Deer's Meadow by Thomas Carr

Deer's Meadow by Thomas Carr
7p Stamp issued 1971 United Kingdom

Carr was taught at the Slade School of Fine Art in London after selling an initial landscape painting in a local hotel during a three week holiday in Cassis, in the South of France. Commercially successful, this Northern Irish artist shunned adstractionism that was popular in the early stages of his career.  For much of his life he was a teacher and artist, living in the countryside of Northern Ireland in addition to living in Belfast from 1955.

This is one of three landscape paintings by Northern Irish artists that featured in an "Ulster '71 Festival" stamp issue:
TP Flanagan - A Mountain Road
Colin Midleton - Slieve na Brock

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

Vida Lahey - Beach Umbrellas

Vida Lahey (1882-1968) - Beach Umbrellas (1933)
Australia $1.20 Stamp Issued 1995
Queensland Art Gallery

Vida Lahey was Queensland born, although she studied in London before WWI and lived in Paris afterwards, training at Colarossi's Academy.  As a modernist artist in Australia at the time, she was instrumental in promoting the arts on Queensland and supporting the Queensland Art Gallery.  This is one of many colourful paintings that depicts Australian beach and seaside life that is typical of Queensland and northern New South Wales - there is plenty of colour and light.

Lahey was also trained by Frederick McCubbin.  Lahey's painting "Fruit and Flowers" was used for another stamp in 2011.

John Le Capelain - Jersey Landscapes #5

John le Capelain (1812-1846) - Countryside landscape scene
Jersey Stamp issued 1987

John le Capelain was a self taught painter who was popular during his lifetime in Jersey.  In 1846 his paintings were included in a book that was presented to Queen Victoria and he was commissioned to complete another set of landscapes on the Isle of Wight.  Unfortunately for him, he contracted tuberculosis while on the Isle of Wight, dying thereafter in 1848.

Thomas Moran - Cliffs of Green River

Thomas Moran (1837-1926) - Cliffs of Green River (1874)
USA 32c Stamp Issued 1998
Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas

Thomas Moran was one member of a school of artists known as the Rocky Mountain landscape school.  He was most famous for capturing the wide open spaces in the west of America, including major national parks at Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon.  He completed water colour sketches while on site, before following up with detailed oil paintings in his New York studio.  He travelled as far afield as Mexico and Venice, Italy during his working life.

George Nissky - Moscow Suburb in February

George Nissky - Moscow Suburb FebruaryПодмосковье февраля
USSR Russia Stamp Issued 1967

This painting from 1957 captures a stereotypical scene from a sleepy suburb in the middle of winter, where this is very minimal human movement and cool northern light.  This is typical of George Nisskiy's work - you can imagine these scenes on the front of boring greeting cards.  The painting is now held at the collection for the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, and it is one of many stamps that depicted art scenes from famous Russian collections.

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.

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.

Christpoher Pratt - Breakwater

Christpoher Pratt (1935-    ) - Breakwater (1976) 

Canada 30c Stamp issued 1982 

National Gallery of Canada

This modern work was depicted on a Canadian stamp only 6 years after the painting was completed.  The artist is known for depictions of the Newfoundland landscape where he lives. Maritime, architecture and roadside scenes are common in his works.


This painting has a very timeless quality to it - the scene could well be imaginary.  Although the colours of the landscape are appealing, the modern style buildings are drab, with very few redeeming features, despite the light clean lines on the horizon.

Le Lorrain - Sea Port at Sunset

Claude le Lorrain (1605-1682) - Sea Port at Sunset (1635)

France Stamp issued 2008

Louvre Museum, Paris

Claude was born in Lorraine, which was a separate province to France at the time.  He lived a life of poverty in early years, but he eventually went on to work for cardinals and then Pope Urban VIII in Rome in the late 1620s.  He died a wealthy man.

He is most famous for his landscape work, most of which are now held in England.  At the time, landscapes were not considered worthy of being depicted in paintings.  Figures were usually in all of his paintings, but they were small and usually painted by other artists.  An interesting article from the Sydney Morning Herald in 1929 outlines some of the key features of Charles Lorrain's life.

