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A LITTLE HISTORY ON THE 18TH (1951-52) DUCK STAMP ARTIST

Maynard Reece's claim to fame, before the time of his second Duck Stamp victory, was his first Duck Stamp.  (Mr. Reece was only the second artist to win the competition a second time.)  His design of Buffleheads was used on the 1948-49 stamp.  His second prize winning painting was one of Gadwalls and was used on the cover of the revised 1967 version of Duck Stamp data, the book that was published by the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife.

Mr. Reece's other credits are also extensive.   On two occasions, his fish paintings have been award winners in the New York Art Directors club Exhibitions.   The first time was in the 35th Annual National Exhibition for the freshwater fish series which he had done for Life magazine.  The second award the organization gave him was in the 41st Annual Exhibition for his Brown Trout which had appeared in the Saturday Evening Post.

Examples of Mr. Reece's work have been published in many places, and are not difficult to find.  National magazines that have carried some of his work are Life, Successful Farming, Sports Illustrated, Better Homes and Gardens, the Saturday Evening Post, Sports Afield and Outdoor Life.

Many of his paintings have been shown in some of the leading museums and galleries both in this country and in Canada.  His artwork has also been published in several newspapers,  including the Des Moines Sunday Register and the Minneapolis Sunday Tribune. Several calendar companies have also made use of his material, including Osborne-Kemper-Thomas, Inc., the Thomas D. Murphy company, The U.O. Colson Company, and Shaw-Burton, Inc.  He has also done greeting cards for Hallmark and paintings for many sporting goods manufacturers around the United States.

Around 1967, Mr. Reece embarked on a more extensive project, the writing and illustrating of a book entitled Fish and Fishing.  He collected fish and material for the project by traveling over 50,000 miles throughout the United States and Canada.  He was accompanied by his family on many of the journeys he made while doing research for the project.  After the completion of such a long and arduous undertaking, all four of them felt that they deserved a vacation.  What did they do to get away from it all?  They went fishing.

Mr. Reece is a member of the board of the Outdoor Writers Association, the National Wildlife Federation, the Izaak Walton League of America, the American Ornithologists Union, the National Audubon Society and many other conservation organizations. 

-------------------------THE ART-------------------------
Gadwalls was painted in watercolor and gouache.  The print was hand pulled from a lithograph stone; printed in black on white Rives heavy paper. The print was signed in pencil by the artist but not numbered. This was Maynard Reece's second Duck Stamp win.   The image size of the print is 6 3/4" x 9 1/8".

-------------------------THE STAMP-------------------------
Gadwalls...Engraved by the Federal Bureau of Engraving from the original artwork.   Printed in dark or smoke gray ink.  The stamp sold for two dollars.  Postal records show 2,167,767 stamps sold.  First day of sale was July 1, 1951.

Most of the information contained above is from the book Federal Duck Stamp Story, Fifty Years of Excellence, by Laurence F. Jonson; Alexander & Co.  It is used here with permission from the author. For more information on this book, please click here.