Jean Van Noten

Jean Van Noten (1903-1982) was a Belgian artist and stamp designer. Although he has made a great number of stamps and art works, not much is known about the life of this famous man.

He was born and educated in Brussels. He studied at the Brussels Art Academy and took up painting landscapes, marines and portraits.

Van Noten was one of those artists that started designing tapestries at a certain moment in their career. Among others he was artistic advisor of the National Commission for Handicrafts and Industry, Tapestry department. For this commission he organized competitions and travelling exhibitions abroad.

His travels took him to Europe, America and Africa. When he started designing tapestries the influence of these travels could be noticed. His love for Africa was expressed in the tapestry 'Feast at Wamba' (1958, 206 x 161 cm). In later tapestries there was an explosion of planes and colours in an abstract design, like 'Resurrection' (1970, 210 x 150 cm) and 'Tarmac' (1972-1973, 140 x 200 cm).

Van Noten designed dozens of stamps for Belgium, Belgian Congo, Ruanda-Urundi and after their independence for Congo (Kinshasa), Rwanda and Burundi.

For the United Nations he designed the first commemorative stamp showing the War Memorial House in San Francisco, where the UN Charter was signed.

Stamp catalogue

Belgium 11 April 1992

Stamp catalogue - Belgian UN stamps designed by Jean Van Noten

Expo 58, Brussels (ILO) 17 April 1958

Expo 58, Brussels (FAO) 17 April 1958

Expo 58, Brussels (UNESCO) 17 April 1958

Expo 58, Brussels (ICAO) 17 April 1958

Expo 58, Brussels (WMO) 17 April 1958

Expo 58, Brussels (GATT) 17 April 1958

Expo 58, Brussels (UPU) 17 April 1958

World Refugee Year 7 April 1960

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last revised: 28 March 2010