Hundertwasser, New Zealand

Hundertwasser Stamps
New Zealand

Universal Mail in New Zealand, a direct competitor of the New Zealand Post, released international stamps with Hundertwasser images on December 29, 2002. The stamps do not depict graphics created by Hundertwasser, but show drawings of 5 different buildings designed by him. The artwork was organized by the Austrian stamp dealer Herbert Abfalter. It is unknown who is the designer of the stamps, which are issued in a limited printing of 2500 and are issued in se-tenant strips of 5 for each of the two different values ($1.50 and $2.00).

The World famous Austrian painter and architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser spent the last 20 years of his life living in the north of New Zealand in a small town called Kerikeri in the Bay of Islands.

He is however not as well known in his adopted New Zealand as in his native Austria mainly because most of his architectural work is located in Europe.

A noted exception, though, is located in Kawakawa where the public toilets are a Hundertwasser design and they attract a continual stream of locals and tourists to pause and admire the uniqueness of Hundertwasser's architecture.

The circular top stamp shows a Heat Factory, projected for Spittelau, Vienna.

The first rectangular stamp "Living under the Rain Tower" shows a housing project intended for Plochingen am Neckar.

The second rectangular stamp shows "Housing Area in the Grassland" and is projected for Bad Soden am Taunus.

The third rectangular stamp depicts "The Church of St. Barbara" and is intended for Bärnbach, Steiermark, and

The fourth rectangular stamp "Freeway Roadhouse" is projected for Bad Fischau, Niederösterreich.

Pane of five different designs, each of the face value of 1,50 NZ-dollars, intended for postcards and aerograms.
Pane of the same designs, each of the face value of 2,00 NZ-dollars, intended for letters in envelopes.

First Day Cover, cancelled on 29th December 2002, with a pane of 1,50 NZ-dollars. On the postmark is written "Hundertwasser Architektur", and "Philatelie & Kunst". Further the postmark shows a profile drawing of the artist.

More First Day Items are available, among others a cover similar to the above, with a full pane of 2,00 NZ-dollars, ten covers with one of each of the stamps in each of the values, postcards first-day-cancelled with either of the stamps, etc.

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