New issues: Åland - "Victor Westerholm"

On 4 January 2010, 150 years have passed since the artist Victor Westerholm was born. As the founder of an artist colony in Önningeby, Åland, he became quite a significant artist and is now commemorated by the issue of a stamp featuring one of his works.
Having initially studied at the drawing school of the Turku Art Society, Finno-Swedish Victor Westerholm moved to Düsseldorf at the end of the 1870s to study at the Academy of Art. Through his acquaintance with an Åland painter in Düsseldorf, Westerholm became interested in Åland and, in 1884, he bought a small house close to the Lemström Canal in Lemland. Two years later, Westerholm invited his artist friends Fredrik Ahlstedt, Hanna Rönnberg, Elin Danielson, JAG Acke and Alexander Federley to stay with him and this was the start of the Önningeby Artist Colony.
The first six years, 1886-1892, were the most intensive years in the history of the Önningeby Artist Colony. During these years, Elin Danielson and JAG Acke, among others, painted on a continuous basis in Önningeby, and more and more artists joined the colony in the following years.
The stamp shows Westerholm’s painting ‘Mail Jetty at Eckerö’ from 1883. On the first day cover and on the stamp sheet, Victor Westerholm’s drawing in Indian ink ‘From Mariehamn, Eastern harbour’ from 1891.
Technical details:
Date of issue: 4 January 2010
Artist: Victor Westerholm
Edition: 200,000
Denomination: Europa (€0.80)
Price FDC: €1.35
Size of stamp: 40 x 26 mm
Size of sheet: 2 x 16 stamps
Perforation: 13 per 2 cm
Paper: 110 g/m²
Printing method: 4-colour offset
Printing house: Cartor Security Printing

Postal authority Åland