Stamp Release: Winslow Homer

The ninth issuance in the American Treasures series features Boys in a Pasture, an 1874 oil-on-canvas painting by Winslow Homer. The painting is part of the Hayden Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

According to the Museum of Fine Arts, “the boys in this painting—companionable, idle, at peace—may be seen as emblems of America's nostalgia for a simpler, more innocent time as well as of its hope for the future. Their faces are averted, a device Homer often used to make his figures less individual and, therefore, more universal.”

The ninth issuance in the American Treasures series features Boys in a Pasture, an 1874 oil-on-canvas painting by Winslow Homer. The painting is part of the Hayden Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Winslow Homer (1836-1910) is considered one of the greatest American painters of the 19th century. According to the Museum of Fine Arts, "the boys in this painting-companionable, idle, at peace-may be seen as emblems of America's nostalgia for a simpler, more innocent time as well as of its hope for the future. Their faces are averted, a device Homer often used to make his figures less individual and, therefore, more universal."

{Info from USPS News Release}

This is not the first stamp issued depicting a Winslow Homer. I have a few in my collection from a 1962 issuance. I can see a place for this new stamp in my pile, but it kinda makes me yawn. It's also sort of disappointing that there is but one image. It'd be nice to have a set. This stamp comes out tomorrow, August 12, 2010.

Comments

[kelly]

You said exactly what I was thinking as I read the intro -- such a bummer that there's only one image. I think this would be so much more interesting with a variety of Winslow paintings.

In general, the stamp offerings this year have been rather disappointing, compared to the innovation and excitement of recent years. Wonder why that is.