Nikolai Yaroshenko - Kursistka

Nikolai Yaroshenko (1846-1898) - Kursistka (1863)

Russian USSR Stamp Issued 1971

Russian Museum in Kiev.

Yaroshenko was an artist who depicted he realism of life in the late 19th century in Russia. His paintings were often depressing in nature, with torture, struggles, gothic fashion and hardships being common in Russia at the time.  The artist also managed to maintain a very good career in the army, as he achieved the rank of Major General by the time he retired in the 1890s.

Paul von Szinyei-Merse - The Lady in a Purple Dress

Paul von Szinyei-Merse (1845-1920) - The Lady in a purple dress (1874)

Hungarian Stamp Issued 1966 Magyar Posta

This artist is said to have been responsible for some of the earliest examples of impressionism art in Central Europe.   Lady in a Purple Dress is typical of his work, which generally depicted the lives of the upper classes in Hungarian 19th Century Society - much like many of his contemporaries at the time. 

This is one of this painter's last paintings before he embarked upon a major gap in his life, where he did not complete any works from 1874-1898.  After this gap in his career, he entered a second stage in his life, where his work was widely regarded.

Benczur Gyula - Laszlo's Farewell

Benczúr Gyula (1844-1920) - Laszlo's Farewell  (1866)  - 

Magyar Posta (Hungary) Stamp issued 1966 

Painting held at the National Gallery of Hungary - Budapest

This stamp probably depicts a farewell by Laszlo Hunyadi, who was a Hungarian statesman in the 15th century, who was beheaded at the young age of 24 years old.  He lived through tumultuous times as the son of the leaders in Hungarian Transylvania during this time.

The artist was known for his art that conveyed historical events, and this stamp shows one of these paintings.  The painter obtained reasonable success during his lifetime, as he won a number of awards and had reasonable international success.

Mihaly Munkacsy - Yawning Apprentice (Asito inas)

Mihaly Munkacsy (1844-1900)  - Yawning Apprentice (Asito inas) 1869

Hungarian Stamp Issued 1966

Although this is not an impressionist piece of work, at first viewing this does appear to be quite unsettling, in the style of Edvard Munch's "The Scream" which was completed in 1893, well after this work by Munkacsy.  This painting is typical of this artist's work, as he revelled in depicting scenes of people from an everyday perspective.  If a model was used for this painting, they would probably have a very sore neck and mouth at the end of the sitting.

Barabás Miklós - Girl in the Woods

Barabas Miklos (1810-1898)  - Girl in the Woods

Hungarian Stamp issued 1966

Magyar Posta

This is another Hungarian Stamp from 1966, being part of a series of stamps from the 19th Century.  Other Barabas Miklos paintings were also depicted in these stamps - this is typical of his work, depicting romanticised scenes of beauties in the wild forests - perhaps a pre-cursor to are that would follow in the latter years of the 19th century and early 20th century - depicting an unrealistic harmony with nature.

Mihaly Munkacsy - Woman Carrying Faggots (Rozsehordo no)

Mihaly Munkacsy (1844-1900)  - Woman Carrying Faggots (Rozsehordo no) (1873)

Hungarian Stamp Issued 1966

Held at the Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest

Unlike some of his contemporaries, Munkacsy depicted the ordinary lives of everyday people in his genre pictures, in addition to completing works of a religious nature.  Shortly after completing this painting of a woman carry brushwood through the forest, he went on to complete a number of landscape works, although the genre paintings remain as his most famous works.

Miklos Barabas (1810-1898) - Portrait of Mrs. István Bittó (1874)

Miklos Barabas  (1810-1898) - Portrait of Mrs. István Bittó (1874)

Hungarian Stamp Issued in 1966

Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest

Barabas was mostly known for his portraits that were made of wealthy individuals within Hungarian society at the time of this painting.  This is a portrait of the wife of the Hungarian Prime Minister from 1874-1875.  The painter was also a member of the Hungarian Parliament in 1867.  

Tatyana Yablonskaya - Sacking Grain

Tatyana Yablonskaya (1917-2006) - Sacking Grain (1949)

Russia Stamp Issued 1967

Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

This painting screams joy - telling us about the pleasant existence that communist people must have wanted to experience under the idealogies of the communist in the Soviet Union.  The nature of these scenes are similar to those depicted in Chinese propaganda scenes of the same era - farm people having a wonderful time, frollicking around in the wonderful sunshine while also attaining new levels of productivity, where there would be lots of food for everyone....  

