Magyar Posta is commemorating the centenary of the birth of Ingmar Bergman (1918-2007) by issuing a special stamp. Two hundred thousand copies of the stamp designed by the graphic artist Attila André Elekes were produced by ANY Security Printing Company. The new issue will go on sale from 2 March 2018 and from that date will be available at first day post offices and Filaposta in Hungary but may also be ordered from Magyar Posta’s online store.
Ingmar Bergman, the legendary film director and screenwriter, was born in Uppsala, Sweden. He studied fine arts, history and literature at Stockholm University. Around this time he started writing plays and film scripts, and acted in and directed the university’s student theatre group. Thereafter, his artistic career rose to ever newer heights to the greatest critical and popular acclaim.
Three of his outstanding masterpieces (Sawdust and Tinsel (1953), The Seventh Seal (1956), Wild Strawberries (1957)), are the best films of his first creative period and major works in terms of European cinema. His next significant film trilogy consists of films involving only a few characters focused on the difficulties of the search for God and aspects of selfishness (Through a Glass Darkly [1961], Winter Light [1962], The Silence [1963]). His films in the 1970s are variations on Bergman’s film universe (Cries and Whispers [1972], Scenes from a Marriage [1973], Face to Face [1976]). Not only Swedish themes, but autobiographical elements also appear in his films such as in the story of The Serpent’s Egg made in 1977 and set in Berlin in 1923. His great summarising epic work, also depicting autobiographical elements, is Fanny and Alexander (1982). Having made that film, he announced that he was retiring from filmmaking.
He was a multi-faceted artist who created lasting works for theatre, film and television alike. His scripts have literary merit and his novels speak for his talent as a writer. Besides Bergman’s unusual film style and professional perfection, his art was made uniquely important due to the detailed depiction of moral conflicts, one of his favourite subjects, and his pondering attitude. His work over forty years is characterised by development in periods. Bergman was a highly productive artist, making over fifty films for the cinema, and returning to certain visual elements in his films to depict them ever more accurately. In addition to numerous honours and prizes, three of his films won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. He was one of the most influential figures in 20th-century cinema, regarded as a model by film directors of such standing as Woody Allen, Steven Spielberg and Andrei Tarkovsky.
The stamp, the first day cover and the special postmark depict Bergman and accessories of film directing. The orange right-angular marks in the left bottom corner of the stamp and in the lower left and upper right corners of the first day cover symbolise the marks seen in a camera lens.
