New Hebrides Christmas 1973

NEW HEBRIDES CONDOMINIUM (Joint British and French territory) on 19 November 1973 issued two First Day Cover stamps for Christmas. Postmark for both stamps originated from Port Vila, New Hebrides (now Republic of Vanuatu). The stamps were derived from paintings by  Robert Tatin  of Avesnières (starshine) and  Marcel Moutouh (mother and child).

Robert Tatin  d'Avesnières  (1925 - 1982) derives his last name ( Avesnieres) from the town of his birth, to differentiate him from his father Robert Tatin. Trained in decorative painting in his father's business, he felt attracted by other horizons at a very young age and, after spending a few months in Algeria, left for Tahiti in 1950. While working as a sign painter, he made his first paintings there. He spent more than 25 years in the Pacific, where he created most of his work from Polynesia to the New Hebrides, then spending five years in New Caledonia. After a stint in Indonesia and Bali, he returned to France from 1977 to 1982. An exhibition of his paintings brought him back to Papeete in 1982 where he spent his last days. His original painting, like no other, tackled subjects as diverse as humble still lifes, peaceful lagoons, industrial sites or grand market scenes. 

Marcel Moutouh was an artist and sculptor born in September 13, 1930, in Nam Dinh, to a Vietnamese mother and a French father. His artwork includes scenes with figures, local scenes, and murals. Moutouh was a self-taught artist, who was raised in Vietnam. During the Vietnam War he took refuge in Cambodia and then Laos. From 1950 to 1953 he was assigned to the social service of the French army in Indochina