Artist Francisco Eppens Helguera was born today, February 1, 1913, in San Luis Potosi, but was raised and lived in Mexico City after the family relocated there in search of a cure for his father;s tuberculosis. He was a painter, sculptor, muralist and graphic designer in the Art Deco style. He began his studies in architecture and engineering, but left that program to study at the School of Fine Arts at Academia de San Carlos.
While his murals and paintings are stunning and thought provoking, I want to feature his graphic art and the rather obscure art of stamp design, that he was involved in, in the 30's and 40's. In 1935 Eppens was employed by a friend in the Mexican Treasury Department to design a series of modern postage and revenue stamps. He also was hired to redesign the official Mexican government seal in 1968 and it is still in use today on coins, the Mexican flag and documents.
He was asked to design a stamp to help increase malaria awareness in 1939 (shown below). It depicts a man being attacked by a giant mosquito! His stamps won several awards and became quite popular.
Francisco Eppens died on September 6, 1990.
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