July 7, 2014
Ottawa (Ont.) – Canada Post is celebrating the work of master photographers Edward Burtynsky, Lynne Cohen, Fred Herzog, C.D. Hoy, Michel Lambeth, William Notman and Louis-Prudent Vallée, with the second issue in a five-year series on Canadian photography.
Seven stamps will feature some of their most iconic photographs, carefully selected with the help of archivists and museum curators and other experts with historical and technical knowledge of photography. The series includes five Permanent™ domestic stamps, one U.S. rate stamp and one International rate stamp.
Edward Burtynsky: With works featured in more than 50 major museums around the world, Burtynsky is one of Canada’s most respected photographers. Images such as Railcuts #1, shot in 1985, explore the link between industry and nature, finding beauty and humanity in the most unlikely of places.
Lynne Cohen: Internationally acclaimed, Cohen is famous for striking images of institutional interiors with hints of human presence. Photographs such as Untitled draw attention to the incongruity of our fabricated environments, from uninhabited living rooms to spas and offices.
Fred Herzog: Herzog's work is a time capsule. He is famous for his photographs of street life and for shooting in Kodachrome slide film to capture his subject matter in full colour. Bogner’s Grocery, taken in 1960, displays the vitality these signs bring to a city street.
C.D. Hoy: Hoy’s photographs such as Unidentified Chinese Man are an invaluable record of the rich cultural diversity of B.C.’s Cariboo region between 1909 and 1920. They are important historical and aesthetic portraits of the Interior’s Aboriginal Peoples, Chinese workers and Caucasian labourers.
Michel Lambeth: Lambeth’s well-known St. Joseph’s Convent School, taken in 1960, emphasizes Toronto street life, while capturing his love for working people and concerns about urban social conditions.
William Notman: Reputed to be on the lam from the law in Scotland, William Notman arrived in Montréal in 1856. He became Canada's most successful photographer of that time, owning the largest photography business in North America, with branches across Canada and the United States. Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill posed for him. So did the Fathers of Confederation, royalty and celebrities, as well as tradespeople, hunters, lacrosse teams and others.
Louis-Prudent Vallée: Vallée’s work portrays the city of Québec in the 19th century. He opened his studio in 1867, and in addition to portraiture, he spent much of his time shooting scenes that would benefit tourism in its infancy. The photograph on the stamp was taken circa 1894.
The stamps measure 36 mm x 30 mm (horizontal) and 30 mm x 36 mm (vertical) and are available in booklets of 10 and booklets for domestic stamps and of six for U.S. and International denominations. Two souvenir sheets (one of three vertical stamps/one of four horizontal stamps) measure 150 mm x 75 mm. They were printed by Lowe-Martin Group and designed by Stephane Huot. The Official First Day Cover cancellation site is Picture Butte, Alberta. To download images of the stamps or to purchase philatelic products, please visit canadapost.ca/shop.