Benczúr Julius - Reading women in the woods

Benczúr Julius (1844-1920) - Reading women in the woods (1875)

Hungarian Stamp Issued in 1966

Benczur was a Hungarian born painter who gained some international recognition during his career which included a large amount of time in Munich, Germany undertaking a professorship.  He mainly did paintings of the upper classes and aristocrats when he returned to Hungary and his name is now carried by a street in Budapest.

This painting is rather idyllic and stylised for the time - an upper class 19th century lady manages to peacefully read a book in the woods in the summertime, without being attacked by flies and insects.  The stamp is a poor reproduction of the original painting, which can be found here.

Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin - Still Life with Attributes of the Arts

Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin  (1699-1779)  - Still Life with Attributes of the Arts (1766)

Russia Stamp issued 1973

Held at the Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg

This modest still life makes for a rather ordinary stamp.  Issued by Russia in 1973, this is another work by Chardin, who was a great French Rococo era painter.  His works are held in galleries all over the work, including the Louvre inParis and the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.  

Other Russian stamps have also been issued with Chardin's work: Saying Grace - Chardin.

Brulloff Karl - Midday

 Карл Павлович Брюллов  Karl Briullov (1799-1852) - Midday (1831)

Russia Stamp Issued 1973

The Russian Museum, St Petersburg

This Russian painter of French descent was highly successful and popular in his day, with his work being quite significant as is documents the transition from neoclassicism to romanticism in Russian painting.  

Briullov also gained success in Italy, particularly when he began doing historical works, such as the Last Days of Pompeii.  

Vasily Surikov - The Boyarynia Morozova

 Васи́лий Ива́нович Су́риков Vasily Srikov (1848-1916) - Boyarynia Morozova (1887)

Russia Stamp issued 1967

Tretyakov Gallery

This is a historical painting which depicts a "boyarynia", or woman of high nobility, being dragged through the narrow streets of Moscow, after having started a rebellion against the ruling czars of Russia in 1671.  This is a typical work for this artist who is best known as a historical painter.  The painting is large and it carries a high level of detail for this tragic character of Russian history.  To this day, Morozova is hailed as a martyr by some communities in Russia.

Ilya Repin - Arrest of a Progandist

Arrest of the Propagandist 1889 - Ilya Repin (1844-1930)

Russia Stamp Issued 1967

Tretyakov Gallery Moscow Russia

Repin was a leading Russian painter and sculptor of the Peredvizhniki artistic school.  This artist's works were ground breaking as they were a predecessor to the large number of Socialist Realism works that became popular and acceptable in the Soviet Union and Russia in the 20th Century.  The artist had a versatile career with many works having religious or mythical themes, while other works included portraits or depictions of historical events.


This painting depicts the mood of the time.  It was completed shortly after the death of Tsar Alexander II who brought about some reforms for the release of serfs in Russia, although his overall record was also one of suppression in order to prevent more radical social change.  The Tsar survived several assassination attempts before finally being killed by terrorists in a bomb in 1882.

Alexey Savrasov - Rainbow

Alexey Savrasov (1830-1897) Алексе́й Кондра́тьевич Савра́сов -  Rainbow (1875) 

Russia Stamp issued in 1980

 The Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.

This is the second landscape painting that has been depicted in a Russian stamp for the artist Savrasov.  The painter was the son of a merchant - he schooled in Moscow and traveled extensively around Europe during his career.  The artist's daughter died in the 1870s and the artist eventually lost his way, becoming an alcoholic and dying as a pauper many years later.  However, much of his work is in the Tretyakov Gallery.

Alexey Savrasov - Country Road

Alexey Savrasov (1830-1897) - Country Road (1873). 

Russia 16K Stamp Issued 1971

Oil on canvas. The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia.

This artist was most famous for his landscapes, having been influenced by John Constable when he traveled to Britain.  Although this stamp reproduction is quite poor, the majority ofhis works were very intricate and detailed. 

Other works by Savrasov have been depicted in Russian stamps.

