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.

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. 

Robert Juniper - Outcamp

Robert Juniper (b. 1929) - Outcamp

Australian $1.05 stamp issued 1995

Held by the Art Gallery of WA, Painted in 1977

Robert Juniper is one of Western Australia's most accomplished artists.  This work was depicted with three other modern art works in the 1995 Australia Day stamp issue. 

Juniper recently participated in installation works where model cows were painted in the Margaret River region, and he was also commissioned to design the stained glass windows of a church in Bunbury Western Australia.

Ian Fairweather - Kite Flying

Ian Fairweather (1891-1974) - Kite Flying (1958)

Australian $1.20 Stamp Issued 1995

Held at the Queensland Art Gallery

This is the second of four modern art paintings that were issued by Australia Post in 1995.  Others in the series included work by Russell Drysdale, Guy Grey-Smith and Robert Juniper.  

Extract from Queensland Art Gallery Website:

Kite flying 1958, one of Fairweather's most significant works, exemplifies the artist's approach to painting. Lines inspired by Chinese calligraphy cross the work, exposing layers of underpainting. Figures, kites and balloons dance in and out of focus in a fusion of shapes and colours.

The work is based on a 2000-year-old Chinese kite flying festival, which celebrates the protection of loved ones against misfortune. The festival commemorates the story of Huan Ching, a man from the Han period in China, who was warned by a sage to take his wife and children to the mountains.

Taking this advice, he took his family kite flying, and so escaped the massacre that befell their livestock. The felicity of this occasion is reflected in the painting's joyous vibrancy.

Russell Drysdale - Back Verandah

Russell Drysdale (1912-1981) - Back Verandah (1942)

Australia 45c Stamp issued 1995

Painting Held at the Queensland Art Gallery Brisbane

Drysdale was known for capturing certain aspects of the Australian landscape, including it's harshness and desolation.  Many of his paintings are etched into the Australian psyche.


This painting depicts the simple but relatively harsh way of life for a rural family in south western New South Wales.  Although there is a brief time for rest, there is always plenty of work to do.   The painting was completed in 1942, at a time when Drysdale's work was becoming increasingly sinister and slightly menacing to some viewers - Australia's involvement in WWII was also becoming more serious at this time.


This is the first of four modern art stamps that were issued  by Australia Post for Australia Day in 1995.   The whole set will be added to this blog progressively.