Still Life Painting by Eranuhi Aslamazyan on DDR Stamp

The theme over at Sunday Stamps today is “food”, so allowing myself a little wiggle room here, I have chosen a thematic stamp from my childhood album featuring a traditional still life painting depicting arrangements of food – grapes, pomegranates, a lemon, and I think, some oranges, alongside a large pitcher, and other tableware in what looks like pewter or melchior. This postage stamp would have been bought in one of those mixed thematic bags sold by weight, that were so popular with fledging philatelist when I was young. While it was a quite recent commemorative at the time, fast forward to today, and it is suddenly half a century old!

Modern Masters - E.A. Aslamasjan — Modern Masters – E.A. Aslamasjan

This 20 Pfennig stamp features a still life painting by E.A. Aslamasjan and was issued as part of a two-stamp set celebrating Russian and Soviet Paintings – Modern Masters Picture Gallery. (The other 5 Pfennig stamp featured a portrait by D.K. Sweschnikow.) It was issued in 1969 by what was then the German Democratic Republic or East Germany (often abbreviated to simply the DDR from Deutsche Demokratische Republik).

My background is in Art History so I could not leave my research there, so I dug a little deeper to see if I could find out a little more about the artist or painting featured. A rewarding half hour on Google led me to the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (SKD) online archive of Modern Masters, and a 1967 oil on canvas by Eranuhi Aslamazyan (1910 – 1998), an Armenian and Soviet multi-genre artist, who like her equally famous sister Mariam, painted landscapes, portraits and still life paintings, as well as producing graphic works, ceramics and pottery, always including strong cultural references to Armenia in her art. Although they both mostly lived in Russia. She was both a member of the Artists’ Union of the USSR and an Honored Artist of the Armenian SSR.

Do head on over to See it on a Postcard for more Sunday Food Stamps!

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More GB Stamps

The way we were … European flags in 1979

EU Assembly 1979 – 41mm x 30mm Inaugurated in 1958 as the Common Assembly, the European Parliament originally consisted of representatives selected by the national parliaments of EU member countries. Beginning in 1979, members of the European Parliament (MEPs) were elected by direct universal suffrage to terms of five years. Britannica.com When I saw that today’s theme over at Sunday Stamps, hosted by See it on a Postcard, was Maps/Flags my mind went right away to this set of GB commemorative stamps from 1979. Recent turbulent events in the UK over Brexit make this particular issue a poignant piece of political history. This isn’t intended as a political post, however, although as a British citizen who has lived almost her entire adult life in Italy, I have always considered myself thoroughly ‘European’! Issued on 9 May 1979 to mark the very first Direct Elections to European Assembly, this set consisted of four very similar stamps featuring subtle variations of the main design of hands – all conspicuously white – placing flags of member nations into ballot boxes. This is the 9 pence stamp, with a blue background, with the other denominations seeing different directions and colour changes of the background. I don’t own this entire set, and only have this used stamp, which I carefully steamed off an envelope as a child. The post mark seems particularly quaint, with its ‘REMEMBER to use the POSTCODE’ slogan. The flags featured include the original six member nations – Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Italy, and the Netherlands – as well as the three nations that joined later in 1973 – Denmark, Ireland, and the UK – with the UK Union Flag the very first in the top left hand corner. The four stamps were designed by Stafford Cliff, best known as the creative director of the Conran Design Group in London. Don’t forget to head on over to See it on a Postcard and visit the other Sunday Stamps bloggers today!

