Hans Heysen - A Cottage Bunch

Hans Heysen - A Cottage Bunch (1930)
Australia 60c Stamp Issued 2011
Held at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Roy de Maistre - Still Life, Zannias

Roy de Maistre - Still Life, Zannias (1930)
Australia 60c Stamp Issued 2011
Held at the National Gallery of Victoria

This is an early piece of work by one of Australia's most successful overseas artists, Roy de Maistre.  Although he was successful within Australia, De Maistre would later go on to live in London, where some of his work would eventually be purchased by the Tate Gallery and he would be commissioned to paint the Stations of the Cross for Westminster Cathedral.  

He has an interest in the harmonisation of music and colour throughout his life.  The artists was originally studying music, but he suffered badly from tuberculosis at many stages of his life, eventually causing him to concentrate of painting.

Vida Lahey - Fruit and Flowers

Vida Lahey (1882-1968) - Fruit and Flowers (1924)
Australia 60c Stamp Issued 2011
Held at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Vida Lahey was one of Australia's most successful female artists.  Born in Brisbane, she went on to study in Melbourne at the National Gallery School before heading off to Europe in the late 1910s.  This was probably where she developed an interest in still life art, as she travelled to the Netherlands at this time.

Lahey returned to her home town of Brisbane at a time when Brisbane was not known for its interest in cultural or artistic pursuits, remaining there until she passed away in 1968.

Nora Heysen - A Bunch of Flowers

Nora Heysen (1911-2003) - A Bunch of Flowers (1930)
Australia 60c Stamp Issued 2011
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Nora Heysen was the fourth child of Hans Heysen, who was one of Australia's most famous war artists in World War I.  Nora also became an artist, studying in Adelaide, before going on to become the first woman to win the Archibald Prize in 1938.  She also followed her father as a war artist, completing 170 works of art in WWII.


This is one of her still life works, issued as part of a series of still life works of flowers by Australia Post in 2011.

Arnold Shore - Camellias

Arnold Stone (1897-1963) - Camellias (1937)
Australia 60c Stamp Issued
Held at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

This is the first of five 2011 stamps that have been issued by Australia Post, showing five works of still life art from the National Gallery of Victoria.  They have been gathered from the heyday of still life art that was taking place in the 1920s and 1930s in Australia.   

Arnold Stone was born in Melbourne and he was trained as an artists by Frederick McCubbin during the early stages of his career.  They parted ways, and eventually he went on to run a school in Melbourne with Max Meldrum, were they taught student modernist principles in painting.

Brian Dunlop - Queen Elizabeth II

Brian Dunlop (1938-2009) - Royal Portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (1984)
Australia 60c Stamp Issued 2011
Painting Held at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Brian Dunlop was a prolific and successful Australian still life and portrait painter of the modern age.  This painting was commissioned in 1984 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the state of Victoria in Australia, and it was donated to the National Gallery of Victoria in the same year.


Australia continues to issue Queen's Birthday stamps around June each year, as a long weekend holiday is still observed, even though it is not really the Queen's Birthday!  

Dame Nellie Melba Portrait - Rupert Bunny

Portrait of Dame Nellie Melba - Rupert Bunny (1902)
Australia 60c Stamp Issued 2011
Painting held at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne 

This stamp has been issued to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Dame Nellie Melba, the famous opera singer from the late 19th century.  Melba had a long and successful career, and a very interesting personal life as she mixed with dukes and famous people throughout Europe.  To this day, her name is remembered through a common dessert - Peach Melba - in addition to having a Canberra suburb named after her.  


Melba's portrait was completed by one of Australia's most popular artists at the height of both their careers. She was also the first Australian woman to be depicted on an Australian stamp back in 1961.

Dame Nellie Melba - 1961 5d Stamp Australia

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II - Rolf Harris (2006)

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II - Rolf Harris (2006)
Australia $2.25 Stamp Issued 2011

The Queen's Birthday stamp issue for 2011 depicts one of the most popular and well known portraits of the Queen by an Australian artist.  Rolf Harris began his career in television in Australia, but he has lived the majority of his life in the UK.  During the height of his career in the 1970s, his programs centred around paintings which he completed live on TV - in addition to singing many songs that are now painful to hear.

This portrait was commissioned for the Queen's  80th birthday - it is often well regarded as it shows her friendly side in the prime of her life.