Postage stamps and art posters have a lot in common: The most effective ones convey their message at first glance.

The poster stamps were part of a batch of new stamps from Sweden in January - issues promoting a sports federation, commemorating a medieval saint and and illustrating nautical knots. Poster art dates back to the 19th century, and some pieces are highly collectible, including acclaimed work by serious artists such as Frenchmen Henri Matisse and Henri Toulouse-Lautrec.  The four Swedish poster stamps spotlight a Stockholm dance club (1930), an air transport company (1935), agriculture (1984) and a biology museum (1993).

The sports issue shows athletes of all kinds competing both on the stamps and in the decorative selvage.

The stamps celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Swedish Sports Federation. With 3 million members, the federation is Sweden's largest nongovernment organization.

Several themes are represented on the stamps, including the leadership of volunteer coaches and the opportunities offered disabled athletes.

One stamp featuring a deaf athlete competing in snow boarding includes the sign-language symbol for "sport."

St. Bridget, shown on another stamp, was born 700 years ago and is remembered as a strong-willed woman who is credited by Catholic Church officials with more than 600 revelations.

She was canonized in 1391. Her remains rest in the Vadstena Cloister in Sweden.

St. Bridget also will be commemorated on another Swedish stamp scheduled for May.

The final Swedish stamp set focuses on the ability to tie knots. It has been a critical skill for sailors for as long as men have gone to sea. The new Swedish stamps illustrate what the post office calls three "garden-variety" knots: the reef knot, the sheetbend and bowline.

All the Swedish stamps were issued Jan. 20, 2003.