New Stamp - Boys in a Pasture by Winslow Homer

On August 12, 2010, in Richmond, Virginia, at the American Philatelic Society Stamp Show, the U.S. Postal Service issued a 44-cent, American Treasures — Winslow Homer commemorative stamp designed by Derry Noyes, Washington, DC.

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. Inaugurated in 2001 with the Amish Quilts stamp pane, the American Treasures series consists of annual issuances intended to showcase beautiful works of American fine art and crafts.

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.”
 
Winslow Homer (1836-1910) is considered one of the greatest American painters of the 19th century. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, he began a two-year apprenticeship in a lithography shop at the age of 19 and afterwards became a freelance illustrator. In 1859, he moved to New York City, where he studied at the National Academy of Design and worked as a freelance artist for Harper’s Weekly magazine. In 1861, at the start of the Civil War, the magazine sent him to the front lines as an artist-correspondent.

This was not the first time the Postal Service has honored Homer and his work with a stamp. In 1962, the Postal Service, then known as the U.S. Post Office Department, honored Homer by issuing a stamp featuring Breezing Up (A Fair Wind), a painting of a man and three boys sailing. And 12 years ago, in 1998, Homer’s painting The Fog Warning appeared as one of 20 designs on the Four Centuries of American Art stamp pane.

Customers have 60 days to obtain the first-day-of-issue postmark by mail. They may purchase new stamps at a local Post Office, at The Postal Store website at www.usps.com/shop, or by calling 800-STAMP-24. They should affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes (to themselves or others), and place them in a larger envelope addressed to:


American Treasures – Winslow Homer Stamp
Postmaster
1801 Brook Road
Richmond, VA 23232-9998

After applying the first-day-of-issue postmark, the Postal Service will return the envelopes through the mail. There is no charge for the postmark. All orders must be postmarked by Oct. 12, 2010.

Also available on the website are a Digital Color Postmark for the stamp ($1.50), a keepsake package featuring the Digital Color Postmark and a full pane of the stamps ($10.95), the ceremony program for the stamp ($6.95), stamps in panes of 20, 10 and 4, and the First Day Cover of the stamp (82 cents).