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.
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.
Posted by: kelly | August 11, 2010 at 12:42 PM