Boris Ioganson - Interrogation of the Communists

Boris Ioganson (1893-1973)  - Interrogation of the Communists (1933) 

Russia Stamp Issued 1967

Tretyakov Gallery Moscow

This is another example of socialism realism art being depicted in stamps by the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War in the 1960s.   The interrogated figures are calm and in control.  

The artist retained positions of power in the art world during his career, becoming the head of the Tretyakov Gallery in 1954, while eventually becoming the President of the USSR Academy of Arts from 1961 to 1964.  Socialist realism art obviously paid off during the Cold war.

Malayan Porcupine - From the Farquhar Collection

Malayan Porcupine - From the Farquhar Collection

Singapore Stamp issued 2002

Here's another intricate sketch of local wildlife that was commissioned by Farquhar during his stay in Singapore and the Malay peninsula during his career as a British commissioner in the early 1800s.


The Malayan Porcupine is still common as it has a wide distribution across South Asia, South East Asia and also into parts of China.  This little fellow has a wide diet, as it is an omnivore, eating tubes, roots and leaves, in addition to feasting on dead carcasses and insects.

Eugene Lansere - Building the Metro

Eugene Lansere (1875-1946)  - Building the Metro (1935) 

(now a mosiac in Metro station in Moscow, Komsomolskaya 1935)

Russia Stamp issued in 1975

This Russian painting is quite unusual in that the art work adorns the wall of a subway station in Moscow's Metro subway system in the form of a mosiac tile display.  The Moscow Metro is incredibly ornate as it was designed to last for a long time - the leaders of Moscow must have decided to spend up big on this once in a lifetime construction project.

According to Wikipedia, the Moscow Metro is the busiest subway system in the world, except for Tokyo.  The painting in this stamp is typical of much of the socialist realism art that exists on many stations throughout the system.   It also dates back almost as far as the London Underground, as the Moscow Metro began operation in 1935.

Farquhar Collection - Asian Small Clawed Otter

Asian Small Clawed Otter - Sketch and Painting from the Farquhar Collection (circa 1823)

Singapore Stamp Issued 2002

It's no wonder that the paintings commissioned by Farquhar during his time as an official in Singapore and modern day Malaysia were focussed on the diversity of plant and animal life in the region.  This part of Asia was one of mega-diversity, with extensive rainforests across the equator.

This species is now classified as vulnerable, due to widespread habitat loss, hunting and pollution - a sad fact of life for any animals that battle for survival in this part of the world that has developed rapidly.  

Jean Baptiste Simeon Chardin - Saying Grace

Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin (1699-1779) - Saying Grace. (1740). 

Russia Stamp Issued 1974

Louvre, Paris, France.

Chardin was considered to be a master of still life.  He depicted subjects in everyday life and modest means, while also bringing out amazingly light coloured details against dark backgrounds.  His figures were powerful, yet quite anonymous - it was rare for everyday characters of French life to be depicted in paintings at this time.

Chardin was popular during his time, eventually earning a state pension - however his personal life was marred by sadness with the death of his first wife and daughter in the 1740s, shortly after this painting was completed.

Alexey Gavrilovich Venetsianov - Oh, Father's Dinner

Alexey Gavrilovich Venetsianov (1780-1847) - Oh, Father's Dinner  (1825) - 

Russia Stamp issued 1973

Tretyakov Gallery Moscow

Born of Greek parents in Moscow, Venetsianov had a passion for art from a young age, although he was a public servant at the commencement of his working life.

His artwork was reknown for dpictions of peasant life in Russia in the early 19th Century. He maintained a group of friends who were also talented artists from modest backgrounds - none of them initially attained power in the art world, due to their lack of formal art training, but Venesianov was appointed as a court painter by Nicholas I at the latter stages of his life.

The artist reportedly died when he was aboard a horse driven carriage that fell down a steep slope.

Farquhar Collection - Pale Giant Squirrel

Tupal Kerawak - From the Farquhar Collection

Singapore Stamp Issued 2002

This the the second of a series of watercolours from the Farquhar Collection that were made as stamps in Singapore in 2002.  The pale giant squirrel was native to Singapore, although it is now extinct.  Farquhar worked for the East India Company in Malacca, but he constantly pursued an interest in natural history during his time in the South East Asian region.  When he moved from Singapore to Malacca, he also took a large personal collection of animals with him, including wild cats, a cassowary, procupine, numerous monkeys and a tiger.  

