| Added by |
 Alain Martineau
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| General Description : | Based on a painting by Frederick Horsman Varley, "Self Portrait", circa 1945, Hart House Permanent Collection, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario. Frederick H. Varley was born in Sheffield, England, in 1881. He attended the Académie royale des Beaux-Arts in Antwerp, supporting himself by working on the docks. In 1912 he immigrated to Toronto and became a founding member of the Group of Seven in 1920. His landscapes achieved acclaim, though he preferred painting people. Indeed, Arthur Lismer, a fellow member of the Group of Seven, felt Varley's nudes excelled Renoir's. When painting a portrait, Varley discarded all preconceived ideas and looked at the sitter to "see the truth emerging in the face". To Varley, different colours represented different personalities or levels of spirituality; thus he occasionally annoyed his patrons by painting them in green, pink, or purple. Varley died in Toronto in 1969. The stamp features a self-portrait by Varley painted in oils in 1945. The work belongs to the Hart House Collection of Canadian painting and is on loan to the Art Gallery of Ontario. |
| Face value | 17 Cents |
| Catalog code (Michel) | CA 798 |
| Catalog code (Scott) | CA 888 |
| Catalog code | Yvert et Tellier CA 766 Stanley Gibbons CA 1010 |
| Series | Canadian art |
| Stamp colour | multicolor |
| Stamp use | Commemorative stamp |
| Print run | 18,350,000 |
| Issue date | 22/05/1981 |
| Designer | Pierre Fontaine |
| Paper type | Fluorescence (F), with General Tagging on all edges (GT4). |
| Print technique | Offset lithography |
| Printed by | Ashton-Potter Limited |
| Perforation | 12.5 |
| Height | 48.00 mm |
| Width | 40.00 mm |
| Catalog prices | No catalog prices set yet |
