The Year of the Tiger begins February 1, 2022 and ends January 21, 2023. It’s actually the Year of the Water Tiger. Today we’ll see some interesting stamps, from all over the World, commemorating and celebrating it. Before we do it so, please take a quick look at our previous article related to the 2020 – Year of the (Metal) Rat and some interesting facts related to the Chinese New Year.
As you could expect, we’ll see a lot of the Year of the Tiger-related stamps where the main motif is - the tiger. I’ll show stamps in the alphabetical order based off the name of the country which issued the stamp (and break that order in only one case).
First, let’s take a look at the stamps issued by Aland and Christmas Island (Australia).
Tiger Cat
Aland-Post, 2021/10/20
Designer: Martin Mörck
The most important person for the design of Christmas Island (Australia) stamps is Chrissy Lau, and she, like many other artists mentioned in this article, created Chinese New Year-related stamps previously.
Tiger 2022 – Lunar New Year
Australia / Christmas Island, 2022/01/06
Designer: Chrissy Lau
Still, she’s the only artist in the today’s list that created stamps for more than 1 country from this list. To be more specific, she designed Christmas Island (Australia) and Guernsey stamps.
Tiger 2022 – Lunar New Year
Australia / Christmas Island, 2022/01/06
Designer: Chrissy Lau
“Australia Post has commissioned Chrissy Lau for the second year running to create their Lunar New Year stamp collection following the success of the Year of the Ox 2021 stamp collection. The brief was to create an entirely new style with no reference to the Ox collection.
The Lucky Tiger 2022 stamp collection is inspired by the Japanese Maneki-Neko beckoning waving cats that have been adopted into Asian and Western culture, often displayed in homes and businesses to bring good luck and fortune to their owners.
The tigers are fun and contemporary, designed to make you smile and feel warm & fuzzy. They are a celebration of East meets West because of the familiarity of beckoning cats displayed in everyday life: picking up a Sweet 'n' Sour from the local Chinese takeaway or wandering the aisles of the Dollar Store. Whether you're in Australia or China you'll smile and feel nostalgic when you see these beckoning tigers.” - http://www.chrissylau.com
Tiger 2022 – Lunar New Year
Australia / Christmas Island, 2022/01/06
Designer: Chrissy Lau
“Above all the designs are created to celebrate multiculturalism, on the superficial surface the designs can be appreciated by any age, no matter their knowledge of Asian culture. On a deeper level the designs are full of Chinese/Asian inspired symbolism that can be appreciated by the eye of the beholder.
The collection can be viewed as an educational art project because the beauty draws you in and you can also learn more about deeper meaningful symbols within Chinese/Asian culture.” - http://www.chrissylau.com
China started issuing Lunar New Year stamps in 1980, and this is the 42nd time a Lunar New Year stamp had been issued.
The two beautiful stamp designs coming from China are the work of Feng Dazhong, and while he’s maybe not so well-known outside China, he’s actually a national first-class painter.
China, 2022/01/05
Designer: Feng Dazhong
“Media reports said Feng has been drawing tigers since he was young. At that time, due to lack of publications, he often took bus to a zoo for observation and had narrowly escaped from tigers several times. He is a national first-class painter, an expert enjoying the special allowance of the State Council and also the president of the Artists Association in Liaoning Province.” - Global Times, 2022/01/08
China, 2022/01/05
Designer: Feng Dazhong
There was some criticism regarding the design of tigers on the stamps. These comments varied from the statement that the tiger looks sad or sick, and baby tigers were also described as looking unhappy and lacking enthusiasm. All these comments headed towards the direction that the tiger, king of all beasts, shouldn’t look that way.
China, 2022/01/05
Designer: Feng Dazhong
“Animals also have happiness and sorrow, so the painting of the tiger needs to break the code, break through its animal nature to convey a spiritual emotion,” Feng said. “Paying attention to portraying the spirits of the tiger also coincides with the cultural connotation of the zodiac tiger.” - Global Times, 2022/01/08
Let’s switch to Europe now, more precisely to France. We can see two beautiful sets of four stamps designed by Chen Jiang Hong.
Year of the Tiger
France, 2022/01/24
Designer: Chen Jiang Hong
“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
Year of the Tiger
France, 2022/01/24
Designer: Chen Jiang Hong
In this section we’ll see stamps issued by The United Kingdom and territories/islands related to the UK, and as mentioned before, we’ll see the work of Chrissy Lau again.
Guernsey, 2022/01/05
Designer: Chrissy Lau
Isle of Man, 2022/01/13
Designer: Ana Jaks
United Kingdom, 2021/12/08
Designer: Rebecca Sutherland
In the last section, we’ll see 8 more stamps issued by, in order they are presented, and they are Singapore, UN, USA, and Vietnam.
Singapore, 2022/01/07
Designer: Ms. Lim An-Ling
Ms. Lim An-Ling created the 2021 Year of the Ox set.
United Nations, 2021/01/21
Designer: Tiger Pan
Mr. Tiger Pan also designed the 2018 Year of the Dog stamps for the UN.
United States, 2022/01/20
Artist: Camille Chew, Designer: Antonio Alcalá
“This tiger stamp series by the US Postal Service is designed by Camille Chew. She used "Shere Khan", we mean, the Bengal tiger as her subject, appearing in the form of a tiger mask, rich with symbolic elements. For starters, orange is used as the dominant colour. It is characteristic of Bengal tigers' markings and is said to be one of the lucky colours for those born in the Year of the Tiger. There are also green flowers which symbolise the arrival of spring. And the motif just above the tiger's head – printed in purple foil – alludes to the Chinese zodiac's celestial themes.” - https://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle/culture/2022/01/21/year-of-the-tiger-stamps-roar-in-as-countries-celebrate-the-majestic-beast
Vietnam, 2021/01/21
Designer: Nguyễn Quang Vinh
The tiger motifs presented on Vietnam stamp are painted in the Hang Drum / Hàng Trống folk style. You can notice that the tiger family is looking forward to the new spring with motifs specific to every Tet (spring) - forest of plum blossoms, peach blossoms, apricot flowers blooming.
Conclusion
Today we’ve seen a lot of stamps including tiger as a main motif. I hope we’ve also learned few new facts related to the Year of the Tiger, but also learned something about a people behind these beautiful stamp designs. If you’ve liked this article, be sure not to miss the previous article we had on this topic Holidays and Philately: Chinese New Year .
