By Randy Dillinger

For The Herald Bulletin

ANDERSON — Warner Sallman’s painting, “Head of Christ,” will make its first-ever appearance on a postage stamp next year.

The stamp will be released March 24 in the Åland Islands, an autonomous province of Finland situated between that country and Sweden.

Sallman’s father, Elias Sallman, emigrated to the United States from the Åland Islands in 1886.

The painting is arguably one of the most widely recognized religious works of art around the world.

It has been reproduced more than 500 million times in various forms, from art prints to clocks, pocket cards, and many other materials. Yet, the image has never been featured on a postage stamp.

The decision to feature Sallman’s work has been in the plans for about 10 years, said Anita Häggblom, director of Åland Post Stamps.

Häggblom was on campus at Anderson University on Monday to view the Warner Sallman collection, which consists of around 200 works by Sallman, including the original 1941 painting of “Head of Christ.”

The visit was meaningful to Häggblom, as she recalled seeing Sallman’s images in her childhood.

“When we went to church, in the classes for children, often I would see these pictures,” she said, adding that her grandmother had a print of the Head of Christ hanging on her kitchen wall.

One of the most important criteria for selecting artwork for Åland stamps is that the subject have some connection to the Åland Islands.

“We have Åland immigrants around the world, and those people are very keen on every aspect or every product that these people might have done,” said Häggblom. Yet “there are people in Åland who don’t know about Warner Sallman. So this is a way to promote Warner and other immigrants.”

Anderson University considers the printing to be special.