Alexander Jackson - Yukon Territory Highway Near Kluane Lake

Alexander Jackson (1882-1974) - Yukon Territory Highway Near Kluane Lake (1943)

Canada Stamp issued 1982
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

Jackson, one of the founding members of  Canada's Group of Seven artists, was firstly a commercial artist in Chicago before he headed off to Paris to study Impressionist painting.  He traveled widely during his career, and primarily gained famed through his depictions of the Canadian landscape.   Yukon is depicted in full beuaty, but it is somewhat lonely and desolate at the same time.


This stamp was one of 12 modern art paintings that were depicted on Canada Day in 1982.  The stamps cover the ten provinces and 2 territories that make up Canada.  Rather ironically, A. Y. Jackson's work was used in this stamp issue, even though he made a prediction in 1946 that Canada would become part of the United States by 1971.  (Refer to news story here.)

John le Capelain - Landscapes from Jersey (Pt 3)

John le Capelain - Landscapes from Jersey

Jersey 31p Stamp issued 1987

We're seeing a regular pattern here, for this painter who lived in Jersey, which is part of the Channel Islands.  Once again, he shows a mastery for composing light in this landscape of a well developed harbour - perhaps this is not your typical landscape for a rural outpost in the sea.  I like the way light disperses from behind a dark cloud that is fully centred in this painting.  The sea appears rough, with an ability to overwhelm people in their small boats.  

John le Capelain - Landscapes from Jersey (Pt 2)

John le Capetain - Landscape painter

Jersey 34p Stamp issued 1987

Le Capetain has depicted the landscape in an expansive and somewhat threatening manner in this painting, as the sea waves smash into the coastline - no peaceful coves or sandy beaches here.  The people in this painting  appear to be quite calm, but you feel as though they may be swept away by the overwheming strength of the waves - they would just disappear from the painting in a few seconds.  Again, it's really misty, but we still see enough of the landscape to be impressed by it.

This is the second in this series of five 1987 Jersey Christmas stamps that I've managed to collect.

Arthur Streeton - Impression for Golden Summer

Arthur Streeton (1867-1943) - Golden Summer, Eaglemont (1889)
Australia 41c Stamp Issued 1989
Painting Held at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

This is one of many well known paintings by Arthur Streeton, who was one of the most influential artists of the impressionist Heidelberg School in the late 1800s in Australia, along with Tom Roberts and Frederick McCubbin.

Streeton lived and worked on the outskirts of Melbourne for much of his life - this work shows a typical scene in country Australia, with long shadows creeping over the fields of sheep - light bathes the scene in a typically Australian style.

Other work by Streeton has been depicted on Australian stamps:

One Penny Fare, McMahons Point .

His contemporaries included:

Frederick McCubbin

Tom Roberts

Tom Roberts - Impression Mentone

Tom Roberts (1856-1931) - Mentone (1888)
Australia 41c Stamp Issued 1989
Painting Held at the National Gallery of Victoria

This painting was completed at the height of the Heidelberg School on the outskirts of Melbourne in the late 1800s.  Tom Roberts developed a very very Australian style of impressionist paintings, where the Australian sunlight almost whitewashes the paintings in golden yellows and whites - truly typical of the Australian summer.

Roberts was known for his landscape paintings, in addition to being revered during his time.  Other paintings of his have been used on Australian stamps:

Opening of the Australian Parliament House, 1901

Shearing the Rams, 1888

Grace Cossington-Smith - The Bridge In Curve

Grace Cossington Smith (1892-1984) - The Bridge In Curve (1930)
Australia $1 Stamp Issued 1996
National Gallery of Victoria Melbourne

Painting depicts the construction of Sydney Harbour Bridge during the Depression, as viewed from the Rocks, Sydney.  Cossington-Smith is one of Australia's greatest artists, who lived and worked in the north shore of Sydney during the great depression and wars of the early 20th Century.   This was also a time of great development in Sydney as the city grew and prospered.  

Her later work became characterised by broad brushstrokes and bright colours - her versatility meant that there were broad themes, including interiors, landscapes and depictions of everyday life in bustling Sydney.

Albert Namatjira - Simpson's Gap

Albert Namatjira (1902-1959) - Simpson's Gap

Australia 45c Stamp Issued 2002

Ngurratjuta Pmara Corporation Collection - Araluen Collection Alice Springs

This is one of four stamps issued to commemorate the life of Albert Namatjira in 2002.  The artist straddled between two western and aboriginal culture during his reasonable short life, producing a large number of works that depicted the local environment around his homeland of Alice Springs, in the outback of Australia.