[press release]
Art in Groningen: 10 stamps celebrating 100 years of De Ploeg 
2018 marks the 100th anniversary of the De Ploeg artists’ society foundation in Groningen. PostNL commemorates the avant-garde in the north of our country with stamps using artwork from De Ploeg members. These new stamps were designed by Studio Joost Grootens in Amsterdam.
The stamp sheetlet 100 years De Ploeg shows 20 paintings and other works of art by artists such as Jan Altink, Johan Dijkstra, George Martens, Alida Pott and Jan Wiegers. Works of art by these artists and other members of De Ploeg are also being displayed in a major retrospective exhibition in the Groninger Museum entitled Avant-garde in Groningen, De Ploeg 1918-1928. The exhibition runs from 26 May until 4 November 2018.
Younger artists
The artists’ association De Ploeg was founded in 1918 as a response to the artistic climate in the city of Groningen. The younger artists wanted more opportunities to exhibit their own work. Although De Ploeg continued to exist as an active association up to the present day, its artistic heyday was the 1920s. Therefore artwork from this time period is chosen for the stamp sheetlet 100 years De Ploeg.
Multifaceted and interconnected
In close consultation with the Groninger Museum representative artwork was selected to be depicted on the stamps. “You can see clearly how multifaceted and creative that period’s artists were,” says Stephan van den Eijnden, Commercial Director Mail PostNL. “They had a very strong interconnection. That’s for example deductible from the large number of portraits they made of each other.”
Availability
The stamp sheetlet 100 years de Ploeg features 10 different stamps marked with Nederland 1, the denomination for mail weighing up to 20g that is to be delivered to an address in The Netherlands. The stamps are available from 22 May onwards at the postoffice counter in Bruna stores and online at www.postnl.nl/bijzondere-postzegels. Stamps can also be ordered by calling the Collect Club customer service line on 088 – 868 99 00. The validity period is indefinite.
