A Mountain Road by TP Flanagan

A Mountain Road, by TP Flanagan (1929-2011)
UK 3p Stamp issued 1971

TP Flanagan made a large contribution to the arts during his long career in Northern Ireland in the mid 20th century.  As well and being a teacher at the St Mary's Training College in Belfast until retirement in 1983, he had a parallel career as a professional artist in oils and watercolours was quietly flourishing throughout the 1960s and 1970s, with awards, exhibitions, honours, a television film (TP Flanagan: Painter).

He and his family were close friends with the famous Irish poet, Seamus Heaney, who was quoted as saying: "As an artist, Flanagan has gone his own way, explored the Irish landscape and enhanced Irish landscape painting through the discovery andelaboration of an individual style."


This stamp is one of a series of three "Ulster Paintings" from the Ulster '71 festival on 16 June 1971:
Colin Middleton
Tom Carr

Vladimir Dimitrov - View of Istanbul

Vladimir Dimitrov (1882-1961) - View of Istanbul
Bulgaria cm13 Stamp Issued 1982

I've not been able to determine the exact location or timeframe for the creation of this rather abstract view of Istanbul, although this work comes from a highly regarded artist from Bulgaria.  This is one of 5 stamps that were issued in his honour in 1982.  The artist was at his peak in the 1920s and 1930s.

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.

Guy Grey-Smith - Skull Springs Country

Guy Grey-Smith (1916-1981) - Skull Springs Country

Australian 45c Stamp issued 1995

Painting Completed in 1965 - Held at the Art Gallery of Western Australia

Gery-Smith had a coloured and challenging life, as he was born in WA before heading off to WWII with the Royal Australian Air Force in France.  After being shot down from his plane, he was held as a POW in France, where he learned to paint with watercolours.  Art became his life subsequent to this and he eventually returned to Western Australia after establishing his career overseas.

Full biography is available: Guy Grey-Smith .


This is the last of the series of four stamps of Australian Modern Art that were issued in 1995 by Australia Post. 

Paul-Emile Borduas - Untitled No. 6

Paul-Emile Borduas (1905-1960) - Untitled No. 6 

Canada 35c Stamp issued 1981

Museum of Contemporary Art - Montreal Canada

Borduas was the leader of the Automatiste group of artists in Montreal Canada that became prominent in the 1940s.  These artists supported the theory of surrealist automatism - this the the type of "automatic" drawing that is developed when you do not impose self-censorship during the drawing process.  Montreal was a conservative place at that time, and Borduas eventually moved to New York City and Paris in the 1950s before his untimely death in 1960 from a heart attack.

1998 Time Article on Borduas and the Automatists