The Valley Of The Yosemite Postage Stamp
The beautiful Yosemite Valley was chosen by the United States Postal Service to be featured on a postage stamp this year. The stamp depicts a copy of the 1864 oil painting of the “Valley of the Yosemite” by Albert Bierstadt. This stamp is the 8th issuance in the American Treasures series. The American Treasures series showcases beautiful works of American fine arts and crafts.
Albert Bierstadt was a renowned artist of his time. He is best known for his large landscape paintings of the American West. This is not the only postage stamp that showcases a Bierstadt painting. In 1998, as part of the United States Postal Service’s Four Centuries of American Art series, commemorative stamps were issued for his “The Last of the Buffalo” painting as well.
Yosemite is located in the central Sierra Nevada in California. This National Historic Park boasts over 3.5 million visitors each year. Although Yosemite is 1189 square miles (about the size of Rhode Island), most visitors spend the majority of their visit in Yosemite Valley which is about 7 square miles. Yosemite is home to many species of plants and animals that can only be found at Yosemite. Its granite cliffs, waterfalls, Giant Sequoia’s, streams and wildlife continue to thrive and draw visitors from around the world each day.
Check out our website for more information on this beautiful stamp.
Labels: Interesting Stamps, stamp collecting
posted by Alex at Friday, November 28, 2008
3 Comments:
I don't know of one palm tree in the Yosemite Valley
Joan from Fresno, CA
2:54 PM, January 09, 2009
Good catch! I have been there several times and I don't remember any either. Thanks for pointing that out. Just pretent it is a Giant Sequoia instead!
12:35 AM, January 16, 2009
The trees are black oaks, but they do look like palms when the image is reduced to the size of a stamp. In the left lower corner, there's actualy a pine tree in there too. The expanse of water portrays the Merced in flood stage I would guess, so it looks like Bierstadt might have seen the Valley in early spring. He certainly was a master painter of the romanticized western landscape.
Below are links to a larger image of the original painting and info on the artist (from http://www.albertbierstadt.org) and a photo of the river in flood stage.
..sort of makes you miss the place...
DGK, Lakewood, CA
http://www.albertbierstadt.org/Valley-of-the-Yosemite-1864-large.html
http://www.flickr.com/photos/yosemitejunkie/902071225/
5:29 PM, February 02, 2009
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