This painting is typical of those commissioned in the Farquhar collection - it was probably completed by Chinese painters who were brilliant at providing a magnificent level of detail for these drawings that had a very scientific focus.

Ivan Aivazovsky - Seashore

(Иван Константинович Айвазовский)  Ivan Aivazovsky (1819-1900) - Seashore. 1840. Oil on canvas. 

Russia Stamp Issued 1967

Held at The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia

Aivazovsky's work has an uncanny similarity to some of the works of Turner in Britain, as both were very comfortable with dramatic and realistic seascapes with tall ships in moody weather.  This artist spent a great deal of time in Constantinople with many of his works now exhibited in Turkey, the Ukraine and Russia.  He was born of Armenian parent and worked for much of his time in coastal Crimea.  He was also commissioned as an artist for the Russian Navy.

Michail Wrubel - Swan Carewna

Michail Wrubel (1856-1910) - Swan Carewna (1900)

Russia Stamp issued 1967

Tretyakov Gallery, Russia

This stamp depicts painting of the wife of this artist, Nedezhda Zabela - she was a famous opera singer in Moscow at the time when this painting was completed.  Vrubel was a key player in the Russian symbolist artistic movement. 

The artist gained some notoriety in future depictions of demons and spirits - this style is partially reflected in this stamp.  He suffered a nervous breakdown within a few years of completing the painting in 1900.

Monitor Lizard from the Farquhar Collection - Artist Unknown

Sketches of Lizards from the Farquhar Collection

Singapore Stamps issued 2002

These are another two stamps that were developed from the Farquhar Collection of sketches that were issued by Singapore Post in 2002.  Although Farquhar did not draw these sketches, he did commission the work, as he had a keen interest in natural history.

Farquhar is a comparatively forgotten figure in Singapore history, when compared to Stamford Raffles, even though he administered Singapore in the early stages of its development as a settlement under British control.  Farquhar was also instrumental in preserving historical buildings in Malacca, which had been previously settled by the Portuguese and Dutch (prior to it becoming one of the British Straits Settlements in the early 1800s).  

Gely Korzhev - Homer

Gely Korzhev (1925 -   ) -  Homer (1959)

Russian Stamp Issued 1968

Korzhev was a painter who did his work in the socialist realism style that was sponsored by the Soviet Union in the 1950s and 1960s.  Many of his works conveyed messages that were not wholly in a style that promoted the state sponsored propaganda of the communist era in Russia.

Vasili Andreevich - The Lace Maker

Василий Андреевич Тропинин Vasili Andreevich Tropinin (1776-1857) - The Lace Maker (1823)

Russian Stamp issued 1967

Held in the Tretyakov Gallery, Russia

Tropinin was a gifted serf who managed to embark on an artistic career in his 20s, although he did not obtain his freedom until he was almost 40 years old.  He lived in the Ukraine for over 20 years early in his career.

This painting is one of three of his most important works and it was painted shortly after he got his freedom and was living in Moscow.  He became an important and respected romantic portrait artist, completing over 3000 portraits during his life.

Napuh from the Farquhar Collection - Artist Unknown

Watercolour from the Farquhar Collection

Singapore Stamp Issued 2002

Napuh - Artist Unknown

Singapore issued a series of stamps that were developed from drawings from the Farquhar Collection.  Over 400 watercolours were commissioned between 1819 and 1823 by William Farquhar, who was an employee of the East India Company and First Resident of Colonial Singapore.  These exquisite and realistic drawings were made by Chinese locals, depicting the local flora and fauna of the region.

The napu is also known as the Greater Mouse Deer.  It inhabits lowland tropical forests and mangrove areas of the south east Asian tropics and is often tamed as a pet by people who live in these regions, although it has disappeared from Singapore nowadays.

Sydney Parkinson & J. F. Miller - Banksia Serrata

Banksia Serrata - Original Engraving by Sydney Parkinson (1770) 

& Water Colour Painting by J. F. Miller (1773) 

Australian Pre-Stamped Envelope Issued in 1986

Watercolour held at the British Museum (Natural History Unit), London

Sydney Parkinson was an artist who created a prolific number of engravings aboard James Cook's Endeavour during its voyage to Australia and the Pacific in the 1770s.  This is an image of one of Australia's most instantly recognisable and distinctive plants, being the Banksia.   The banksia was named after Joseph Banks, who was also a member of this voyage.  The image was originally designed as an engraving, which was later developed into a watercolour once the voyagers had returned back to London.

