Malraux Stamp To Be Issued Sans Cigarette

Philosopher, culture minister and die-hard smoker Andre Malraux will be portrayed 20 years after his death in a way he rarely was in life - without a cigarette.

The French postal service, concerned about “associating tobacco with the words ‘French Republic,”’ will release a stamp drawn from a famous photo of Malraux, but without the cigarette he was smoking at the time, Liberation newspaper reported Thursday.

The stamp will be released on Nov. 23, 20 years after the death of the post-war intellectual who once said, “One must always be intoxicated.”

A prolific novelist and essayist, Malraux fought for the French Resistance during World War II and served as culture minister under Charles de Gaulle from 1959 to 1969.