Title of stamp: Art Canada: Mary Pratt
Issue date: March 15, 2007

The art of stamps

Mary Pratt’s artwork looks so realistic, that it’s sometimes hard to believe you’re looking at paintings rather than photographs.

One of Canada’s most respected realist painters, Mary Pratt was born in 1935 in Fredericton, New Brunswick. She studied with a number of famous artists, including Alex Colville, Lawren Phillips Harris and Ted Pulford.

Mary’s artwork often shows things found in the kitchen of her home in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. Jars, jellies and fruit—many of the items we see every day—appear in her paintings. One of these paintings, “Jelly Shelf”, is featured on a domestic rate (52¢) stamp that Canada Post issued on March 15, 2007, as part of the ongoing Art Canada series.

Another of Mary’s paintings, “Iceberg in the North Atlantic”, is featured on an international rate ($1.55) stamp. An interesting thing about this work of art is that Mary painted much of the iceberg with a Windex® bottle filled with blue paint—a technique that the artist herself developed.

You’ll find several of Mary’s paintings at the National Gallery of Canada, in Ottawa, Ontario. You can also do an online search for “Mary Pratt” to find out more about this talented painter’s life and works.