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OTTAWA - Canada Post will issue two stamps today as part of
the Art Canada series, celebrating the work of great Canadian
painter, Jack Bush and marking 100 years since his birth.
Canada Post first introduced the Art Canada stamp series in
1988, then referred to as Masterpieces of Canadian Art. The
first stamp featured "The Young Reader" by Ozias Leduc and was
so well received by Canadians- that the series has lived on for
more than twenty years. Other artists featured within the set
have included Tom Thomson, Kenojuak Ashevak, Alfred Pellan, and
Mary Pratt.
This year, we celebrate the works of John Hamilton "Jack" Bush.
Born in Toronto in 1909, he spent most of his childhood in
Montreal. Bush began his professional career as a landscape
artist in 1929, and ten years later, he ran a commercial art
business by day and attended the Ontario College of Art by
night. Most Canadian artists of the time were sheltered from
foreign influence but Bush’s art changed dramatically upon
seeing the work of American Abstract Expressionists in New York
City.
Designed by Helen L’Heureux, the stamp brings together Bush’s
complex and imaginative use of colour. The paintings entitled
Striped Column (1964) and Chopsticks (1977) were chosen for
their contrasting shape and colour, highlighting the boldness in
one and the softness in the other. The photograph on the
Souvenir Sheet provides a glimpse of the large scale of this
Canadian painter’s art by showing Bush painting on a canvas
alongside the step-ladder he often required to reach the top of
his canvas.
The domestic rate stamp (54-cents) measures 44 mm x 45 mm
(vertical) and the international rate stamp ($1.65) measures 150
mm x 87 mm (horizontal); both have 13+ perforations. Lowe-Martin
printed 1,750 million domestic rate stamps to be sold in a pane
of 16 stamps and 250,000 international rate stamps which are
only found on the Souvenir Sheet. The P.V.A. gum stamps will be
printed using lithography in seven colours on Tullis Russell
paper. They are general tagged on all sides. The Official First
Day Cover will bear the cancel TORONTO ON.
Additional information about Canadian stamps can be found in the
News section of Canada Post’s website, and photos of these new
stamps are also available. Stamps and other products will be
available at participating post offices, or can be ordered
online by following the links at Canada Post’s website
www.canadapost.ca/collection, or by mail order from the National
Philatelic Centre. From Canada and the USA, call toll-free: 1
800 565-4362, and from other countries, call: 902 863-6550.
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