Some of you may recognise Isabelle Simler’s style. Her works have appeared on posters, books and stamps. She specialises in wonderful and periodically whimsical illustrations of both flora and fauna. She won New York Times/NY Public Libraries  Best Illustrated Children’s book, in 2017, for Plume (Feather). Her cats are awesome! Her works have appeared in a number of THE ORIGINAL ART shows in NYC (2020, 2018, 2017). Seeing Simler show on a stamp brings nothing but delight. I just wish she’d squeezed in a little black cat somewhere in this new set. 

Release date: May 9, 2022

Europa 2022 – Myths and Legends – Mélusine

1 stamp, cancel, sheets of 9
intaglio

This is a fascinating folk tale that is explained in great detail here  Melusine – World History Encyclopedia. It’s a great read. But short version is Melusine was young woman cursed by her mother to live a double life. Every Saturday, she would turn into a serpent like or mermaid like creature every Saturday She was doomed to be alone until she found a man who would both respect her request to not disturb her on Saturdays and, would also love her unconditionally if he found out she was cursed. 

Cue her marriage to a great noble man, who one day spied on her, thus forcing her to leave. The story has a number of variations, but this is one of the most familiar. It’s basically an very old cautionary tale about truth, loyalty and lying. The legend pops up in many folk stories throughout Europe, including Germanic and Norse tales, like The Swan Maiden and the Valkyrie. Eastern European stories involving Baba Yaga, also use the transformation mythology to teach lessons. But check out the link above for a first class write up that touches on the Melusine’s influence across Europe. It’s an easy read and fascinating. 

Designer: Daria Schmitt  
Daria Schmitt will be signing covers from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Friday, May 6.
Engraver: Pierre Albuisson  

Release date: May 9, 2022

Souvigny – Allier

1 stamp, sheets of 12, cancel
intaglio

Located in the heart of the historic province of Bourbonnais, Souvigny has preserved a rich architectural heritage, mainly due to its affiliation to the Abbey of Cluny: first donation made to the abbey, Souvigny became “Eldest Daughter” of Cluny.
Souvigny (allier-auvergne-tourisme.com)

Designer/engraver: Sophie Beaujard 

Release date: May 15, 2022

Solitude c. 1772-1802

1 stamp, cancel, sheets of 15
offset

This stamp was unveiled during a ceremony March 24, 2022 at the Hôtel de la Marine. It was created in collaboration with the Foundation for the Memory of Slavery and the Centre des Monuments Nationaux.

Solitude was a former slave in Guadeloupe. She fought against the French attempt to re-establish slavery in Guadeloupe during Napoleon’s reign. In 1802, while 3 months pregnant, she was captured by French forces and sentenced to hang. The day after she gave birth, she was taken out and executed, November 19, 1802. Her child became the property of a slave owner. 

Her story was lost or over 100 years until French author André Schwarz-Bart re-discovered her in the 1960s.  Solitude is now considered a hero of anti slavery in Guadeloupe. 

Designer: Geneviève Marot genevievemarot.com

Release date: May 16, 2022

Émile Erckmann 1822-1899 & Alexandre Chatrain 1826-1890

1 stamp, sheets of 12, cancel
intaglio

Erckmann-Chatrian – Babelio (in French)
Erckmann-Chatrian – Wikipedia (in English)

Designer: Bruno Ghiringhelli 
Artist Charles Gilbert-Martin (1839-1905) using a photo by Roger-Viollet
Engraver: Claude Jumelet

Release date: May 23, 2022

Jeanne Moreau 1928-2017

1 stamp, sheets of 12, cancel
photogravure

French actress, screenwriter, director & singer 

Jeanne Moreau, who appeared in over 130 films over a period of sixty-five years and was declared “the greatest actress in the world” by none other than Orson Welles, has passed away in Paris at the age of eighty-nine. Jeanne Moreau, 1928–2017 | Current | The Criterion Collection

Here’s a short recording of Moreau singing 

Designer: Aurélie Baras 
Photograph: Jeanne Moreau during filming of “Eva” in Venice, 1961 (photo b/w) / Farabola / Bridgeman Images

Release date: May 23, 2022

Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris – 95th Congress of the French Federation of Philatelic Associations

1 stamp, sheet of 10, cancel
intaglio

Designer/engraver: Sarah Lazarevic from a photo by © Antoine Meyssonnier
Cancel designer: Valérie Besser

Release date: May 27, 2022

Centenary of the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb 1922-2022

1 stamp, sheet of 9, cancel, souvenir folio 
photogravure, folio intaglio 

Designer: Éloïse Oddos using a photo by © Araldo de Luca / Aurimages

Release date: May 27, 2022

Sarah Moon – photographer

1 stamp, sheets of 9, cancel
photogravure

Artist: Sarah Moon from her Histoires d’hirondelles
Sarah Moon is an award winning French photographer who began her career in photography in 1970. One of the best short bios I found on here is rom the Hundred Heroines website: Sarah Moon – French Photographer – Hundred Heroines.

Looking into Sarah Moon’s extraordinary photographs is comparable to looking through a two-way mirror. The mirror surface becomes the print and the viewer has the privilege of standing on the ‘other-side’ looking through the image at the same time. The living creatures are rendered so ‘still’ and conversely the inanimate objects, such as the dolls, become human and expressive with their own inimitable character, ultimately mirroring each other. There is an atmosphere and intensity, which is constantly apparent that sets her work apart. It is also the range of subject matter, the banal, the incidental, and the secret that Sarah Moon allows us to see in a new and extraordinary light. Sarah Moon – French Photographer – Hundred Heroines

NOTE:  Sarah MOON will host a signing session from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Friday, May 27. 
LOCATION:
Le Carré d’Encre, from 10am to 5pm
13 bis rue des Mathurins 75009 PARIS

Designer: Valérie Besser

Release date: May 30, 2022

The Garden of Balata – Martinique

1 stamp, cancel, philatelic souvenir, info sheet, sheet of 15
photogravure

English — Jardin de Balata

Designer: Latitude Co
Layout: Bruno Ghiringhelli  

Release date: May 30, 2022

June to September stamps have been moved here: France 2022 stamps – June to Sept  

You can see all the 2021 stamps from France in two articles – France’s 2021 stamps – Jan to June and France 2021 philately July to Dec. Leave a comment and let me know which are your favourite stamps. 

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