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You oughta be in pictures. Canada Post's Art Canada series to focus on Yousuf Karsh

May 27, 2008

You oughta be in pictures. Canada Post's Art Canada series to focus on Yousuf Karsh
As of May 21st, three new stamps featuring photographs taken by Yousuf Karsh began a new journey. This year marks the 100th anniversary of Karsh's birth and May 21st marked the anniversary of publication of his famous portrait of Sir Winston Churchill featured on the cover of LIFE Magazine in 1941.

Yousuf Karsh traveled the world to take some of these now world-renowned photographs, so it is no surprise that these stamps too should travel the world in his honour. The domestic rate stamp will feature Yousuf Karsh, a Self-Portrait, (52-cents), the U.S. stamp will feature his photograph of Audrey Hepburn (96-cents) and the international rate stamp will be his portrait of Sir Winston Churchill ($1.60).

Of his first day in Canada as a 16-year old Armenian refugee, Yousuf Karsh said, "Everybody looked happy, and I was intoxicated by their joy. For me, it was a new kind of dream experience, with dizzying dimensions." His recollection hints at the relentless optimism that would eventually frame this internationally-acclaimed photographer's six decade-long career.

In addition to the three beautiful stamps issued as part of the series, the Souvenir Sheet will also include 24 other famous photographs taken by Karsh (names listed below).

"The simple, asymmetrical frames, white to evoke a framing mat, are integral to the series' design", said stamp designer Hélène L'Heureux. "Several shades of black were used to achieve a sense of depth and contrast. The simple look was not simple to execute."

The domestic rate stamps found on the pane of 16 measure 32 mm x 40 mm (vertical) with 13+ perforations, with P.V.A. gum. The U.S. rate and international rate stamps are available in booklets of 8 stamps, measuring 32.25 x 39.75 (vertical) and are self-adhesive. The stamps on the Souvenir Sheet measure 150 mm x 97 mm (horizontal) and have 13+ perforations with P.V.A. gum. Lowe-Martin printed 1.750 million domestic rate stamps, 1.6 million of each of the U.S. and international rate stamps and 325,000 souvenir sheets. All stamps were printed using lithography in six colours plus varnish on Tullis Russel paper. They are general tagged on all sides. The Official First Day Cover will bear the cancel OTTAWA ON, in recognition of the many photographs taken by Karsh that were stamped on the back with "Karsh of Ottawa".

Additional information about Canadian stamps can be found in the Newsroom section of Canada Post's website, and photos of this new stamp is in the Newsroom's Photo Centre. Stamps and Official First Day Covers will be available at participating post offices, or can be ordered online by following the links at Canada Post's website www.canadapost.ca 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.

ART CANADA: YOUSUF KARSH
SOUVENIR SHEET DETAILS - DÉTAILS DU BLOC-FEUILLET
      
First row - premier rang
1.     1957     Albert Camus (Nobel prize in literature / Nobel de littérature)
2.     1954     Pablo Picasso
3.     1990     Dizzy Gillepsie (jazz musician / musicien jazz)
4.     1963     Pope John XXIII -- Pape Jean XXIII
5.     1962     Martin Luther King
6.     1991     Elie Wiesel (Nobel Peace Prize / Prix Nobel de la paix)
7.     1960     John F. Kennedy
8.     1974     John D. Diefenbaker
9.     1963     Nikita Kruschev
10.     1956     Walt Disney
11.     1956     Rainer and/et Grace of/de Monaco
12.     1963     Yuri Gagarin (astronaut/astronaute)
      
Second row - deuxième rang
13.     1970     Mohammed Ali
14.     1943     Princess Elizabeth -- Princesse Elizabeth
15.     1979     I.E. Pei (architecture)
16.     1965     Lester B. Pearson (Nobel Peace Prize / Prix Nobel de la paix)
17.     1949     Albert Einstein (Nobel Prize in Physics / Prix Nobel de physique)
18.     1956     Indira Gandhi
19.     1957     Ernest Hemingway (Nobel Prize in Literature / Prix Nobel de littérature)
      
Third row - troisième rang
20.     1946     Humphrey Bogart
21.     1990     Jessye Norman (opera/opéra)
      
Left side - côté gauche
22.     1946     Dwight D. Eisenhower
23.     1988     Mother Teresa / Mère Teresa (Nobel Peace Prize / Prix Nobel de la paix)
24.     1981     Sophia Loren


Interesting Facts - ART CANADA:YOUSUF KARSH

  • The first Yousuf Karsh photograph to appear on a Canadian stamp was a photo of William Lyon Mackenzie King (4-cent stamp) as part of the 1951 Canadian Prime Ministers series.

  • Mr. Karsh also provided photographs of Queen Elizabeth II for a total of 16 definitive stamps. These include the 1953 1-cent, 2-cents, 3-cents, 4-cents and 5-cents; the 1953 Queen Elizabeth II, Coronation (4-cent), the 1957 Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip (5-cent); and a newly designed Queen stamp issued in 1987 (37-cents). The same image was then used in 1988 (38-cents), 1990 (39-cents & 40-cents), in 1991 (42-cents), in 1992 (43-cents); and again in 1995 (45-cents), in 1998 (46-cents) and in 2000 (47-cents).

  • This is not the first time the image of Sir Winston Churchill is featured on Canadian stamp. In fact, the exact same image was issued on August 12, 1965 (5-cents) making him one of the few persons who was neither a member of the Royal Family nor a Canadian to be commemorated by the issue of a Canadian postage stamp. It was the first Canadian stamp to be printed by duo-tone lithography, a printing process particularly suited to this type of reproduction.

  • Other famous Yousuf Karsh "models" to be featured on a stamp include:
    Georges Philias Vanier (5-cents); issued in 1967
    Stephen Leacock (6-cents); issued in 1969
    Jeanne Sauvé (43-cents); issued 1994
    Portia White: Extraordinary Entertainers (46-cents); issued 1999
    Moses Coady and the Cooperative Movement (46-cents); issued in 2000
    Morley Callaghan (48-cents); issued in 2003

  • Karsh's photographs have also been reproduced by some 15 other postal administrations around the world; including Armenia.