20 July 2015
Guernsey Post announces the release of a stamp issue which features Artists of Guernsey, in conjunction with SEPAC (Small European Postal Administration Cooperations).
Reflecting this year’s SEPAC theme of Culture, Guernsey Post has produced six stamps, each depicting a miniaturised version of a painting of some of the Bailiwick’s most beautiful coastal scenery. The artists featured either originally hail from Guernsey or have a connection with the island.
The famous Moulin Huet Bay (42 pence stamp) has inspired many artists including the prolific painter Paul Jacob Naftel, who was born in Guernsey in 1817. A self-taught artist, Naftel eventually moved to London in 1870 where he had a highly successful solo exhibition at the gallery of the Fine Art Society.
Arguably Guernsey’s most famous local painter, Peter Le Lievre’s image of La Moye Harbour at Le Gouffre, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, is shown on the 56p stamp. Born in Guernsey in 1812, Le Lievre rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the Royal Guernsey Militia Artillery. A geologist and naturalist, he designed two lighthouses in the island, one at the end of the Castle breakwater and the other at St. Julian's pier.
Depicted on the 57 pence stamp are two of Guernsey’s most
striking outstanding natural features, the Pea Stacks and Cradle Rock as
painted by William J Caparne. Born in 1856,
he studied at the Slade School in London before moving to Paris. After the
death of his wife in 1894, he settled in Guernsey and his watercolour flower
studies are of important historical record.
William Toplis (1857-1942) was already an established artist when he arrived in Sark for a holiday in 1883. Finding a lifetime's inspiration around him he remained in Sark; the 62p SEPAC stamp shows his representation of La Saignee in the North West of the island.
Guernsey’s Grandes Rocques bay, a long beach capped with the historic Grandes Rocques fort on its northernmost point, features on the 68p stamp as painted by Ethel Cheeswright (1874-1977). A pupil of Guernsey’s Ladies College, Cheeswright studied art before moving to Guernsey’s sister island of Sark in 1892.
During a visit to Guernsey in the summer of 1883, the famous French Impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) produced paintings of some of the island’s most recognisable south coast cliffs and bays, one of which hangs in the National Gallery in London, as depicted on the 77 pence stamp.
Guernsey Post’s acting head of philatelic Bridget Yabsley said: - “Given the beauty of Guernsey’s coastline it is little wonder that it has not only inspired visiting artists, but also produced much homegrown talent of its own.
“We are very excited to be able to showcase Guernsey’s unique landscape which has inspired some of the world’s most famous artists.”
The stamps are available to order by visiting
www.guernseystamps.com or by contacting philatelic customer
services on (01481) 716486.