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.

Taras Shevchenko - Kateryna

Taras Shenchenko (1814-1861) - Katerina (1842)
Russa USSR Stamp issued 1979

Shevchenko is known as the founding father of Ukrainian modern literature and language, more that his talent as an artist.  He was born into serfdom, but when his talents were discovered, the famous poet Vasily Zhukovsky bought him out of serfdom in 1838.  This portrait depicts Katerina, who was a key figure in one of his most famous poems.  She was a serf girl, who was seduced, abandoned and disgraced by a Russian soldier in the poem.  Shevchenko's art crosses between folk art and realism.

Kyriak Kostandi - Among the People

Kyriak Kostandi (1852-1921) - Among the People (1885)
Russia USSR Stamp Issued 1979
Painting Held at the National Art Museum of Ukraine

This is typical of the realistic genre paintings completed by Kostandi throughout his career.  A young peasant girl looks out the window of a crowded train, to a wider world.  There is a sense of tiredness to the girl and uncertainty in the painting overall - although the girl is among a lot of people on the train, she is the only one in the painting.  It captures a moment in time.

Kostandi was born in a town near Odessa, but he learnt his artistic trade in St Petersburg, where he went on to become a founding member of the Society of South Russian Artists.

Paul von Szinyeiv-Merse - Lovers

Paul von Szinyeiv Merse (1845-1920) - Lovers (1870)
Hungary Stamp issued 1967
Painting Held at the Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest

This painting is typical of Szinyeiv Merse, as it captured upper middle class people in idealised settings in the prosperous countryside.  Merse was one of the earlier impressionist artists of Hungary and Central Europe.  After being trained in Munich, Germany, he was a politician as well as an artist of Hungary.  Another Merse painting is also on this Blog: Lady in a Purple Dress .

Portrait of Lagarova by Stefan Ivanov

Stefan Ivanov by Portrait of Lagarova
Bulgaria Stamp Issued 1971

Stamp was issued within a series of 6 stamps to commemorate the opening of a new art gallery in Bulgaria in 1971.  Stefan Ivanov was born in 1875, being one of 12 siblings in a peasant family.  His early life was quite tragic as six of his brothers and sisters died.  He trained as an artist in Sofia in good art schools and he became famous for sad, melancholic works of women during a very tough time of depression and poverty in the 1920s.  He died in 1951.

Artist Unknown - Girl with Dove

Girl With Dove - Artist Unknown
Poland 90gr Stamp issued 1974
19th Century Painting

This is one of eight stamps depicting children in portrait paintings - issued by the Polish in 1974