Bicentenary of First Mail Coach Run, Bath and Bristol to London When I first read that the theme over at Sunday Stamps today would be “transportation”, I knew right away that this wonderful se-tenant set celebrating the 200th anniversary of the inauguration of the Bristol, Bath, London Mail Coach Service in 1784 would be my choice. This five stamp set of GB commemoratives issued by the Royal Mail on 31st July, 1984 was a childhood favourite of mine, and as usual, I’m presenting them exactly as displayed in my teenage stamp album (nearly forty years ago), in a row of five black Hawid mounts. I still remember the excitement of obtaining the full strip including selvedge at the very end! The souvenir pack summed up the themes illustrated on the stamps with some enticing titles that evoke the romance of stagecoaches: Taverns & Turnpikes · Floods & Footpads · Highwaymen · Travellers’ Tales · Blizzards & Blunderbusses. The stamps were designed by Keith Bassford and Stanley Paine, and all carry a value of 16p. So let’s take a closer look at the individual stamps: The Original Bath Mail Coach of 1794: The first stamp, on the far left, shows the very first mail coach, the idea of theatre-owner John Palmer from Bath, as it leaves the Swan with Two Necks in 1794. An Attack on the Exeter Mail 1816: The next stamp shows a lioness, which had escaped from a local menagerie and attacked the Exeter Mail in 1816. Happily everybody survived the attack. The Norwich Mail in a Thunderstorm, 1827: This dramatic illustration beautifully showcases the work done on this set by prolific stamp engraver and designer Csezlaw Slania (1921-2005). The Holyhead & Liverpool Mails, 1828: The stage coach is depicted in front of the historic inn The Angel, in Islington, London. The inn also was the subject of William Hogarth’s 1747 drawing, The Stage-Coach, Or The Country Inn Yard, which also depicted the busy coaching inn’s customers and traffic. The Edinburgh Mail Snowbound in 1831: This illustrates the story of the Edinburgh to Dumfries Mail which was brought to a halt by a terrible blizzard on 1st February 1831. Both the guard and driver perished in their attempt to continue carrying the mail on foot. Don’t forget to head on over to See it on a Postcard and visit the other Sunday Stamps bloggers today!

World Thematic Stamps

Cats big or small… on stamps big or small!

Most of my childhood stamps were acquired in those big, mixed country bags, divided by themes rather than country, and mostly date from the mid-1970s and earlier. Animals and birds seem to proliferate and there are a great many stamps featuring big and domestic cats. Here are a just a few […]

One of the great things about the Sunday Stamps meme over at Viridian’s Postcard Blog is that when I occasionally drop by it always inspires me to browse through my unsorted thematic stamps and find just the right stamp to fit the weekly theme. This Sunday the topic is “Scenic Natural Areas” and right away one starkly iconic stamp stood out as being the perfect choice – a monochrome engraved view of Greenland Mountains by Canadian painter Lawren Stewart Harris (1885-1970). Greenland Mountains by Lawren Stewart Harris The original 1930 painting was mistakenly identified by the National Gallery of Canada, which purchased the work in 1936, as depicting Bylot Island in Nunavut Territory, Canada, within the Sirmilik National Park. This error went unchecked right up until the 1990s, and as a result this 15 cent Canadian Stamp, which was issued on 8 February 1967 as part of the Centennial Series celebrating 100 years of Canadian postage (1867-1967), was always known as the “Bylot Island” stamp. Harris was the first of several Toronto painters in the early decades of the last century who would travel to northern Ontario and the Arctic to create landscape paintings. In 1920 these artists began to call themselves the Group of Seven – and a new Canadian art movement was born. Incidentally, in 2010, a painting of Bylot Island entitled Bylot Island I by Lawren Harris, was sold at auction for a staggering 2.8 million Canadian dollars, a record-breaking amount for an artwork by a Canadian artist. Happy Canada Day!

5 replies on “Still Life Painting by Eranuhi Aslamazyan on DDR Stamp”

This is a different style of still life than I am used to seeing.
She clearly likes everything to match!

Your research makes the stamp more interesting.

By the way, I’m afraid that the link on the Sunday Stamps blog doesn’t work.

Thanks for your research on this artist.

Not someone I am familiar with, her wiki entry is intriguing. Very vibrant painting with all the colours and shapes, no dull background for her.

Great painting even if you do not get to eat the food

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