Sydney Parkinson's work provided us with a large number of images that document European first impressions of the Australian continent.  He was depicted on a stamp in 1984.

 

This is one of the earliest examples of European based art in Australia - the primary interest of one of documenting new scientific discoveries.  

Alberto Magnelli - Virginia

Alberto Magnelli (1888-1971) - Virginia (1914)

France Stamp Issued 1986

Musee Municipal Vallauris

Magnelli was an Italian artist who gained some fame in the early 20th century as an artist, despite lacking a formal art education.  When in Paris, he met Picasso and adopted a cubist style of painting around the time when this painting, Virginia, was completed.   He later went onto paint in a futurist style.

Marc Chagall - Fiances of the Eiffel Tower

Marc Chagall (1887-1985) - Fiances of the Eiffel Tower (1939)

France Stamp Issued 1963

France has issued a large number of art based stamps, and this is one of the earliest releases for a modern 20th Century artist.  


Russian-French Artist Marc Chagall has been described by Robert Hughes as the quintessential Jewish artist of the 20th Century and the last surviving pioneer of the modernist movement.   


This painting is one of Chagall's dream like works, with an almost surreal quality.  The artists lived a long life, creating a prolific variety of work.  

Singapore Street Scenes - Artist Unknown

Singapore Street Scenes - Paintings of Chinatown - Artist Not Specified

Singapore Stamp Issued 1989

Although the Singapore postal authority promoted this stamp issue as an art series, they did not specify the artists who were responsible for the creation of these lively paintings that depict colourful Singapore street scenes of Chinatown through the years.   The scenes of Temple Street and Pagoda Street do not differ markedly from the Singapore of today, except that things have been cleaned up a lot.  This is wonderful neighbourhood architecture that has thankfully be retained by this young and fast growing country. 

Albert Gleizes - Ecuyere

Albert Gleizes (1881-1953) - Ecuyere (1923)

France Stamp Issued 1981

National Museum of Modern Art - Paris

This is an example of one work of cubism that was skillfully mastered by Gleizes.  Objects are broken up and reassembled to provide multiple viewpoints in an abstract form.  An ecuyere is a horseman or knight.

The artist was born and raised in Paris and he served in the French army intermittently up to the beginning of the first world war.   In 1915 he continued his artistic career by moving to New York City, where mush of his work now remains, after having being purchased as part of the Guggenheim Collection.   

Paul Gauguin - Arearea (Joyousness)

Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) - Arearea (Joyousness) (1892)

France Stamp issued 1968

Musee d'Orsay Paris

This painting was completed by Gauguin when he was in Tahiti, paving the way for the art world at the time, leading towards a greater interest in primitive arts.  His paintings are good examples of symbolism - this painting contains a group of people worshiping a statue at the rear of the painting, a red dog and the sky is not visible, even though this is an outdoor scene.

Gauguin did not achieve a great deal of success when he exhibited his Tahiti paintings in Paris in 1893, but he lead the way for other artists who became interested in primitive arts in the 20th century.  He died in the Dominique Islands in the South Pacific in poor circumstances.

Sergi Poliakoff - Composition 1954

Sergi Polliakoff (1900-1969) - Composition 1954

France Stamp Issued 1988

Lille - Musee des Beaux Arts

Born in Russia, this artist began his career as a figurative artist before turning to abstract art when he lived in France in the 1930s and 1940s.  This work is typical of his abstract work, with relatively bright ochre colours in irregular shapes.

The artist became a French citizen in 1962.

Jacques Louis David - Napoleon Crossing the Alps

Jacques Louis David (1748-1825) - Napoleon Crossing the Alps (1801)

France Stamp Issued 2008

Held at Chateau de Malmaison

David was an influential painter during his lifetime, as he depicted many paintings of contemporary events.  He lived at an interesting and formative time in French history, so his work was intertwined with the politics of France's influential leaders at the time.  David was devoted to Napoleon, even after the emperor's defeat.

