- Dennis CokeFrom left are "Jah Lives" by Osmond Watson, and "The Ascension" by Carl Abrahams.
Georgia Hemmings, Staff Reporter
FOUR paintings by Jamaican artists are being featured on commemorative stamps released by the Post and Telecommunications Department for the Christmas season.
The Christmas 2000 issue, featuring images of the life of Christ, has been released to mark the 2000th anniversary of the birth of Christ.
The four works by artists Osmond Watson and Carl Abrahams are from the National Collection, housed at the National Gallery of Jamaica, and are featured on $10, $20, $25 and $30 stamps.
The two Osmond Watson paintings are reproduced on the $10 and $30 stamps. The $10 stamp features the 1980 cubist style painting, Madonna and Child, with the Madonna dressed as a revivalist follower.
The $30 stamp depicts the 1984 painting Jah Lives, an image of a Rastafarian Christ, with the halo surrounding the head in Jamaican tri-colour (black, green and gold). In this painting, the traditional crown of thorns is discarded at Christ's feet.
Carl Abraham's paintings are reproduced on the $25 and $20 stamps.
On the $25 stamp, The Ascension (1977) shows Christ ascending into heaven, while Boy in the Temple (1977) on the $20 stamp portrays the meeting of the 12-year-old Jesus with the elders in the temple.
Dr. David Boxer, chief curator of the gallery and member of the Stamp Advisory Committee, told The Sunday Gleaner last week that the choice of the stamp design was made in keeping with the themes of the Nativity, as well as the 2000th anniversary of Christ's birth.
"In arriving at a choice, the Committee felt that images depicting Christ or aspects of his life would be relevant and appropriate, especially as done by Jamaican artists," he said. "In this way, we also hope to promote Jamaican art, and the works in the National Collection."
In fact, the four selected pieces are part of a small exhibition currently on at the gallery, titled Some images of Christ in the National Gallery's Collection.
But Dr. Boxer pointed out that it is not the first time that Jamaican art is being depicted on stamps, making reference to the mid-1980s when a Jamaican art series was released.
Additionally, in March this year, a special commemorative issue was released to mark the centenary of renowned artist Edna Manley, with four stamps bearing her likeness.
The Christmas 2000 stamps were officially released on December 6, and, while it might be too early to gauge public response to the issue, "first day covers" were taken up by philatelists (stamp collectors), according to Feranie Hamilton of the Philatelic Bureau of the Post and Telecommunications Department.
"First day covers are envelopes with the first edition of the stamps, postmarked on the date of release," she explained to The Sunday Gleaner. "These are usually collectors' items, highly valuable. These were available, by request, on the first day."
However, packages of the stamps can still be obtained from the department for $85 (the face value of the stamps), she pointed out.
Stamp collecting and trading is a very serious (and, oftentimes, profitable) business in several countries, with clubs or societies of collectors holding regular sales and exhibitions of items.
Here, in Jamaica, members of the Jamaica Philatelic Society meet on the second Saturday of each month at the Geographic Department of the University of the West Indies, Mona.