Five versions of this painting was made by David, who was very influential in political circles with Napoleon.  Napoleon crossed the Alps in 1800 and David depicted this event, along with several other crucial events that occurred at the time of the French Revolution.  He also painted coronation celebrations of the Empire, before heading into exile in Belgium during the Restoration under Louis XVII.  David lived in a house that contained many paintings of Napoleon during his exploits, in Rue Fosse-aux Loups in Brussels.

Portia Geach - Sir John Quick

Portia Geach - Sir John Quick

Australian Pre-stamped Envelope Issued 1993

Corowa Federation Conference

The portrait of Sir John Quick adorns this pre-stamped envelope from 1993, commemorating the Centenary of the Corowa Conference.  Corowa is now a small country town in New South Wales, but close to the Victorian border.  The conference was important to the federation movement, as Sir John Quick established the need to listen to the voice of the people in discussions that took place.  Federation finally occurred in 1901, but this conference set the wheels in motion for this process.


The artist, Portia Geach was a fashionable and accomplished artist and feminist - she also painted Edith Cowan in another portrait.


See also other Federation Art.  

Johannes Vermeer - Girl with a Pearl Earring

Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) - Girl with a Pearl Earring (1665)

France Stamp Issued 2008

 Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis, The Hague.

Vermeer used expensive pigments in his portraits, including ultramarine - these contribute to a powerful combination of light and depth to his paintings.   He was a successful genre painter of his time, but he produced very few paintings - he specialised in painting exquisite interior scenes depicting middle class Dutch life.  Unfortunately for his family, he left a relatively large debt upon his untimely death in his early 40s.   

Vermeer was not particularly famous until the late 19th century, and his reputation has grown since then.  Only 35 paintings can be reliably attributed to him today.  

This painting was also the subject of a fictional 2003 film and novel by Tracey Chavelier, that tells the story of a fictional account of an affair between the model and the painter from this painting.

Alex Colville - Family and Rainstorm

Alex Colville (1925-    ) - Family and Rainstorm (Nova Scotia) (1955)

Canada 30c Stamp issued 1982

National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

Colvillewas a Canadian painter who emerged after WWII from the East Canadian provinces, depicting the naturalism and everyday life of post WWII democracy.  In this painting, the individuals are starkly depicted with clean lines in a pleasant environment.  However, I see some sense of foreboding or gloom - the clouds are dark on the horizon and the metallic industrial frame of the car door are centrally placed in this painting.  The people do not communicate with the audience.


This was one of 12 paintings that were depicted on 1982 Canada Day stamps - all ten provinces and 2 territories of Canada were represented - this painting is from Nova Scotia

Georges Rouault - The Dreamer

Georges Rouault (1871-1958) 'The Dreamer' (1946)

France Stamp issued 1971

Held at Centre Georges Pompidou. Paris. France

Rouault took up an apprenticeship as a glassmaker in his late teens - the similarity of many of his works to stained glass windows is often accredited to be due to this influence in his learly life.  He was instrumental in the Fauvism Movement. 


Fauvism, generally considered the first artistic revolution of the 20th Century, can be seen as a manifestation of the main impulses of the century: towards autonomy of colour and the intervention of the painter's emotions as a constituent part of the painting.  

- Extract from Chambers Arts Library - Modern Art by Edina Berdand

The fauves were one of the first movements in modern art, but they were less revolutionary than other movements, such as cubism and abstractionism.  Their work is mainly interested in colour, with less distortion of shapes - this is directly seen in the work depicted on this stamp.  

Rouault's work was exhibited in Australia in the 1950s, during an exhibition of modern French artists who were living at the time.  This exhibition was reviewed by the Sydney Morning Herald at the time, and it makes for interesting reading:  French Exhibition is Study in Modern Art (Links to Trove National Library of Australia Newspaper Archives).

Christian Clare Robertson - Antarctic Landscapes

Christian Clare Robertson - Antarctic Landscapes

Australian Antarctic Territory Stamps Issued 1996 - First Day Cover

Although these stamps look like they are photographs, they are in fact paintings by the artist who was stationed at the Australian Antarctic Division in 1989.  The paintings depict the extreme land forms that exist on the Antarctic continent - perspectives are difficult to maintain in these landscapes.